Taycan 4S daily driver: 2025 vs 2023/24 — worth the premium?

[NewBuyerCA]

I’m looking to buy a used Taycan 4S as my primary daily driver (mostly local miles), replacing a 2016 F-TYPE Jaguar. My wife has an aging 2018 Model X, so we’ve got real EV experience already.

I want the extra power of the 4S and a panoramic roof, black Ext & Int but I’m torn between:

• 2023–24 Taycan (~$75k)
• 2025 Taycan 4S (~$115k) (more like $125–135k in CA after tax/fees)

I can push to afford the 2025, but I’m weighing depreciation (another ~30% in 2 years?) and battery/recall risk.

Two questions for owners:

1. Is the 2025 refresh worth the ~$40k premium over a 23/24 in real-world daily use?
2. Would you insist on CPO for risk reduction — and what should I verify/ask for before buying?

Any other model-year “gotchas” or advice appreciated. I’m probably overthinking this and feeling a bit paralyzed — thanks in advance.

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[SergeyIndy]

As a 2023 Taycan owner, the premium for 2025 is not worth it as you outlined. 2025 has some material improvements if you absolutely need them, but as far as power, you can unlock extra power using @prj tune.

We can go into the details of 2025 improvements, but please share first what matters to you in a daily driver. The main advantage is 30% range improvement, faster charging at lower starting temperatures, and longer battery warranty -- but is that worth the premium is for you to decide. The downside is more generic look with that alone would not be worth it to me. The original is a head turner and the refresh wiped out the Mission E character almost completely.

CPO is a must.

Please share full Window Stickers for both for us to advise on any option deficiencies.

 

[NewBuyerCA]

Sergey. to clarify, my main concern isn’t styling or power, it’s battery risk / long-term reliability as a daily. I’ve read that 2025 Taycans have a revised battery pack that reduces failure or recall risk vs earlier models like 23–24. Thats the piece im trying to weigh up and paying a premium for that.

 

[gtm]

Sergey. to clarify, my main concern isn’t styling or power, it’s battery risk / long-term reliability as a daily. I’ve read that 2025 Taycans have a revised battery pack that reduces failure or recall risk vs earlier models like 23–24. Thats the piece im trying to weigh up and paying a premium for that.

If your primary concern is "battery risk/long-term reliability" then a 2025 probably wins out. The J1.2 battery was revised and so far has proven to be much less problem prone. An informal survey on this forum showed just under 18% of the respondents had had module or battery replacements (the survey was for J1.1 only). Handled under warranty and usually with a loan vehicle being provided but you are without your car for months. My wife and I often road trip and the possibility of being hundreds of miles from home with a bricked battery was enough to make me upgrade to a J1.2 car. Can you be without the Taycan for months if a loaner is not available? No car is ever going to be 100% reliable but the J1.1 battery failure is almost a "when" not "if" (that is a huge generalization as most cars have had no issues, but a very significant percentage have). Porsche is loath to show any discounts but there is a large number of 2025 Taycans sitting on dealer lots. Deals can be made, new or used, if you shop around.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Sergey. to clarify, my main concern isn’t styling or power, it’s battery risk / long-term reliability as a daily. I’ve read that 2025 Taycans have a revised battery pack that reduces failure or recall risk vs earlier models like 23–24. Thats the piece im trying to weigh up and paying a premium for that.

Totally understand.

That is correct that J1.2 (2025+) models have revised chemistry battery pack that is without a question more resilient. I also agree with @gtm that anyone with earlier models who had an issue with battery modules, they were without the car for a long time and in a Macan Base loaner. However, many of us on the forum even with 2020 models have had zero issues with the batteries, but we are all aware if a cell goes bad, then we will be dealing with a long frustrating process of cell or entire battery replacement.

 

[69Mach390]

I’m looking to buy a used Taycan 4S as my primary daily driver (mostly local miles), replacing a 2016 F-TYPE Jaguar. My wife has an aging 2018 Model X, so we’ve got real EV experience already.

I want the extra power of the 4S and a panoramic roof, black Ext & Int but I’m torn between:

• 2023–24 Taycan (~$75k)
• 2025 Taycan 4S (~$115k) (more like $125–135k in CA after tax/fees)

I can push to afford the 2025, but I’m weighing depreciation (another ~30% in 2 years?) and battery/recall risk.

Two questions for owners:

1. Is the 2025 refresh worth the ~$40k premium over a 23/24 in real-world daily use?
2. Would you insist on CPO for risk reduction — and what should I verify/ask for before buying?

