Porsche Connect Ending

[csm7djs]

I didn't like paying for it, it is expensive, but I like the Google Maps overlay and tbh I didn't buy a Porsche to worry too much about finances.

Buying a Taycan is never going to be a sound financial decision (although you can argue the same point for all EV's) so the £279 was just another tax.

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[n3ophyte]

At £269 I wont be renewing mine. Unless there’s a discount over Christmas ?

 

[Dabz]

I may be a bit snobby but I'm a bit baffled at how many people will drop £100k+ on a Porsche EV and then complain about £22 a month to subscribe to some features. That's less than a cup of coffee per week.

I get that it's partly about the principal of the matter...why isn't it included for free given the cost of the car...but we can't change that so why would you deliberately reduce the functionality of such an expensive piece of kit? Seems a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

In particular many people bought theirs through a company so there's tax to be saved and it's not costing those folk the full £22/month.

It was never going to be a cheap motor vehicle to run despite being an EV. As soon as you buy a Porsche you know servicing, tyres and insurance will be at a premium. There's an old adage I've heard many times - most people could buy a Porsche but not as many could afford to run one.

 

[f1eng]

I bought my Taycan CT4S because I liked driving it.
I shall renew Porsche Connect when it runs out, it is more frequently usable and convenient for me than the extra power of a Turbo would have been and much much cheaper...

 

[n3ophyte]

I may be a bit snobby …

That’s fine. You do you. I simply don’t need any of the features Porsche Connect offers.

 

[whitex]

I may be a bit snobby but I'm a bit baffled at how many people will drop £100k+ on a Porsche EV and then complain about £22 a month to subscribe to some features. That's less than a cup of coffee per week.

I get that it's partly about the principal of the matter...why isn't it included for free given the cost of the car...but we can't change that so why would you deliberately reduce the functionality of such an expensive piece of kit? Seems a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

In particular many people bought theirs through a company so there's tax to be saved and it's not costing those folk the full £22/month.

It was never going to be a cheap motor vehicle to run despite being an EV. As soon as you buy a Porsche you know servicing, tyres and insurance will be at a premium. There's an old adage I've heard many times - most people could buy a Porsche but not as many could afford to run one.

I'm sure different people have different reasons. One may be that a lot of people are not "old money" or trust fund kids and didn't get to have the kind of money to buy Porsches by throwing money around. If you got rich by watching every penny you spend, you're not about to stop. To me it's really about value - is it worth the money? If MyPorsche works reliably for me, I will renew at current price. If it craps out and I have to come up with my own solution to reliably do preheating, etc - why would I pay Porsche for it? Sure, I can afford it, I've dropped way more than a year's subscription on a poker table in a single bet last weekend (and lost it as my opponent got lucky on the last card), but again, why would I pay Porsche for a service that doesn't meet my needs? How is this different than cancelling a video streaming service you no longer watch (or only watch one show which you can buy cheaper than the subscription)?

So far MyPorsche has been mostly working, though on few occasions, especially when traveling, it was breaking when I needed it most (primarily to precondition the car prior to returning to it from a hike for example, of checking on it while DC charging). If it gets worse, I will probably replace it with my own DYI solution before the free subscription runs out (I hack by own cars for fun), then I won't renew. If it continues mostly working, I'll probably just renew it, because I have more exciting projects to do than adding my own remote control to my Taycan.

Speaking of things that baffle me by the way, is how people perceive money differently when buying different purchases. For example, if buying a car for $200K, if the dealer overcharged someone by $100, they often just dismiss it as unimportant. That same person however would raise a huge stink if on the way home from the dealer they bought a $5 coffee and realized the coffee shop charged them $105. In both situations the person is out $100, but somehow one seems like a non-issue while the other a large issue. $100 is $100 regardless whether one loses it in a large transaction of a small transaction, exact same loss. Illogical fallacy? Absolutely. Yet so many people fall into it. Do you?

 

[DSB]

I've a Mercedes V class camper with Merc Me functionality, which is good and mainly used to set up the heating and the tracker, plus it costs less than the Porsche. Trouble is for a 2018 vehicle it still used 3G, which finally ends in January, so got the letter earlier in the year to say - don't bother renewing. It feels worse when you don't get the choice to renew!

 

[jvdsanden]

The invitation to renew the subscription will also tell you what you will get for it. But it is almost all functions that are mentioned in the store besides the Data bundle plus 7Gb subscription.

 

[tylerdurden]

does the car still precondition the battery when PCM is navigating to a charger without e Porsche connect subscription?

