Learning to drive in a Taycan Turbo

[TomC]

I have now had a driving license for 3 months and have clocked up around 400 miles of solo driving. Even pre-covid I worked from home, so I rarely have any need to go anywhere. In fact, I probably should have just kept getting taxis rather than spending £130k on a Porsche. I digress.

My longest journey to date was a roundtrip over the weekend, which involved going on the M25, the busiest road in the UK.

Here's my thoughts/observations from a newb:

• Prior to this trip, I have experienced absolutely no enjoyment from driving. I'm sure the psychology of having such an expensive car did not help, but there is just something extremely unnerving about being allowed to suddenly drive alone, whilst previously an expert gave you advice. They don't train you in the military and then send you off on a solo mission, except if you're James Bond. Totally the same thing. Yet this was the first time where I understood why people enjoy drive. 1/10 would have been my rating of driving prior to this trip, now we're up to maybe a 3/10. Cos obviously I still suck at it.
  
  
• I'm not being facetious when I say this, but one confident building exercise is seeing how clueless so many other drivers are on the road. So many people do not understand how roundabouts work, so when I'm behind someone and seeing how badly wrong they get it and that they're still alive, I figure I'm gonna be ok.
  
  
• The heads-up display is beyond helpful, as I've said before. I could not imagine having to stare down at the display all the time to see what speed I'm doing and where I'm going next. I cannot emphasise how much I'd recommend it if you're not an experience driver. However, the overall nav guidance definitely suffers from giving information far too late at times, like coming off junctions and it tells me with 0.3 seconds notice that I'm now going right
  
  
• I thought the Porsche Navigation got its data from Google, so I was surprised to see on four occasions roundabouts that it didn't believe existed.
  
  
• Lane Change Assist is another feature that is highly recommended. It just makes me feel much more confident about changing lanes on motorways.
  
  
• I can only assume I screwed up and hit a wrong button, mostly because I don't wanna be looking down at the touch screen whilst driving as it feels like a death trap. To get home I wanted to go a specific route, so set it up as a Stop to force the route that way, yet when I then got close I cancelled it and just told it to take me home. Somehow the stopover stayed in place. My understanding of directions is terrible, so I was blindly following the navigation - that probably lost me about an hour of my life.
  
  
• I have done far too many launches in this car with my Dad, so absolutely know what to expect when doing one. However....there was a 30 zone going into a 70. The road was flat, straight and perfect visibility, so I thought I'd floor it. Holy hell! It literally threw me back in my seat. I felt like those YouTube car journalists that's clearly exaggerating the impact. Maybe they weren't.
  
  
• As I drive to the speed limits because 1). I'm not insane and don't fancy driving a car recklessly with 5 hours of experience and 2). Getting caught within your first year of having a license is severely punished with driving bans; it means that some people love to just tailgate me. However, this is why god made Taycan. I can now add myself to the "foot down at the traffic lights" movement and see little specks of dust in the rear view mirror that I think are the inconsiderate arseholes that used to be up my (car) arsehole. To be able to go from 0-30/40 in a second or two is insane.
  
  
• Speaking of speed, it is crazy how fast you can go without noticing it. With no noise and such a smooth ride, it's sometimes a challenge to realise how fast you're approaching a junction. I can confirm the Porsche breaks are really, really good.
  
  
• I've still not tried ACC, as I don't have the brain power to concentrate on both the road and configuring something. I hope to try it out next time I go out.
  
  
• I did finally use the Bose though. Previously I've just sat in silence giving full focus, whereas now I can go full blown karaoke, even if most music I listen to is classical, so it's a bit of a challenge.
  
  
• The self-parking feature does actually work......sometimes
  
  
• It was 22C yesterday and the seat ventilation really came to the rescue

Overall, I'm getting there. The enjoyment is starting to creep in and the speed is definitely addictive. Admittedly I passed my license at twice the age that most people do, but from the stories my friends have told me about crashing their cars the afternoon of getting their license, I think I've done alright so far to avoid even a single scratch.

Next up: Porsche Experience Centre in October.

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[TomC]

It's now over a year since I passed my driving test and ventured out with a Taycan Turbo as my first car. So first of all, yes, I am still alive and this is not my widowed wife typing this, nor have I come back from the afterlife to seek vengeance on the salesman that sold me the car. In fact, my mishaps have been rimming it twice in a carpark, so I'm going to put that down as a success.

A few things have changed since last year.

Notably, I sold the Turbo in December 2021. To buy a Turbo S. It was the only rational solution. So for the last eight months that's what I've been driving.

In March I visited Silverstone for the Porsche Experience day, which was great fun. The instructor struggled to get his head around having such a newb in his car, but I was happy to make a fool of myself for his enjoyment. I'm just glad they let you use their car, as I launch controlled so many times that the car is now permanently imprinted into their track.

I've yet to become the kind of person that cares to go for a drive, it's still something as a means to an end, but it's far more relaxing than it used to be and I don't have to pace around wondering whether I should or should not drive somewhere. I also still hate to park the car in narrow spots, so will do everything possible to avoid that. However, I have definitely changed in one regard: heavy foot. These cars were not built for 30mph roads; it is forever whispering into my ear "are you sure the speed limit isn't 100mph?"

By every metric it would seem a waste of money to have bought a Turbo S as a new driver, but metrics are logic and I don't possess any of that. I love this car.

 

[kempez]

I'm glad you're enjoying the car still and this thread has made me smile, so your antics have done some good in the world

Glad you went on the driving experience yourself, it's great fun isn't it?

I love the fact you upgraded too. Keep up the good work fella!

 

[Murph7355]

You might not want to be admitting to rimming in car parks on an open forum...

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