Tell me everything bad about the 2026 Taycan 4CT.

[prj]

Sheesh this thread got hikacked! I originally asked for issues about the Taycan so I can make a purchase decision. Excepting the info about the handling doodads having issues I got a bunch of people telling me what my decision should be and then this argument about a tune.

Independently I have discovered the Taycan has basically non-existent OTA update capability because it uses about 150 discrete controllers instead of the newer central/zonal architecture. I think there were battery issues but only with J1.1. Correct?

Anything else?

50 controllers on a highly specced car, not 150.
It has OTA capability but the capability is not being used, instead they are opting to do that at the dealer (or not do it at all).

Battery issues are mostly a J1.1 thing, yes.

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[pjg03d]

I've had my car 6-7 weeks and had an initial battery OTA update, have had some other odds-and-ends PCM OTA updates, and get map/nav OTA updates like once a week.

It's at the dealer now to address the year-old battery recall the prior owner didn't do and am hoping to get whatever other non OTA updates that are available. 2022 4s sedan.

Regarding the J1.2 platform, they seem to have addressed a lot of the critiques of the J1.1 - charging speed, range, etc. I haven't found any of these to be issues with mine so far though have not done any road trips longer than a few hours in it yet. I do not like the subtle change to the body style that they made - the J1.1 has softer curves and 1.2 is more angular specifically on the hood, detracting from some of the classic styling that I love in favor of more 'futuristic' harsher angles and I think it just took a step back in stylistic design, even if the tech is better.

 

[Leccy61]

Sorry about my contribution to the hijacking @babylou66

I have a J1.1 so no experience of with living with a J1.2 but with the J1.1, now that we seem to be enjoying a period without recalls/updates, I don't find anything other than the OTA bad and battery worrying. In a perfect world it would a little smaller, but that's a European space thing maybe.

The battery situation should be better in every way with J1.2, time will tell on whether there are inherent faults but I would be optimistic that those lessons have been learned.

No getting away from there not being OTA updates that improve the car's functions and features on a continuous basis is bad. Having a Tesla prior to my Taycan showed me how improving a car across 3 years of ownership is done. That said, I haven't found it an issue in day to day use. I find the PCM is pretty much set and forget, CarPlay helps of course as does not having suffered from software malfunction.

 

[Avantgarde]

Nobody cares in 99% of the world and usually there isn't even a form to put in any modifications. This is very much an UK thing, and it is shocking how many people from the UK think that this level of asshattery is normal in any way.

This comment.. so true.

 

[D00notD00d]

This part is probably true:

That said on the Taycan, unless you call the insurer and tell them the car has a tuned ASG in it, there is no way in hell anyone is ever going to be able to prove that the car is modified, because at present even with a tuned ASG Porsche's system says the car isn't tuned.

But the rest is just opinion:

Nobody cares in 99% of the world and usually there isn't even a form to put in any modifications. This is very much an UK thing, and it is shocking how many people from the UK think that this level of asshattery is normal in any way.

Whereas in the rest of the world there is only a problem if you perform a modification that causes the actual accident. Theft or accident where the modification has nothing to do with it does not raise a single eyebrow anywhere else. Yes, if you have some mods on the car and the car gets yoinked, you're probably not getting any money back for the mods (you will get market value), but denying the claim would be equivalent to saying the car got stolen because it had mods on it, which would be laughed at by any judge (outside UK).

Insurance in the UK is just "how you're gettin f.....d UK edition".

 

[prj]

This part is probably true:



But the rest is just opinion:

An opinion backed by 15 years of experience in the industry. But your attitude is typical in the UK - you guys have been conditioned for so long by insane insurance practices that this is normal for you.

I'll give you another example. In the majority of the world you insure the car. Unlike in the UK where a specific driver is insured to drive a car, and then no one else can drive it because they're not insured in that car. Once the car is insured anyone with a valid license may drive it. The only concept of extra drivers outside the UK is on rental vehicles.

The insanity of that entire concept drops the jaw of the majority of the people in the developed world outside of the UK.

 

[warnergb7]

Sheesh this thread got hikacked! I originally asked for issues about the Taycan so I can make a purchase decision. Excepting the info about the handling doodads having issues I got a bunch of people telling me what my decision should be and then this argument about a tune.

Independently I have discovered the Taycan has basically non-existent OTA update capability because it uses about 150 discrete controllers instead of the newer central/zonal architecture. I think there were battery issues but only with J1.1. Correct?

Anything else?