 

[JasMK]

I'm into my 2nd month without Connect subscription - I think I can live without remotely pre-warming the car but being able to see state of charge seems like a basic requirement for any EV today? Not only can I not see the SoC but also my charging service through OVO relies on the integration via Porsche Connect so also does not know how to manage charging and just fills to 100%. In my view the car does not operate as intended without the paid for subscription service, so I'm wondering about the legality of holding customers to ransom in this manner. I'm guessing there are ways around the charging problem maybe by deleting the car from the settings in OVO then loading it some other way but I've yet to explore that.

 

[Leccy61]

If OVO’s EV tariff is similar to Octopus @JasMK could you delete it from their app and use a fixed cheap rate window instead (e.g. Octopus is 6 hours 23:30-05:30) with maximum SoC set by the car?

I think Porsche charge too much for My Porsche given it’s not that great, although they probably feel it’s in proportion with their brand position. I’ve had EVs for too long now to not have the connected app, but always interested to see how people get on without it.

It would be fairer in my view for them to adopt a structure as VW do, they have “We Connect” for no cost that gives you the basic visibilty, charging, pre heating you need and “We Connect Plus” for a subscription for extras like route planning, live traffic, internet radio etc.

 

[Dabz]

I'm into my 2nd month without Connect subscription - I think I can live without remotely pre-warming the car but being able to see state of charge seems like a basic requirement for any EV today? Not only can I not see the SoC but also my charging service through OVO relies on the integration via Porsche Connect so also does not know how to manage charging and just fills to 100%. In my view the car does not operate as intended without the paid for subscription service, so I'm wondering about the legality of holding customers to ransom in this manner. I'm guessing there are ways around the charging problem maybe by deleting the car from the settings in OVO then loading it some other way but I've yet to explore that.

Sadly OVO needs the Connect package to work so the dilemma is whether the monthly service charge for Porsche Connect is worth it to benefit from 14p/kWh Charge Anytime rate vs your standard rate. You'd need to charge with approx 290kWh a month to break even.

I'm in the same dilemma and there's no way I'll need that much charge every month, but for me I've accepted that unless I pay the monthly fee then the car lacks basic functionality of both being able to see the charge remotely and remote pre-heating/pre-cooling which was one of the major plus points of an EV for me. It would just annoy me all the time.

It sucks though - I totally agree that seeing the charge and remotely pre-conditioning the car is a basic function of an EV and shouldn't be behind a subscription. Add the extended warranty I'm about to buy and this car is costing a fortune just to keep it going after 3 years.

 

[Murph7355]

I'm into my 2nd month without Connect subscription - I think I can live without remotely pre-warming the car but being able to see state of charge seems like a basic requirement for any EV today? Not only can I not see the SoC but also my charging service through OVO relies on the integration via Porsche Connect so also does not know how to manage charging and just fills to 100%. In my view the car does not operate as intended without the paid for subscription service, so I'm wondering about the legality of holding customers to ransom in this manner. I'm guessing there are ways around the charging problem maybe by deleting the car from the settings in OVO then loading it some other way but I've yet to explore that.

You can control when the car takes charge, and how much, plus schedule pre-heating, from inside the car.

As much as I think their approach to the software in the car is dire, there's no chance of arguing it from a legal standpoint.

If the upcoming BMW M3 Touring is as good as it sounds like it could be, I'll likely vote with my feet that way. Porsche take the piss...there's no competitor at present so they clearly feel able to do so. But that could well change.

 

[f1eng]

Sadly OVO needs the Connect package to work so the dilemma is whether the monthly service charge for Porsche Connect is worth it to benefit from 14p/kWh Charge Anytime rate vs your standard rate. You'd need to charge with approx 290kWh a month to break even.

I'm in the same dilemma and there's no way I'll need that much charge every month, but for me I've accepted that unless I pay the monthly fee then the car lacks basic functionality of both being able to see the charge remotely and remote pre-heating/pre-cooling which was one of the major plus points of an EV for me. It would just annoy me all the time.

It sucks though - I totally agree that seeing the charge and remotely pre-conditioning the car is a basic function of an EV and shouldn't be behind a subscription. Add the extended warranty I'm about to buy and this car is costing a fortune just to keep it going after 3 years.

I have just dumped OVO and am going to cancel Connect. It is taking the piss. My actual phone contract on GifGaf is £6.50 a month and I get more use from it.

I would pay £10 per month but, not having any other car that can do anything remotely, it was a novelty I hadn't experienced before and going to the car to look how charging was progressing is something I have had to do, if I could be bothered, with other cars for 14 years.

 

[Dee]

Haha!
So people are paying for Extended Warranty and HAVE TO pay for the service intervals (otherwise no extended warranty) but think they can save some money on the Connect Service on a €100.000+ car...
I'm sorry but that's just sad...

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