Reg

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I recently picked up my Taycan at the Porsche Delivery Service in Los Angeles and thought I would share my experiences there.

TL, DR. It was an A+ experience. Charles and Eric and the rest of the team were excellent!

Background. Never owned a Porsche before and have never tracked a car. Been driving for over…ahem…years…let’s just say a long time.

Pre-game.

Leading up to the pick-up day, the communication was great. They made sure all the paperwork and process things were done, Charles, my delivery specialist, was clear in terms of what I needed to bring with me, he explained what I needed to do with regard to downloading the apps, setting up an account, etc., and they sent me a questionnaire about my background and experiences and even meal preferences. Charles was very responsive and detailed in answering my questions and requests before I showed up, he also was really enthusiastic and excited for me which was really nice.

The day.

The day started at 8:30 with the obligatory COVID precautions – temp check, brief reminders about keeping mask on, social distancing, etc. Then I met Charles who gave me a rundown of the agenda, a tour of the place, a description of some of the classic cars in the huge lobby, a discussion about Porsche Motorsport which was adjacent to the lobby, separated by floor to ceiling glass so you can see everything going on in the shop, as well as some of the classic race cars they had there. His enthusiasm about the Porsche brand was infectious. Then he introduced me to Eric who was my trainer for the driving, and off we went on the track.

Before getting into the cars, Eric gave me an explanation of the process, the track, things to think about, etc. Due to COVID, Eric could not be with me in the car, and instead there was a one-way radio on the passenger seat, strapped to the seat belt and Eric was in constant communication with me through the 3 different events on the track. Frankly, I preferred this a lot better to having someone sitting on the passenger seat since I was less self-conscious with a passenger there and could just drive and react to the feedback I was getting. I need to also add that Eric was also really excited about the Taycan and it really showed as he described what we were about to go through.

The track.

For that, Eric drove ahead of me and had a consistent and smooth discussion with me – either encouraging me, correcting me, or telling me what was about to happen (ok, we have a hairpin curve coming up). In retrospect, it was actually impressive how he was able to do that, drive really well, and even notice things that I was doing (keep hands at 9-3…speed up a bit coming out of the corner, etc.) The first lap was introductory, and then in each successive lap we went faster and faster until at the end, I started feeling really comfortable in taking the turns and the straightaways at, for me anyway, exhilarating speeds.

The next part was the kickplate and where I was convinced that I was going to wreck the car in my first attempt. For the kickplate, at around 20mph, you approach an area that is around the size of a football field – the surface is slick and they have small sprinklers running all the time to keep the surface slick. Then, right as your rear tires enter the field, a kickplate triggers and rapidly moves your tires to the left…or the right…which starts to send the car into a spin and your job is to not panic and to correct the steering to get yourself out of the spin. As I expected, on my first attempt, I did neither. First, I steered in the wrong direction and then as I was spinning even worse, I had a flash forward where I was explaining all of this to someone in the insurance department. I lost count, maybe I did a 360 or 540, and as it was doing that, the car was moving and towards the concrete barriers that lined the area. Remarkably, Eric was exceptionally calm as he explained what I did wrong and also pointed out that I wasn’t nearly as close to disaster as I thought. I went through this many times until I finally got the hang of it, and again, Eric was really patient and great at talking me through it via the radio. I really got to appreciate the 50:50 weight distribution, the steering control and of course the braking of the Taycan through this process.

Next up was so work on corning and abrupt braking. Cones were set up and I ran short sprints around some tight corners, getting feedback via radio on when I should be braking, and accelerating out of the corner, then ending in really abrupt braking. Yeah, I knew Porsche is is excellent at steering and braking and handling those corners – so it was great to experience it in the Taycan. I ended that area with a bunch of launch controls coupled with aggressive braking.

Whew. But there was one more.

Next was a watered surface similar to the kickplate area, but it was a large circle. In this, I drove around in circles and needed to correct the steering to keep control of the car. For that all of the driver assistance features (stability control, etc.) were turned off.

Again, Eric was fantastic in terms of his comments, advice and calm demeanor as I was skidding around trying to figure it all out. Exceptional patience and a great teacher. I should also mention that Charles drove out to the track area while I was doing all of this and was taking pictures that he gave me at the end of the day. I thought that was a really nice touch and his pictures were great.

The presentation of my car.

For that there was a separate room that only had my car, a table, some furniture, a large screen TV on the wall welcoming me to Porsche and a lot of cool Porsche things lining the wall. My car was under a black cloth, and what I thought was cool, is that they had the lights on the car, so I could see that red stripe on the rear of the car shining through the cloth. After a short presentation about Porsche, the Taycan, the cloth was pulled off in dramatic fashion revealing my car and I was presented with the keys. Fun showmanship that worked! Eric and Charles went through the car with me, pointing out many things. Since I RTFM, I knew a lot, but it was still fun to go through things with my car. Trivia point I didn’t know, and probably never would have figured out is how to activate the steering wheel heating (there is a button behind the metal part at the 6 o’clock position). There were some other nice touches that I don’t want to ruin for other people going to the PEC. I was impressed by the entire process of presenting the car – I really appreciated that and that is coming from someone who would normally have just walked into the room, asked for the keys and then wanting to drive away. I did have an issue entering my password into the car, which Charles said he would sort out while I was at lunch.