I’ve had a 4S CT J1.2 for about 9 months now and love it. Your question was if there is anything bad about it. I guess occasionally I wish for a bit more boot space but that’s not “bad” it’s just the car. The only problem I’ve had with it is the car has developed an annoying rattle on the passenger side and getting into a dealer to look at it seems to be taking a while. Plus the rattle isn’t always there and often goes after I’ve been driving for 20 minutes or so.
Could it have a bit more range ideally? Yes I guess so but its not an issue for me. The charging process is fantastic.
So apart from the rattle, I have nothing bad to say about the car at all. I guess the J1.2 has fixed a lot of the issues on the first version.
Love it and I enjoy every drive and pretty much always look back at the car when I’ve got out.

 

[Leccy61]

An opinion backed by 15 years of experience in the industry. But your attitude is typical in the UK - you guys have been conditioned for so long by insane insurance practices that this is normal for you.

I'll give you another example. In the majority of the world you insure the car. Unlike in the UK where a specific driver is insured to drive a car, and then no one else can drive it because they're not insured in that car. Once the car is insured anyone with a valid license may drive it. The only concept of extra drivers outside the UK is on rental vehicles.

The insanity of that entire concept drops the jaw of the majority of the people in the developed world outside of the UK.

Simple concept, UK insurers want to know everything that makes up the risk they’re insuring. Cosmetic mods usually make no difference, but driver(s) do as would a performance mod (Turbo S costs more to insure than a CT4). As long as mods are declared no problem.

I would expect a UK claims assessment of an accident for example to check for a tune. They might not be able to do that themselves as they probably would with an ICE ECU, but I wonder if they check with Porsche and Porsche would tell them a modded ASG was installed (if it hadn’t been possible to swap it out beforehand).

 

[prj]

Simple concept, UK insurers want to know everything that makes up the risk they’re insuring. Cosmetic mods usually make no difference, but driver(s) do as would a performance mod (Turbo S costs more to insure than a CT4). As long as mods are declared no problem.

Yeah, and then your insurance premiums are still higher than in most EU countries where none of this insanity is taking place. There is no concept of insuring a DRIVER on a VEHICLE anywhere else. The driver is irrelevant, the insurance premium is based (upon other things) on the accident history of the owner of the vehicle. Once the vehicle is insured anyone can drive it. The owner is also not inclined to let random people drive it because his insurance premium will go up significantly if someone gets in an accident where they are at fault while driving one of the owners cars.

As I said - you guys over there are so used to these crazy practices that you think it is normal, when you're just getting legally screwed over. I understand if the insurance premiums were significantly lower, but they are in fact higher than in the majority of Europe.

Performance mods in other countries are usually none of the insurers business, this is managed by the roadworthiness certification. If a car is modified then the modifications have to be registered correctly and depending on scrutiny level in some countries the car can not pass MOT and/or it is illegal to operate it on the road. Germany is for example fairly strict with this, but again it is none of the insurers business to chase this.

I would expect a UK claims assessment of an accident for example to check for a tune. They might not be able to do that themselves as they probably would with an ICE ECU, but I wonder if they check with Porsche and Porsche would tell them a modded ASG was installed (if it hadn’t been possible to swap it out beforehand).

A Porsche dealer can't tell that a "modded ASG is installed", they can perform the warranty/tuning check with PIWIS and PIWIS will tell them that the car isn't tuned regardless of which ASG is in there, and that's the end of it.

The reason we tell people to swap the ASG is because the tuned ASG cryptographic hash does get stored on the backend (and the only reason I know that is because I have inside info), but since Porsche central server is not programmed to void the warranty with a modified ASG at the moment, the response in PIWIS is good and the dealer is none the wiser.

 

[Leccy61]

A Porsche dealer can't tell that a "modded ASG is installed", they can perform the warranty/tuning check with PIWIS and PIWIS will tell them that the car isn't tuned regardless of which ASG is in there, and that's the end of it.

OK I must be missing something. I’m sure you’ve said Porsche can tell a non-original ASG is installed in another thread, not the dealer but the mothership maybe.

I’m not trying to find a problem, exactly the opposite, maybe the mothership wouldn’t give the info, I’m just wanting to understand.

 

[prj]

OK I must be missing something. I’m sure you’ve said Porsche can tell a non-original ASG is installed in another thread, not the dealer but the mothership maybe.

The mothership can tell, but this information never ever leaves the mothership unless they decide to start voiding warranties in cars with tuned ASG's.

There's a flag in the system called TD1. This flag is automatically set by the backend if tuning is detected. What consitutes "detected tuning" is strictly handled by the backend, whatever Porsche programs it to. The dealer does not know any of this. They just have a button to do the check and have a binary response. They can not see what was tuned on the car either.

