Should I buy a Taycan

[GavinWebb]

I currently own a 2018 BMW 840d - great car. I've owned many great cars including a Cayman. Thinking of buying a Taycan - but like everyone I've heard bad stories. Most of my journeys are short - running around town and sometimes a round trip of about 180 miles. I also drive from the UK to mid Germany every two months. I would look to buy a 2021 or 2022 4S from Porsche - so would get a two year warranty. Would like to get them to give me three years. I would love to hear some thoughts. Am I crazy to sell a beautiful diesel coupe for a potentially problematic, costly EV?

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[Morph]

I can only comment on my experience with a J2 4S 12 mth old with 13k miles in the UK. Best car I’ve ever owned (come from 530e which was then the “best car I’ve owned” ). Zero faults so far. Ave around 300miles range at 100%. Practical, comfortable and super fast. Mega cheap to run compared with petrol. Absolutely and definitely no regrets. Hope this helps.

 

[tophamn]

I currently own a 2018 BMW 840d - great car. I've owned many great cars including a Cayman. Thinking of buying a Taycan - but like everyone I've heard bad stories. Most of my journeys are short - running around town and sometimes a round trip of about 180 miles. I also drive from the UK to mid Germany every two months. I would look to buy a 2021 or 2022 4S from Porsche - so would get a two year warranty. Would like to get them to give me three years. I would love to hear some thoughts. Am I crazy to sell a beautiful diesel coupe for a potentially problematic, costly EV?

The 8-series and Taycan are very different beasts - think of the Taycan as a 4-seat / 4-door 911. In comparison with the beemer you'll find the Taycan more 'compact' inside and getting in/out not so easy. That said: get yourself down to Tewkesbury Porsche and have a drive - you won't look back .

 

[Caraholic]

Personally after buying my first Taycan and being on my second. No I would not recommend to buy one. Even outside of depreciation, service costs are far too much for this vehicle. Owning outside of battery warranty just is to risky in my eyes due to the known manufacturing faults of the battery cells. With that said it’s an amazing vehicle and you owe it to yourself to get one. I would personally just lease a nice cpo one for a year or two then return it and rinse and repeat.

 

[psancla]

I currently own a 2018 BMW 840d - great car. I've owned many great cars including a Cayman. Thinking of buying a Taycan - but like everyone I've heard bad stories. Most of my journeys are short - running around town and sometimes a round trip of about 180 miles. I also drive from the UK to mid Germany every two months. I would look to buy a 2021 or 2022 4S from Porsche - so would get a two year warranty. Would like to get them to give me three years. I would love to hear some thoughts. Am I crazy to sell a beautiful diesel coupe for a potentially problematic, costly EV?

I bought my J1 2021 Taycan 4S Performance Battery from new and it is now 4 years old with 34,000km, just about to get its first NCT (MOT) and still running on original tyres with at least another 5k Km on them. After some initial teeething software problems( quickly fixed by Porsche) the car has been faultless and having previously been a BMW owner for more than 20 years , M5s, M3s, and 3 Series Msports, I would highly recommend buying a J2 Taycan 4 S. The car is simply superb to drive and much less expensive to service than my previous BMWs. Try a test drive but make sure you buy the J2 so you have the bigger battery, more range and a better vesrion of what I think is an incredible car. Good luck with your decision

 

[tycanmt]

2021 4S here, CPO. No problems so far.

I'm an electronics (and software) engineer and have kept up with the recalls, battery shenanigans and so on. We have other ICE Porsche vehicles. For me the Taycan is a way to get a very fast, very good looking, reasonably practical car for about 1/2 what it would otherwise cost to achieve those things.

In doing so I accept there's some possibility the vehicle might end up off the road for a long period for repair, and I might be on the hook one day for a costly battery replacement. Neither thing has happened yet but if it does I'm ok with that. I don't buy extended warranties because I feel whoever is on the other side of that trade is a professional and is making money from me, not the other way around. So I take my chances. Spread over many vehicles and my entire lifetime, I've come out ahead (significantly) so far. YMMV, as they say.

 

[Dabz]

Best car I've ever owned.

For context, my immediate family has numerous brand new EVs and every one has had various software and hardware bugs and issues. The Taycan hasn't been any more troublesome than any other brand new EV.