Porsche Taycan Porsche Experience Center (PEC) LA Taycan Delivery Experience IMG_1219 (1)
Porsche Taycan Porsche Experience Center (PEC) LA Taycan Delivery Experience IMG_1223


Lunch was great. Due to COVID, it was not in their restaurant, but rather they set up tables outside – just steps away from where I got into the car to do the track experience. The food was top notch, but more important, the chef was another person who was genuinely excited about Porsche and that I was picking up my car. Here is the Porsche butter.

Porsche Taycan Porsche Experience Center (PEC) LA Taycan Delivery Experience IMG_1225


After lunch, the assessment was that I needed to retry entering my password when the car was outside (vs. in the delivery room that had bad reception) and that I should change my password to not be 8 characters. I did both and voila, I was in business. I got there at 8:30 and I left at around 2 – a long day and I had a long drive home – which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Can’t say enough about how great and fun of an experience it was. I appreciate all their efforts in light of COVID to find ways to still make it interesting, fun and special. Again, thanks especially to Charles and Eric and the entire team for making this all happen, and of course, special thanks to Jeff at Boise for the entire process of selecting, buying and getting the Taycan and being patient with my frequent texts and questions.
 
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Kevin2dx

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Wow, the Carmine Red looks STUNNING! Congrats :rock: Were you also able to run your car on the track? Or just the Porsche owned ones?
 
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Reg

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Wow, the Carmine Red looks STUNNING! Congrats :rock: Were you also able to run your car on the track? Or just the Porsche owned ones?
For this program you use their cars - which I was more than happy to do since I didn't want to push mine until I got used to it.
 

ron_b

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You know @Reg I have selected PECLA delivery on my Oct 30th delivery vehicle and I was seriously planning on cancelled that portion due to concerns of the reduced experience with covid-19. I thank you for your write-up it gives me confidence in keeping things as planned.

I know that a PECLA delivery can delay things a little, but it appears that the experience well justifies that any such delay.
 

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Reg, fantastic experience, one that I'm sure you'll never forget.

I'm totally jealous!

Oh, and nice car, btw! ;-)
 
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Reg

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You know @Reg I have selected PECLA delivery on my Oct 30th delivery vehicle and I was seriously planning on cancelled that portion due to concerns of the reduced experience with covid-19. I thank you for your write-up it gives me confidence in keeping things as planned.

I know that a PECLA delivery can delay things a little, but it appears that the experience well justifies that any such delay.
They will contact you when you can schedule your specific time (That happened for me once the car got on the boat). You want to act fast and schedule right away. I think my delay was at worse a couple of days (since they only do deliveries on Wed-Fri now), and certainly worth it that shorter wait. Good luck!
 

porsche_coyote

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Thanks so much for this. I have my delivery at PEC LA coming up on September 30, and your report makes me feel better about the choice to stick with it (and put up with the additional delay).

Agreed on your observations about the pre-visit communication. So far it has been really impressive. If only all of my interactions with my Porsche dealer were so good...
 

SFEVER

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I recently picked up my Taycan at the Porsche Delivery Service in Los Angeles and thought I would share my experiences there.

TL, DR. It was an A+ experience. Charles and Eric and the rest of the team were excellent!

Background. Never owned a Porsche before and have never tracked a car. Been driving for over…ahem…years…let’s just say a long time.

Pre-game.

Leading up to the pick-up day, the communication was great. They made sure all the paperwork and process things were done, Charles, my delivery specialist, was clear in terms of what I needed to bring with me, he explained what I needed to do with regard to downloading the apps, setting up an account, etc., and they sent me a questionnaire about my background and experiences and even meal preferences. Charles was very responsive and detailed in answering my questions and requests before I showed up, he also was really enthusiastic and excited for me which was really nice.

The day.

The day started at 8:30 with the obligatory COVID precautions – temp check, brief reminders about keeping mask on, social distancing, etc. Then I met Charles who gave me a rundown of the agenda, a tour of the place, a description of some of the classic cars in the huge lobby, a discussion about Porsche Motorsport which was adjacent to the lobby, separated by floor to ceiling glass so you can see everything going on in the shop, as well as some of the classic race cars they had there. His enthusiasm about the Porsche brand was infectious. Then he introduced me to Eric who was my trainer for the driving, and off we went on the track.