Any other model-year “gotchas” or advice appreciated. I’m probably overthinking this and feeling a bit paralyzed — thanks in advance.

My vote would be “no and no.”

And I voted with my wallet as I bought a 2024 4S that wasn’t CPO.

If your primary concern is the battery, will you be keeping it past the 8 year mark? Standard warranty covers the battery that long.

CPO doesn’t extend that part of the warranty anyways.

 

[refazi]

There are great deals on J1.1 CPO leases for a year, start with that and after a year upgrade or keep it.

 

[gnr3312]

I decided to lease a 2024 4S with 8k miles to be used as my daily driver once RTO5 kicks in for me in a couple of months, and it was around $95k after the first owner took a 38% depreciation hit. I had the chance to get a 2025 but the prices were still too high and I liked the J1 design better. Not too worried about battery issues because it’s covered under the 8 year warranty and I will only keep it for 3 years. To me saving that extra $40k was better than going for a 25 model, even with the better range.

 

[jww]

From what I’ve read on this forum there was a battery update / change sometime in late 2023 / early 2024 MY deliveries, which is why I went with a 2024. Obviously I’m only a couple years and 13K into my experience, but so far so good.

Sounds like PCM + range in the 25s+ is the real win. Having a Taycan with an extra $40K in the bank seems seems like the smart move to me personally, but again depends on your priorities.

 

[anonymouse]

Only you can judge what you want to afford; but I upgraded from a J.1 to a J1.2 and it has been generally great. The faster charging curve makes a real difference on road trips (probably less so in the US because you have so few 350kW charging stations). Many of the software quirks and dumb UX design issues have been resolved, and although a few new ones have been added it generally seems better built and more resilient.

I write this having just had the boot lock fail, but even still it's better than a major battery failure or the infamous 22kW charger failures with the J.1.

Plus I was able to upgrade to a Turbo which is fabulous; and Active Ride which was even more so.

 

[Persuader]

I’m looking to buy a used Taycan 4S as my primary daily driver (mostly local miles), replacing a 2016 F-TYPE Jaguar. My wife has an aging 2018 Model X, so we’ve got real EV experience already.

I want the extra power of the 4S and a panoramic roof, black Ext & Int but I’m torn between:

• 2023–24 Taycan (~$75k)
• 2025 Taycan 4S (~$115k) (more like $125–135k in CA after tax/fees)

I can push to afford the 2025, but I’m weighing depreciation (another ~30% in 2 years?) and battery/recall risk.

Two questions for owners:

1. Is the 2025 refresh worth the ~$40k premium over a 23/24 in real-world daily use?
2. Would you insist on CPO for risk reduction — and what should I verify/ask for before buying?

Any other model-year “gotchas” or advice appreciated. I’m probably overthinking this and feeling a bit paralyzed — thanks in advance.

Definitely not worth an extra 40K for .2

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

I’m looking to buy a used Taycan 4S as my primary daily driver (mostly local miles), replacing a 2016 F-TYPE Jaguar. My wife has an aging 2018 Model X, so we’ve got real EV experience already.

I want the extra power of the 4S and a panoramic roof, black Ext & Int but I’m torn between:

• 2023–24 Taycan (~$75k)
• 2025 Taycan 4S (~$115k) (more like $125–135k in CA after tax/fees)

I can push to afford the 2025, but I’m weighing depreciation (another ~30% in 2 years?) and battery/recall risk.

Two questions for owners:

1. Is the 2025 refresh worth the ~$40k premium over a 23/24 in real-world daily use?
2. Would you insist on CPO for risk reduction — and what should I verify/ask for before buying?

Any other model-year “gotchas” or advice appreciated. I’m probably overthinking this and feeling a bit paralyzed — thanks in advance.

I am selling my 2021 Taycan 4S with less than 12,000 miles. The car is in excellent condition and has always been reliable. Located in Winter Park, FL. More here: https://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/d/winter-park-2021porsche-taycan-4s/7900139584.html.

 

[Irv09]

The charging speed and the range improvement might be worth the difference unless you are not taking the car on long trips. Most of my mission for an EV is back and forth to work for about 85 total miles per day, so the range and charge speed is not worth the difference in price.

 

[sacman]

The $40K saving is attractive to choose the older model but would a lease of a 2025 be a reasonable compromise?

 

[babylou66]

Yesterday I test drove a MY25 and the PCM was slow as hell with routing via Android Auto. This confuses me because I thought the 25+ had a faster PCM and I thought AA processing would be handled via my phone which never lags with routing in other vehicles.

So for this point I don't see the advantage with the 25+.

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