RWD, 4s, none? Help me decide, please!

[Porschetta]

Good morning and thank you for reading my post. I just sold my BMW 335i and I started searching for my new car, which will be electric for sure. Since I always wanted to own a Porsche, the Taycan seems like the logic decision, but after hours and hours of reading and watching youtube videos I am really worried. The reliability of the car seems to be not so good... so my questions:

1- I am ok with driving RWD, my country has great weather, so apart from the performance, is there any obvious advantage on going for the 4s instead of the RWD?

2- I will be getting a 2020/2021 Porsche Approved vehicle, so apart from the heater core and battery recalls, should I check for anything else? I read somewhere about problems in the home charger, how can I check if they are fixed in mine?

3- Is it possible to extend the battery warranty?

Thanks in advance!

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[SergeyIndy]

Welcome to the forum.

Our general recommendation when getting a used Taycan is to stay away from 2020 and then get as later model as you can with fewer miles that you can that is in your budget.

1. RWD has a lot of character being rear biased and drives exceptionally well. The upside of going for 4S is that you get more power off the line and 2 motors to regen power back into the battery.

2. The way to ensure the car is checked properly is to get a certified CPO example. We do not recommend anything less than that, since any issue that comes up outside of warranty can be very expensive to fix. Main things to look for are any dents to the bottom protective plate and making sure all recalls are complete. Only one recall at this time has no remedy waiting for monitoring of battery cells software. We are not aware of any problems with home charger. You may be referring to onboard charger that can fail or a cord for the home charger that comes with a car which is replaced as part of a recall.

3. There is no way to extend battery warranty that we know of at this time. For us who plan to keep the car long term, we hope there will be some option to upgrade the battery that will come with new warranty.

Good luck with your search. Share some examples that you are considering so we can help review options.

 

[W1NGE]

Good morning and thank you for reading my post. I just sold my BMW 335i and I started searching for my new car, which will be electric for sure. Since I always wanted to own a Porsche, the Taycan seems like the logic decision, but after hours and hours of reading and watching youtube videos I am really worried. The reliability of the car seems to be not so good... so my questions:

1- I am ok with driving RWD, my country has great weather, so apart from the performance, is there any obvious advantage on going for the 4s instead of the RWD?

2- I will be getting a 2020/2021 Porsche Approved vehicle, so apart from the heater core and battery recalls, should I check for anything else? I read somewhere about problems in the home charger, how can I check if they are fixed in mine?

3- Is it possible to extend the battery warranty?

Thanks in advance!

You can't extend the battery warranty (and probably don't need to).

I would always advocate All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) - safer, more grip, better handling etc. There is a base 4 in the CT / ST range and if that were an option I'd go with '4' regardless of missing out on some power.

Porsche standard EVSEs - Mobile Charger Plus (PMC) and Mobile Charger Connect (PMCC) are just fine (issues in USA predominately). I've had my PMCC for 4 years now and 100% faultless - kept in a garage. My neighbour has his PMCC outside uncovered in all weathers - faultless. PMCC can offer up to 22 kW of power to charge your car so if have 3 phase power at home you can charge your car at 11kW (22kW if you have the 22kW AC onboard charger option). Good integration with My Porsche App - PMCC in particular as it is WiFi enabled. PMC+ will max out at 9.6kW (single phase only).

Remember that these and any wall box (or public AC / DC charging point) are NOT chargers and merely supply a safe flow of electricity - the actual charger for AC and DC is in the car (same for all EVs).

360 / surround cameras
full leather
pano roof (can get hot though)
Bose
power steering plus (speed sensitive)
air suspension (and PASM)
Matrix

would be my 'must haves' and:

rear axle steering
torque vectoring

would be my 'desirables'

 

[Porschetta]

Thank you so much for your input guys, exactly what I was looking for... great community!

When we read these foruns and watch videos we get the sensation that you drive the car for a week and then it stays the rest of the month getting fixed... I was wondering how it really feels to be a Taycan owner..... I have a stable economical condition, but of course can't afford to spend 50k on a battery replacement....that's crazy...

Here in Europe we have "Porsche Approved", i think it is the same as CPO in USA. They have 12 months warranty, which can be extended... that is what I am looking at the moment....

1- About the charger, I read somewhere the more sofisticated version would go bad if you charge in a certain power output, which I think was the most used in a home charging environment (around 7kW I think?)

2- I also read about uneven tire degradation, what is your opinion on that one? Is that really bad?

3- About the battery degradation, is also that bad as you sometimes read here?

Thank you again for helping me

 

[W1NGE]

Thank you so much for your input guys, exactly what I was looking for... great community!

When we read these foruns and watch videos we get the sensation that you drive the car for a week and then it stays the rest of the month getting fixed... I was wondering how it really feels to be a Taycan owner..... I have a stable economical condition, but of course can't afford to spend 50k on a battery replacement....that's crazy...

Here in Europe we have "Porsche Approved", i think it is the same as CPO in USA. They have 12 months warranty, which can be extended... that is what I am looking at the moment....

