Recall Frenzy

[fgwinn]

......and the other reason is, in case you haven't noticed, is the dearth of new cars available.

After 5000 miles and 4 months of ownership I am ready to trade-in my Taycan 4 CT. The constant stream of error messages is like the boy who called wolf. I keep wondering when I will get a real message that leaves me stranded rather than the ones that are gone the next time the car is started. I never felt as vulnerable in my Tesla Model 3 which I drove for three years before trading it because I was tired of its difficult to maintain painted surfaces.

Realistically it could take two years or more to find a suitable and available replacement. Ironically, owning the Taycan for even a short period has raised my EV expectations both from a technical and an aesthetic perspective. This leaves the choices for my next car extremely limited even if there were no supply chain challenges. I really don't want another EV unless it has at least 800v architecture, I am spoiled by the fast DC charging rate. I am also not a fan of dashboards with oversized "square" cornered iPads, which, for me, eliminates a lot of EVs from consideration.

I am expecting to place multiple refundable deposits in order to have some EV choices available before my 4 CT warranty runs out.

Sponsored

 

[DerekS]

Derek if you are a software guy you should know you definitely should be extremely wary of taking the updates

On the contrary, I'm viewing it from the developer standpoint. "Shit, this is a bad bug, this needs to be fixed and deployed ASAP."

I operate on the assumption that patches are important and are fixing issues that are not apparent to the user.

What you're describing is vendors who push updates that actually regress and make things worse. My solution for those is just to stop doing business with them.

I have not yet seen Porsche release an update that made things worse. I did however get a calendar update today and it STILL displays events on the wrong day.

You had one job, calendar...

 

[John89]

because of the lack of OTA updates my taycan has been in the shop in one year more than any of my teslas over nine years, or any of my other cars.
maybe some of you are ok with all the time wasted by the visits to the service center but I am not.

My car is sitting in the garage and I'm driving the Tahoe. As soon as the salt is washed away (rain today) the 911 is coming out. I'm so over the taycan.

 

[Archimedes]

Agree 100%. For those who want be in a cult like Tesla and bury their head in the sand, more power to them. Last I checked, we are yet a free country.

Who's burying their head in the sand? Who's saying the issues aren't real? Who's saying Porsche is perfect?

My point is, and has been, that Porsche is far from perfect, but the core of the car is so good that most Porsche people overlook all but the most serious issues because the driving experience is so good. It's a big reason why Porsche is the one of the most profitable car companies on the planet.

If any of you came into the Porsche world expecting Honda levels of trouble free reliability, you clearly did not do your homework. And I'm not talking about the serious 'car stalls on freeway' or 'car burns house to the ground' type of stuff. I'm talking about the little, non-critical stuff that certain people on this forum seem to obsess over. I can't imagine being so frustrated with something but still owning it, much less spending time on an Internet forum devoted to it. Or two in your case.

 

[DerekS]

I'm talking about the little, non-critical stuff that certain people on this forum seem to obsess over.

I've had 6 previous Porsches, none were perfect. The electronics have always been Porsches weak suit. But this one is the worst by far.

I'll stop "obsessing over it" when they fix it. It is quite a slap in the face to hear they've moved on to PCM6 which gives the impression the current owners are stuck with what we've got.

I'm a reasonable guy. I just want the radio to work properly and I don't think that's a lot to ask for the amount this car cost.

Maybe not having reliable music in the car is "non-critical" to you, but to me it's a major feature.

 

[nikc]

I asked a simple serious question. You stated that you’ve had nothing but problems with your Taycan and few if any issues with multiple Teslas. Which begs the question, why do you still own a Taycan?

I am truly curious about the answer.

No availability for the Ioniq 5 at any local dealers.

 

[vmporsche]

I've had 6 previous Porsches, none were perfect. The electronics have always been Porsches weak suit. But this one is the worst by far.

I'll stop "obsessing over it" when they fix it. It is quite a slap in the face to hear they've moved on to PCM6 which gives the impression the current owners are stuck with what we've got.

I'm a reasonable guy. I just want the radio to work properly and I don't think that's a lot to ask for the amount this car cost.

Maybe not having reliable music in the car is "non-critical" to you, but to me it's a major feature.

I agree. On the subject of a working radio, and I hesitate to post this, but... my favorites haven't disappeared in maybe a month- it's definitely the longest stretch since I got the car last July. Has anyone else noticed this?