It's just whether the TD1 flag is present or not for the whole car. A "yes/no" answer, that's all the dealer gets. As I've said many times, the functioning of this system is "top secret".
Because the hashes are stored on the backend, if Porsche central changes their mind and decides to void warranty for ASG mods, then all the cars that have been to the dealer with a modified ASG and had warranty work performed or a 111 point check (as that's the only times the dealer is doing the check) can have their cars flagged TD1.

Porsche hasn't been doing this for 5 years though and there is no indication that they are going to start doing it, because the ASG tuning can not harm the car in any way, so it would accomplish absolutely nothing apart from alienating customers.

 

[Avantgarde]

OK I must be missing something. I’m sure you’ve said Porsche can tell a non-original ASG is installed in another thread, not the dealer but the mothership maybe.

I’m not trying to find a problem, exactly the opposite, maybe the mothership wouldn’t give the info, I’m just wanting to understand.

What I don’t understand is how a normal accident process works in the UK. Someone rear ends you and instead of going to the body shop they first send you to a “tune check”? Are you saying that tens of thousands of cars involved in accidents every year first go through virginity investigations, get tune cleared and then approved for body repair? How does this work when the car is stolen? Tune investigation first? Among anything this financially does not make sense. What % of cars on the market have a tune on them anyways? Doubt it is even 1%. Which insurance company would in their right mind enforce this costly additional process even if it is in the fine print? Are we talking about few marginal cases where an adjuster sees a supercharger sticking out of the front hood and tries to be difficult?

 

[Leccy61]

What I don’t understand is how a normal accident process works in the UK. Someone rear ends you and instead of going to the body shop they first send you to a “tune check”? Are you saying that tens of thousands of cars involved in accidents every year first go through virginity investigations, get tune cleared and then approved for body repair? How does this work when the car is stolen? Tune investigation first? Among anything this financially does not make sense. What % of cars on the market have a tune on them anyways? Doubt it is even 1%. Which insurance company would in their right mind enforce this costly additional process even if it is in the fine print? Are we talking about few marginal cases where an adjuster sees a supercharger sticking out of the front hood and tries to be difficult?

I have no idea as it has never happened to me. There could be thresholds but they could check. When you take out a policy it’s made very clear that all modifications have to be declared otherwise the policy and claims may be void. It’s also illegal to take an insurance policy without declaring.

 

[prj]

What I don’t understand is how a normal accident process works in the UK. Someone rear ends you and instead of going to the body shop they first send you to a “tune check”? Are you saying that tens of thousands of cars involved in accidents every year first go through virginity investigations, get tune cleared and then approved for body repair? How does this work when the car is stolen? Tune investigation first? Among anything this financially does not make sense. What % of cars on the market have a tune on them anyways? Doubt it is even 1%. Which insurance company would in their right mind enforce this costly additional process even if it is in the fine print? Are we talking about few marginal cases where an adjuster sees a supercharger sticking out of the front hood and tries to be difficult?

The reality is, I have never heard a insurance claim being denied for just an ecu remap, and I've been more around the UK tuning scene than most of these guys arguing with me You said everything very correctly - if there's a supercharger sticking out, or it's basically turned into a dragster, then there might be an issue, but not for things like a remap, which is for all intents and purposes undetectable to any insurance company.

In the EU it is for example illegal to modify anything on any car, even e.g. fitting 22" wheels on a Taycan, because it's not rated for it, or running a different tyre size than stock. This is rarely enforced (some extra anal inspection tester might fail you for that, but very rare that it happens). E.g. I've been running 255/35 instead of 245/40 tyres on my Audi S8 for 8 years now, and this is technically illegal in the EU (allowed tyre sizes are in the registration documents), but I have never had a failed inspection in that car.

Same goes with an ECU remap in the UK - technically not legal, but the difference is that they're basically brainwashed from birth by the draconian insurance companies and their policies over there, and whenever the insurance companies say "jump", they do.

No matter how outlandish or unenforcable some clause in an insurance policy is, they always take it at face value. So you have things like who is insured to drive what car and other insane shenanigans, and they never question the normality of it. Just a way of life I guess.

So whenever you mention any kind of tuning in the UK, you immediately have a horde white knighting the insurance companies and breathing down your neck with very little basis in reality. I would go as far as to say that the insurance companies are worshipped like automotive gods by some folk.

 

[Leccy61]

I’d be amazed if anybody on here worships or jumps because of an insurance company. For me I just wanted to know if you think

• The TD1 flag will not be visible to the dealer as Porsche central are not setting the flag or voiding warranties at the moment

------- OR ------

• The TD1 flag will be visible to the dealer and while Porsche central are not currently voiding warranties, the dealer sees the TD1 flag indicating something on the car is modified.

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