It's not the most economical, it's a big too big, and if you're not comfortable with Porsche servicing costs then it's the wrong car for you. But the plus side is it's a beautiful car, cheaper to run than your existing car in terms of fuel and it's a head-turner.

 

[davidc]

We have bought a 2025 Taycan, ex demo with 4000 miles recorded, so perhaps naïvely we’re hoping that any problems or issues were found during the first 4000 mile by the garage. So During the short period we’ve owned it we’ve been delighted by the road handling and function of the car, so far it’s superb we traded in a Mercedes SL 400 and we find this car much better refined and the build quality is really good

 

[Gino]

I currently own a 2018 BMW 840d - great car. I've owned many great cars including a Cayman. Thinking of buying a Taycan - but like everyone I've heard bad stories. Most of my journeys are short - running around town and sometimes a round trip of about 180 miles. I also drive from the UK to mid Germany every two months. I would look to buy a 2021 or 2022 4S from Porsche - so would get a two year warranty. Would like to get them to give me three years. I would love to hear some thoughts. Am I crazy to sell a beautiful diesel coupe for a potentially problematic, costly EV?

I bought a 2021 RWD CPO in November 2023 because we fell in love with a Taycan in coffee beige. It was stunning and the driving experience was flawless. I couldn’t imagine a day without my Taycan. Best all around sedan I’ve ever owned.
The only thing I wish I had was the performance plus battery initially but since I have 3 other ice vehicles for long trips the 220 miles of range is more than enough for around town since I can top it off at home every night.
Since you would be swapping a Taycan for your BMW I would make sure I got the bigger battery but once all the recalls have been completed the car has given me nothing but an occasional service visit every 6-12 months at the most.
I would go for it! I get so many compliments on it every time I take it out for a spin…

 

[pjg03d]

2022 4s new owner here, have put about 1k miles on it, bought with about 3900 original miles. Couple things I have learned as a new EV and new Porsche owner that might be relevant:

• You are in a Taycan forum, most of us are going to tell you to buy a Taycan hehe.
• Steep depreciation of my specific car was the only way I was going to get into it. From factory the sticker was something like $135k optioned, I paid $75k. I'd consider shopping for a lightly used 2022 model year or newer to avoid the MY2020-2021 gremlins, as they seem to have the most problems. I would not recommend purchasing this vehicle new, unless money is just not a concern for you.
• Performance battery plus (PB+) seems mandatory unless you absolutely will never drive the car more than ~200mi round trip and can charge at home whenever you want.
• Make sure the car is optioned the way you'd like it to be if buying used (or, new and not specifically allocated/customized, I guess) - innodrive/adaptive cruise control, comfort seats, etc etc are all things you can't realistically change.
• Consider that something like 150k+ Taycans have been sold since their introduction. For every horror story you hear about a car being in the shop for six months or whatever, there are a couple hundred people just happily driving their car daily without issue.
• Get the car you want to buy on a lift or use a mirror stick to view the underbody protection panel and ensure it is not damaged.
• Touch and test everything. Functions of the key fob. Folding mirrors. Seat climate functions, massagers, mobility. Lift features and air suspension if applicable. etc. Driving performance. See if you can push the car a bit to warm the battery and see how it responds, as battery overheating has been an issue with some model years. Make sure you have a state of battery report from the dealer.
• If you've settled in on a specific car, and it doesn't come with a window sticker, you can pay a few bucks at vinanalytics.com and compare it to the vin analyzer on RennList, then compare both to the car in person to verify all options are there. I found every used dealer I spoke with dragged their feet to get me a window sticker and/or knew nothing about the Taycan, even Porsche dealers.
• You should be able to contact Porsche directly with the VIN of any car you wish to purchase and receive info on current, active warranties. This might help you determine your need for an extended warranty, etc.
• Finally - be ready to be 1) underwhelmed by the infotainment system, this is not an ipad on wheels and 2) completely overwhelmed by the actual driving experience. Car is fast, very nimble for a sedan, and just an absolute joy to drive.