Before getting into the cars, Eric gave me an explanation of the process, the track, things to think about, etc. Due to COVID, Eric could not be with me in the car, and instead there was a one-way radio on the passenger seat, strapped to the seat belt and Eric was in constant communication with me through the 3 different events on the track. Frankly, I preferred this a lot better to having someone sitting on the passenger seat since I was less self-conscious with a passenger there and could just drive and react to the feedback I was getting. I need to also add that Eric was also really excited about the Taycan and it really showed as he described what we were about to go through.

The track.

For that, Eric drove ahead of me and had a consistent and smooth discussion with me – either encouraging me, correcting me, or telling me what was about to happen (ok, we have a hairpin curve coming up). In retrospect, it was actually impressive how he was able to do that, drive really well, and even notice things that I was doing (keep hands at 9-3…speed up a bit coming out of the corner, etc.) The first lap was introductory, and then in each successive lap we went faster and faster until at the end, I started feeling really comfortable in taking the turns and the straightaways at, for me anyway, exhilarating speeds.

The next part was the kickplate and where I was convinced that I was going to wreck the car in my first attempt. For the kickplate, at around 20mph, you approach an area that is around the size of a football field – the surface is slick and they have small sprinklers running all the time to keep the surface slick. Then, right as your rear tires enter the field, a kickplate triggers and rapidly moves your tires to the left…or the right…which starts to send the car into a spin and your job is to not panic and to correct the steering to get yourself out of the spin. As I expected, on my first attempt, I did neither. First, I steered in the wrong direction and then as I was spinning even worse, I had a flash forward where I was explaining all of this to someone in the insurance department. I lost count, maybe I did a 360 or 540, and as it was doing that, the car was moving and towards the concrete barriers that lined the area. Remarkably, Eric was exceptionally calm as he explained what I did wrong and also pointed out that I wasn’t nearly as close to disaster as I thought. I went through this many times until I finally got the hang of it, and again, Eric was really patient and great at talking me through it via the radio. I really got to appreciate the 50:50 weight distribution, the steering control and of course the braking of the Taycan through this process.

Next up was so work on corning and abrupt braking. Cones were set up and I ran short sprints around some tight corners, getting feedback via radio on when I should be braking, and accelerating out of the corner, then ending in really abrupt braking. Yeah, I knew Porsche is is excellent at steering and braking and handling those corners – so it was great to experience it in the Taycan. I ended that area with a bunch of launch controls coupled with aggressive braking.

Whew. But there was one more.

Next was a watered surface similar to the kickplate area, but it was a large circle. In this, I drove around in circles and needed to correct the steering to keep control of the car. For that all of the driver assistance features (stability control, etc.) were turned off.

Again, Eric was fantastic in terms of his comments, advice and calm demeanor as I was skidding around trying to figure it all out. Exceptional patience and a great teacher. I should also mention that Charles drove out to the track area while I was doing all of this and was taking pictures that he gave me at the end of the day. I thought that was a really nice touch and his pictures were great.

The presentation of my car.

For that there was a separate room that only had my car, a table, some furniture, a large screen TV on the wall welcoming me to Porsche and a lot of cool Porsche things lining the wall. My car was under a black cloth, and what I thought was cool, is that they had the lights on the car, so I could see that red stripe on the rear of the car shining through the cloth. After a short presentation about Porsche, the Taycan, the cloth was pulled off in dramatic fashion revealing my car and I was presented with the keys. Fun showmanship that worked! Eric and Charles went through the car with me, pointing out many things. Since I RTFM, I knew a lot, but it was still fun to go through things with my car. Trivia point I didn’t know, and probably never would have figured out is how to activate the steering wheel heating (there is a button behind the metal part at the 6 o’clock position). There were some other nice touches that I don’t want to ruin for other people going to the PEC. I was impressed by the entire process of presenting the car – I really appreciated that and that is coming from someone who would normally have just walked into the room, asked for the keys and then wanting to drive away. I did have an issue entering my password into the car, which Charles said he would sort out while I was at lunch.

IMG_1219 (1).jpeg
IMG_1223.jpeg


Lunch was great. Due to COVID, it was not in their restaurant, but rather they set up tables outside – just steps away from where I got into the car to do the track experience. The food was top notch, but more important, the chef was another person who was genuinely excited about Porsche and that I was picking up my car. Here is the Porsche butter.

IMG_1225.jpeg


After lunch, the assessment was that I needed to retry entering my password when the car was outside (vs. in the delivery room that had bad reception) and that I should change my password to not be 8 characters. I did both and voila, I was in business. I got there at 8:30 and I left at around 2 – a long day and I had a long drive home – which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Can’t say enough about how great and fun of an experience it was. I appreciate all their efforts in light of COVID to find ways to still make it interesting, fun and special. Again, thanks especially to Charles and Eric and the entire team for making this all happen, and of course, special thanks to Jeff at Boise for the entire process of selecting, buying and getting the Taycan and being patient with my frequent texts and questions.
I will be collection mine from my dealer this week and Ill be happy if they are just Covid ready. What a great experience for you sound like they really got a great delivery process. Sounds like Porsche has raised the bar yet again!
 


LonePalmBJ

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I recently picked up my Taycan at the Porsche Delivery Service in Los Angeles and thought I would share my experiences there.

TL, DR. It was an A+ experience. Charles and Eric and the rest of the team were excellent!

...

Can’t say enough about how great and fun of an experience it was. I appreciate all their efforts in light of COVID to find ways to still make it interesting, fun and special. Again, thanks especially to Charles and Eric and the entire team for making this all happen, and of course, special thanks to Jeff at Boise for the entire process of selecting, buying and getting the Taycan and being patient with my frequent texts and questions.
Wow, now I'm even more excited for my PECATL delivery in two weeks! Thank you for posting this.
Your Taycan is gorgeous, BTW.

Brent
 
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Dlurker20

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Thank you so much for this write up. I too am new to Porsche, but I am not picking up my car at a PEC. Your experiences encourage me to find some time and get it scheduled and get out there. Thank you so much for sharing, this seems like a truly wonderful experience.
 

thenaimis

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I preferred this a lot better to having someone sitting on the passenger seat since I was less self-conscious with a passenger there and could just drive and react to the feedback I was getting.
That's a good point. I had thought it'd be better to be in the same car, but your comment made me think of when I was doing a test drive and apologizing for my awkward braking.

For that there was a separate room that only had my car, a table, some furniture, a large screen TV on the wall welcoming me to Porsche and a lot of cool Porsche things lining the wall.
I was under the impression the driving portion was going to be in your own car. Was it actually in one of theirs?

Thanks for the write-up in any case, now I know what I'm missing :) As noted elsewhere I removed the delivery experience from my order.
 

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I was under the impression the driving portion was going to be in your own car. Was it actually in one of theirs?
It's always in one of their cars, no exceptions.

Generally it's the same model/trim but you can request something else and I don't believe they have every trim available. When I inquired they did not have a Taycan 4S but were happy to put me in a Turbo, although it's possible that's changed.

Fun fact is if you're shopping for a CPO Porsche there are certain things to look for to tell if it was a PEC car. They get auctioned or distributed to dealers after a certain "lifespan" but don't openly disclose the fact they were used for PEC driving.
 

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It's always in one of their cars, no exceptions.

Generally it's the same model/trim but you can request something else and I don't believe they have every trim available. When I inquired they did not have a Taycan 4S but were happy to put me in a Turbo, although it's possible that's changed.

Fun fact is if you're shopping for a CPO Porsche there are certain things to look for to tell if it was a PEC car. They get auctioned or distributed to dealers after a certain "lifespan" but don't openly disclose the fact they were used for PEC driving.
I did the PEC ATL driving experience back in February. I had the instructor in car experience (pre-COVID) in a Taycan Turbo S and was told that the Taycans used at the PEC would not be available for sale given the type of driving they were subjected to. Trust me you do not want your brand new Taycan to be driven the way you will experience during the driving portion (awesome experience).
 

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Lunch was great. Due to COVID, it was not in their restaurant, but rather they set up tables outside – just steps away from where I got into the car to do the track experience. The food was top notch, but more important, the chef was another person who was genuinely excited about Porsche and that I was picking up my car.
Prior to the pandemic, Restaurant 917 at LA PEC overlooking the track ("modules") was one of the most memorable lunch experiences I've had anywhere in the world. I used to take business associates there and pre-arrange for no menus, chef's surprise, with paired wines. Every plate was Instagram-worthy, and the wines pairings were clever. The cocktail creations are all Porsche-related. (No recreations of washer fluid or motor oil, although I asked!) Book a seating before noon to watch the driving, because the course shuts down for lunch at 12:30 as I recall. I took my nephew and his high school buddies there on spring break and they were drooling over the cars and the food. I took an elderly widow neighbor there in a 911 as a surprise and she had the time of her life. And I made great business relationships there. One time a business associate got us a behind-the-scenes tour of the service bays. When things return to the new normal I'll go back for track day in a Taycan, and book a late lunch to watch the afternoon driving from the restaurant.
Porsche Taycan Porsche Experience Center (PEC) LA Taycan Delivery Experience Restaurant 917
 
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Reg

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Prior to the pandemic, Restaurant 917 at LA PEC overlooking the track ("modules") was one of the most memorable lunch experiences I've had anywhere in the world.
Great comments. Agree that the food was "instagram worthy" - and although I didn't get the restaurant view of the track due to Covid, I got the next best thing.

Porsche Taycan Porsche Experience Center (PEC) LA Taycan Delivery Experience IMG_1224 (1)
Sponsored

 
 




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