1- About the charger, I read somewhere the more sofisticated version would go bad if you charge in a certain power output, which I think was the most used in a home charging environment (around 7kW I think?)

2- I also read about uneven tire degradation, what is your opinion on that one? Is that really bad?

3- About the battery degradation, is also that bad as you sometimes read here?

Thank you again for helping me

1. Nonsense - it is the on board AC charger (22kW) which has a poor history and not the EVSE (if that is what you are referring to. Again, warranty is your friend so don't sweat it if you purchase a car with the 22kW AC onboard charger - best avoided otherwise.
2. Nonsense (AWD models should wear evenly and logically RWD will wear more at the rear), unbalanced / out of alignment wheels will wear unevenly just like any other car. 20K miles easy.
3. Not really. Take the Porsche warranty and whatever is left of the 8 year battery (80% remaining at term) and live stress free. There have been battery issues - both HV and 12v - but nothing really to be overly concerned about. Warranty is your friend

 

[Porschetta]

Hi Adrian,
I see you are from Scotland. maybe you can have an idea of aprox. prices to extend the warranty here in Europe... That is something I have been searching without success....

 

[W1NGE]

Hi Adrian,
I see you are from Scotland. maybe you can have an idea of aprox. prices to extend the warranty here in Europe... That is something I have been searching without success....

 

[Porschetta]

Thank you again for all your help... about the battery, I am looking for the Performance Plus... any issues in comparision with the smaller one? Is it a good advantage in your opinion?

 

[W1NGE]

Thank you again for all your help... about the battery, I am looking for the Performance Plus... any issues in comparision with the smaller one? Is it a good advantage in your opinion?

No brainer. Don't get anything other than PB+

Range is king.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Thank you again for all your help... about the battery, I am looking for the Performance Plus... any issues in comparision with the smaller one? Is it a good advantage in your opinion?

PB+ is a short answer.

Pros and Cons for each but in a used example PB+ is the way to go.
PB battery is lighter but charges slower, has less power, and less range.

Range is usually a concern, so what is your climate temps and how many miles you plan to drive a day assuming you can charge at home every night. We can give you some quick math on that because the car can only tap into so called usable battery capacity.

 

[Porschetta]

Thank you Sergey. I will do likely 180 km/day.... temperature average is 15ºC on winter and 25ºC summer...

 

[SergeyIndy]

Thank you Sergey. I will do likely 180 km/day.... temperature average is 15ºC on winter and 25ºC summer...

These are about as ideal of conditions that you can have to achieve maximum range.
Therefore, without making it too complicated you can expect 400km on full charge on PB+.
However, for daily driving you want to charge to 85% and then do not want to drop too low so say if you stay between 25% and 85% for your daily driving, you still have 240km range.

 

[Porschetta]

I will go for the PB+ for sure then....

I have been trying to understand the real impact of the recent battery recall.... so it does affect all of the Taycans? some will have modules changed, other will be monitored? So if a module of one of the monitored gets affected in the future it will be replaced under warranty? Sorry for so many questions, but you guys are much ahead and use therms that I just dont understand for now.....

Thank you again for helping me

 

[SergeyIndy]

I will go for the PB+ for sure then....

I have been trying to understand the real impact of the recent battery recall.... so it does affect all of the Taycans? some will have modules changed, other will be monitored? So if a module of one of the monitored gets affected in the future it will be replaced under warranty? Sorry for so many questions, but you guys are much ahead and use therms that I just dont understand for now.....

Thank you again for helping me

These are good questions.
Based on the recall letters it is not all. The recalls are assigned to specific VINs.
Typical remedy has been module replacement or entire battery depending on the case.

For example, MY22 GTS in my area is under ARB6, dealer checked the battery by running diagnostics and determined no bad modules. I am MY23 and I am under ARB7 and the dealer did not run any diagnostics (I asked) since my car is monitored over the air (OTA) and if bad modules detected, I would be notified (not clear how). My dealer said, they have a steady stream of customers they cannot handle fast enough in line for battery module replacement requiring them to send the ENTIRE battery to a 3rd party, having only one battery crate, but they told me they will be ordering at least 2 more. The techs are still not fully trained to do this in house, but they are scheduled to complete training, and hopefully then they can handle some if not all battery module replacements in house.

 

[W1NGE]

I will go for the PB+ for sure then....

I have been trying to understand the real impact of the recent battery recall.... so it does affect all of the Taycans? some will have modules changed, other will be monitored? So if a module of one of the monitored gets affected in the future it will be replaced under warranty? Sorry for so many questions, but you guys are much ahead and use therms that I just dont understand for now.....

Thank you again for helping me

You don't need to worry is the bottom line on this.

As long as you have a Porsche warranty you are covered for the car in general and the battery is warranted for 8 years from original manufacturing date of the car.

Recalls can be generic or VIN specific and as long as you source your car from an official dealership then Porsche will reach out as and when or be addressed during routine maintenance by your Porsche dealership.

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