My take on that: One does not need to focus it on the center tube - it's just "gimmickish" to look at.
100% correct. The system not only monitors when conditions allow (darkness and ambient temps) but it is connected to Emergency Braking. We were driving in the middle of a dark Florida forest once and the benefit of the NVA system is to see beyond the headlights, it did, detected a deer standing in the middle of the road, and engaged alerts and emergency braking to stop the car. So we were completely stopped and staring at the deer until it moved on after about 5 minutes. Also detects smaller animals close to the ground and at a wide angle in a mountain drives. Always option it but it is not available on Macan ICE or Macan EV.
Hey guys, just my 2 cents here when reading the price/perf ratio discussion between you & WhiteX.I was waiting almost one month; in the mean time i was driving two different J1.2 and i’ve seen huge improvements. when they said that it could take another month (or even more), I decided to get J1.2. It was summer time and i didn’t want to drive with some ICE Audi or VW to sea house
The sub-trunk is smaller 'cause of the Burmester audio upgrade. Larger subwoofers.
I recently sold my 2023 GTS and acquired a new 2025 GTS.
I flew to Ontario (California, not Canada) and drove it back home to Los Gatos.
I was very impressed with the range improvements. Shockingly so.
First, the trip report:
I started the trip with a visit to Starbucks down the road, where friendly forum member @Zcd1 met me for a great chat about EVs, life, the universe, and everything. Thanks for meeting me!
Fueled up with caffeine I started the drive home and was surprised to see the PCM routed me through…a Tesla Supercharger! Electrocute America was next door, but I decided to tough out the Supercharger out of curiosity.
This is how that charge session went:
Of note:
- The charge was initiated with the My Porsche app
- Speeds were comparable to the J1 with 150kW/400V option
- I tried to see if Plug and Charge worked, maybe I didn’t wait long enough but it didn’t look like it was getting past “initializing.”
- This session was not free, so the free Porsche Charging Service does not extend to partners.
But that was it! This was my only charge of the trip.
Things I miss from the J1
- Active Lane Keeping. It’s a poorly implemented, dangerous feature…but I didn’t realize how much I relied on it for highway drives until I lost it.
- The center console top row, accessible by pulling down the grab bar. This one actually really bugs me a lot, as I used that row frequently to switch between Nav, Carplay, etc. Reaching for the dash is a slight stretch and not as convenient.
- The old cruise control stalk. I’ve got muscle memory against the old one across two cars, so there was a bit of a learning curve getting used to the new one. The gestures perform different actions. Not a big deal but took some adjustment.
Improvements I like in the J 1.2
- Charging information. There is much more info about what rate you should be getting, battery temp, etc. When a charger is throttling you, it tells you.
- Fast charging deeper into the curve. I tested an EA station after dinner tonight and went from 11% -> 85%. I was quite shocked at how long it held 260kw+ (which was station-limited). It held that rate all the way to 70%.
- Longer range. It really is no joke how much better the range is. So much so I’ve suggested to a few Taycan shopping friends they should skip the bargains on J1 and just for the J1.2.
- Cooled center console. The center console still requires contortion to get into, but it pipes AC in there so the phone doesn’t overheat. This means you can actually charge your phone in there successfully now, which I did.
- Lit PORSCHE logo on the rear. I always felt like this should be lit and I’m glad it is.
- Soft-close doors. This is a really nice touch as I don’t need to get people to slam the doors any more - just close it a bit and it will do the rest.
- Charging planner improvements. I noticed a few new changes such as “prefer plug and charge” and “ignore minimum charge at destination when navigating home.”
Reviews on new-to-me features that were also available in J1
- Burmeister Audio - Maybe I need to give it more time, but honestly this is kind of a disappointment for the cost. It has more “soundfield” modes, but overall doesn’t sound any better than Bose to me…at least not enough to justify the cost. It might even have a little less subwoofer bass than Bose did.
- Power Charge Port Doors - I always wished I had these, especially when I’d forget to close the charging door. I like this feature a lot.
- Tintable glass roof - Kind of a gimmick. Given my roof glass history on the J1, all I can think is “even more cost when it breaks.” Neat I suppose, not sure I will use it much.
- Heads up display - Mixed bag for me. Having it in my face did save me from missing a couple of turns, but I found switching my focus between traffic and the HUD distracting. I ended up wiring the joker button to toggle it, which seemed to work pretty well.
- Night vision assist - We live on a mountain with several families of deer, so I’ll be using this when coming up at night. Seems useful, a little hard to get to as you have to scroll the center tube to bottom-1.
Here some side-by-side pics of the two cars.
This still exists on the J1.2, and the setting persists through power-offs. The car won't let you turn it on or off unless you're in park though, which is a really odd choice given how distracted you can get interacting with the PCM in other ways. But for whatever reason this toggle was too much. It sounds like that was different on the J1.1. Either way though, I have this turned on in my car for exactly the reason you mentioned, so maybe you can scratch one item off the list of things you miss.
Oh I forgot about that, maybe I can bring it back!
Thanks guys I completely forgot that they hide the grabber unless you're in park!
Not sure what you mean by NVA "is just the visualizer component to the standard Warn and Brake Assist". You participated in this thread where someone needed to replace the Germanium window over the optional night vision assist infrared camera, which is not included with warn and brake assist:
