Taycan ownership trope: are Taycans really split between total lemons vs faultless vehicles?

[erictayf]

In the market to buy a CPO Taycan, and noticed a trend where Taycan owners would make posts detailing dozens of issues with their car, followed up by other owners in the comments claiming their car’s been completely problem free. Are Taycans really that different in build quality?

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[bn8959]

I wouldn’t disagree. Sadly I’m in the total disaster side. Very much hoping the MY27 I’m trading it in for will be the other end of the scale!

I should add that I absolutely love my GTS despite the issues! (to be fair to the car, half the problems have been service quality issues rather than the car itself).

 

[SergeyIndy]

I am on the zero issues side.

 

[69Mach390]

In the market to buy a CPO Taycan, and noticed a trend where Taycan owners would make posts detailing dozens of issues with their car, followed up by other owners in the comments claiming their car’s been completely problem free. Are Taycans really that different in build quality?

It’s not a variance in build quality, it’s just good or bad luck.

This isn’t a Taycan thing, it’s true of every car.

Check out the JD power dependability studies. Even the most reliable cars……. Still break. They just break slightly less on average. But the average number of problems per 100 vehicles in the first 3 years of ownership is about 100.

That means if you had 4 problems, three others had none.

And because cars these days rely on so many electronics, sometimes you end up chasing the same problem for a while and they throw parts at it hoping for a fix but just end up “fixing the symptoms and not the virus.”

 

[bn8959]

So maybe I’ve taken the hit for the benefit of many others, with my 25 OPC visits in 2.5 years!

 

[2P168S]

Mine was in for issues six times in its first 18 months, but zero issues the last two years

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Certainly it looks like the J1.2 models (>= model year 2025) have less issues. Could just be newness but the hope is that they learned a few things and applied them.

 

[69Mach390]

So maybe I’ve taken the hit for the benefit of many others, with my 25 OPC visits in 2.5 years!

For sure because in the US that would have been a lemon law or buyback car!

30 days in the shop in the first 2 years of ownership (cumulative) and they have to take the car back.

 

[gnr3312]

Only taken my car in for 1 issue, and it was after a recall in 8 months of ownership.

 

[mkg3]

In the market to buy a CPO Taycan, and noticed a trend where Taycan owners would make posts detailing dozens of issues with their car, followed up by other owners in the comments claiming their car’s been completely problem free. Are Taycans really that different in build quality?

There are two primary aspects to this.

First the vehicle itself. When Taycan first came out, it was the first EV for Porsche. Lots of fist time stuff, along with steep learning curve for them. Like any first of kind product for the manufacture, lots of issues. It's also new to all the suppliers too. Expected infant mortality of subsystems and parts are common.

The mid cycle update (2025+, J1.2) cleans up much of the early issues and fixes. This mid cycle improvements are true for EVERY model from any manufacture. After 2~3 years from the initial release, the real world data comes in and used to fix things, especially reliability and quality items, albeit not everything. They are rolled into the mid cycle update along with usual cosmetic, power and performance kind of improvements.

The other (2nd thing) is that any forum participation typically represents less than 5% of the total ownership population. Of those that participates, more come to the forum to share issues rather than just to say how great things are. Naturally, it can distort the reader's opinion and bias them towards negative, unless one is aware of this fact.

I am not a Taycan owner (yet). I typically join the forum 6~12 months prior to buying the vehicle of interest. This is where I am today. Thanks to everyone on this forum, I am convinced that J1.2 is the only viable option for my needs. Not only the range is higher but I believe there are less issues. I am looking for low milage 2025 or 2026 once th e2027 hits the showroom. It's so close to that, there will be another round of depreciation (sorry guys) for earlier model years. This will be my first pre-owned vehicle purchase so I am bit more careful about it. My last purchase (2026 Artura, I did she same forum process and ordered mid cycle updated vehicle to my spec and has worked out flawlessly).

Good luck.

 

[marc]

My MY 21 had minor PCM weirdness. My MY25 has been flawless since delivery in 2024.

 

[PorscheTaycan]

My car has had zero issues. So far knock on wood.

 

[Tooney]

In the market to buy a CPO Taycan, and noticed a trend where Taycan owners would make posts detailing dozens of issues with their car, followed up by other owners in the comments claiming their car’s been completely problem free. Are Taycans really that different in build quality?

Sometimes it is not build quality, but specifications and tolerances. Don't miss this thread - it's a forum classic:

Underbody Protection Panel damaged. Batteries and coolant lines need inspection. $72.5K replacement & labor cost. Dealership is Tom Wood in Indiana

 

[RBGtaycan]

In the market to buy a CPO Taycan, and noticed a trend where Taycan owners would make posts detailing dozens of issues with their car, followed up by other owners in the comments claiming their car’s been completely problem free. Are Taycans really that different in build quality?

I had a lot of issues but loved the car and wanted to keep it. (And I've had a fair number of Porsches)

BUT

Service was a problem (long delays; lack of EV techs) and Porsche (PCNA) lack of responsiveness pushed me to sell it.

 

[Sace]

There seems to be no denying that the Taycan sufferes more failures than many other cars. I myself have not been particularly hard hit on my 2023 model. But I have still had two heaters, the 10 months with a non functioning PCM and just this week my coolant pump died on a european roadtrip leaving me with an overheating battery. Porsche have fixed it all but it's still more issues than I have ever had with a car in the first 3 years.

During this week's (very positive!) visit to Porsche Dresden they also acknowledged that it is not advisable to have a Taycan that is not covered by warranty.

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