 

[tycanmt]

• If you've settled in on a specific car, and it doesn't come with a window sticker, you can pay a few bucks at vinanalytics.com and compare it to the vin analyzer on RennList, then compare both to the car in person to verify all options are there. I found every used dealer I spoke with dragged their feet to get me a window sticker and/or knew nothing about the Taycan, even Porsche dealers.
• You should be able to contact Porsche directly with the VIN of any car you wish to purchase and receive info on current, active warranties. This might help you determine your need for an extended warranty, etc.

All good points. My experience has been (in the US) that dealers will send the sticker PDF and "build sheet" without hesitation to me via email. I don't offer them the opportunity to decline, just say "send me the build sheet". Once you are the owner, this information is available via the Porsche app too. Also in the US, you can query any VIN on the government recall web site to see which recalls are open. Don't trust the dealer on that, unless they are sending you a PDF printed off their system.

 

[anonymouse]

For your journeys from UK to Germany there are few better cars than a Taycan. Our Sport Turismo is our European touring car and we love it. Whizz along the French autoroutes silently with ALK/Innodrive doing some of the work. Hit the Autobahn with the acceleration of a Ferrari (for the first few seconds anyway!) and the road handling of a 911. It’s a big car with room for plenty of stuff; yet take it onto a twisty mountain road in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Auvergne… and its handling is superb - even more fun than taking it around a track.

Ignore all the range bores. In Europe, and most of the UK, range is irrelevant. You have quite enough, as long as you plan regular short stops (per UK highway code, 15 mins every couple of hours). The Taycan charges super fast and there are now plenty of 150kW+ chargers. I never look at the range guess-o-meter, ever. I have a charging plan and get on with enjoying the drive.

Downsides: it ‘s an expensive car. Buy from an OPC with full service history, 111-point check and Porsche warranty. Too risky to do otherwise.

It is also wide. It’s ok on UK country lanes (Cornwall excepted maybe) but you need alloy insurance before entering any European underground car park.

And of course once you stop chucking out diesel particulates you will be a better person

 

[Fish Fingers]

I currently own a 2018 BMW 840d - great car. I've owned many great cars including a Cayman. Thinking of buying a Taycan - but like everyone I've heard bad stories. Most of my journeys are short - running around town and sometimes a round trip of about 180 miles. I also drive from the UK to mid Germany every two months. I would look to buy a 2021 or 2022 4S from Porsche - so would get a two year warranty. Would like to get them to give me three years. I would love to hear some thoughts. Am I crazy to sell a beautiful diesel coupe for a potentially problematic, costly EV?

I sold my Taycan after 3+ years and bought a BMW i4 M50.

Personally, I had way too many issues with the car and also found it too big for my use. But the dealers were the kicker.....not even being able to get it booked in to be fixed (with a courtesy car) for 2-3 months when it went wrong/recalls.

But, if I was coming from a diesel 8 series, I would consider it.
But go in with your eyes wide open.
Be aware the PCM may seem a step backwards compared to Idrive.

There are loads of used ones (mostly business lease), with little demand used (private buyers) - so haggle.

Make sure you get maximum manufacturers warranty and extend it when it ends!

Have the battery checked and also the battery undertray (look up 3mm dent).

Demand a right to return period, if you decide its not for you or the car has issues.

 

[GavinWebb]

Thanks for all your comments. So it seems get a 2022 model year onwards. Better to buy from Porsche with a warranty (to include a loan car) which I should extend. Haggle. Don't worry about range.

Is it likely that if I get a car that is 2-3 years old that all the common issues would have already occurred and been fixed?

 

[HellNo]

Is it likely that if I get a car that is 2-3 years old that all the common issues would have already occurred and been fixed?

I would say so yes. If you narrow down your options to a car you are thinking of pulling the trigger on, get the VIN and ask @ct14garage very nicely if they would mind sending you the service report. This way you can see everything that has ever been done with that car, including recalls.

Anything coming from Porsche Approved Used should already have all of the recalls etc done.

Don’t be afraid to haggle hard, it’s definitely a buyers market and there are deals to be had. Haggle for a discount off list, more contribution if getting finance, make sure every tiny cosmetic thing is dealt with for free, and get as much warranty, Porsche Connect Plus, Porsche Charging Service etc thrown in as you can manage.

I’m super happy with mine and feel I ended up with an insane amount of car for the money.

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