I will also say that I have had a few Porsches before this one (two Caymans, a Macan) and had zero problems with any of those. But the Taycan, after many, many visits to the service center, is probably as good as it's going to get and is much better than when I picked it up. 99% of rattles are gone, the PCM while slow and not intuitive works (I'll be super happy if my Favorites continue to persist), etc. The one lingering issue which actually seems worse now since the last recall (AMB5) is the Rear ParkAssist and CrossTraffic alerts- I get those almost every time I start the car. That said, I am also tired of all the recalls and still have a Tesla Model Y Performance (as a replacement for the Taycan 4S) on order that I keep pushing the delivery on. But they have their own issues, too (phantom breaking, uncomfortable ride, etc.). At least it's half the price of my Taycan and psychologically less painful and forgivable for that reason. We'll see.

 

[Archimedes]

Has an awesome drive into the Valley this evening with the wife for dinner. Tesla pulled up next to me in traffic and complimented me on how good the Taycan looked. I was gonna tell him it was a Soul Crushing Lemon, but instead lied and told him I loved it. Tomorrow I’ll probably take out the GT4 with its glitchy Car Play, ridiculous cup holders, and potentially defective cams and somehow try to have fun driving it.

 

[gusone]

Because Tesla never had recalls. At least Taycans are not decapitating their drivers.

 

[Windpower]

I'm a reasonable guy. I just want the radio to work properly and I don't think that's a lot to ask for the amount this car cost.

Maybe not having reliable music in the car is "non-critical" to you, but to me it's a major feature.

I’m with you. I’m in my car 5 hours per week and I use streaming music 100% of that time, unless streaming doesn’t work. Then I move to FM radio. I don’t care how colorful the PCM UI is, I just need the UI to be glitch free. On my Tesla I wasn’t happy with their music selections so I installed an Amazon Echo Auto. This works well until it doesn’t (“Alexa has lost connection to the network”). Then I’m back to FM radio.
Bottom line: I’m willing to overlook common wireless network issues but the system itself needs to be reliable. I’m hoping that after the WMA5 update, PCM and CarPlay will be more reliable. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[DerekS]

I should experiment and see if nixing carplay makes things more reliable.

I really only use carplay for one thing, iMessage. I wonder if the PCM can read or display texts when carplay is off?

 

[VOLT4GE]

Yes, but not every single little thing. At least not in a Porsche. Porsche builds great drivers cars with little annoyances sprinkled in to keep it interesting. Not unique to the Taycan by any means. I could make a list of little issues with every Porsche I’ve ever owned, but I’d rather just drive them and focus on their awesomeness than sit around complaining about the radio.

My heater stopped working as high temps were in the single digits. It took about three weeks to get it fixed, and the dealer didn’t have a car to lend me in the meantime. Then the techs realized that another part was going bad, and that got replaced this week when the component finally made it here. And now there’s something with the seat belt that Porsche hasn’t given proper guidance on—my dealer couldn’t even attempt to check/fix it.

This is a still-new car with 6k miles on it. If it were not under warranty, I’d probably be staring down the barrel of at least five-grand in repairs. And that’s just absurd on a car like this.

I can deal with a twitchy interface, but replacement of major components worries me for the short- and medium-term.

 

[Archimedes]

My heater stopped working as high temps were in the single digits. It took about three weeks to get it fixed, and the dealer didn’t have a car to lend me in the meantime. Then the techs realized that another part was going bad, and that got replaced this week when the component finally made it here. And now there’s something with the seat belt that Porsche hasn’t given proper guidance on—my dealer couldn’t even attempt to check/fix it.

This is a still-new car with 6k miles on it. If it were not under warranty, I’d probably be staring down the barrel of at least five-grand in repairs. And that’s just absurd on a car like this.

I can deal with a twitchy interface, but replacement of major components worries me for the short- and medium-term.

Except Porsche has a track record of standing behind their product, even after warranty when the issue relates to a defect. I trust they will stand behind the Taycan. We’re in the middle of a global supply chain crisis at the moment. Repair times for anything are stretched right now.

 

[VOLT4GE]

Except Porsche has a track record of standing behind their product, even after warranty when the issue relates to a defect. I trust they will stand behind the Taycan. We’re in the middle of a global supply chain crisis at the moment. Repair times for anything are stretched right now.

I sure hope you’re right, my friend!

 

[Archimedes]

I sure hope you’re right, my friend!

I’ve bought every Porsche expecting issues and risk, given the cutting edge performance. When buying the Taycan, I ramped that expectation to 11, given it was not only a brand new platform, but also their first electric vehicle. I did, and do still, expect serious teething pains with this car. If this was a non starter, I wouldn’t have bought a Taycan. Porsche has had issues with the initial version of every new platform.

Sponsored