"Would I Do it Again? 6 Months With a Used Porsche Taycan 4S" (Review)

[Jonathan S.]

Tom posted at this forum when he took delivery, but I couldn't find that thread, so I'm starting a new thread here for his follow-up video assessment.

Overall, and as always, I appreciate his earnest and straightforward manner (so unlike many social media influencer types).

His criticism of the bizarrely non-ergonomic center console lid is of course entertaining, although I haven't found the cargo sensor to be as overly cautious as he describes. (Although perhaps that's a sedan vs CT issue?)

I find the frunk far more useful than he does -- I used it to store my EVSE, adapters, downhill ski patrol emergency kit, snow shovel, ski repair tools, back-up clothing, and probably some other items I'm forgetting, so perfect size for all that, as well as kept out of my way given how seldom any of that is needed.

More importantly, he experienced a Red Circle of Death, which amazingly enough went away, and then (after a dealer service first) never returned. (Whew!)

I suspect he is far too trusting of the PCM for planning routes and charging, given that following it blindly for me would often add about an hour to a three-hour route.

As for the answer that the question in the subject header, I won't provide a spoiler!

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[irrelevant]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

 

[jakeCT]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

The fact of the matter is the attention span of users is very small and if one is not immediately sold on the video thumbnail (which can vary based on device- phone, TV, desktop of varying window sizes, Tesla Youtube app, Google search result with even smaller thumbnail, etc) and clearly describing what it is about beyond a stock-looking photo of the Taycan and the person next to it, the video would not get viewed. The clearly visible title is just fine- at least there’s no AI imagery of an annoyed/exploding person’s face.

Tom has gone to great lengths on his Taycan purchasing and ownership video series, with a lot of detail that would only concern prospective CPO Porsche owners; I imagine that is a very small percentage of his viewers but he did it anyway and I appreciate the effort he has put to make this and making every step as transparent and detailed as possible and appropriate for video consumption. I for one got value from this as I was making my CPO purchase journey at the same time and got my Taycan shortly after Tom’s.

 

[jdirik]

As a new Taycan owner, I really enjoyed the watch. Thanks for sharing!

 

[whitex]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

The smart creators' title+thumbnail creation is very data driven. They will try different ones, the ones which get most engagement (also, make most money) win. So what drives it is not creators, but viewers. Therefore, it's not creators that have to figure it out, but rather the rest of the world - a much tougher proposition, so much less likely to ever happen.

Here is some more information on that, if interested:

 

[Jasper4S]

Thanks for sharing Jonathan. I actually liked the video, I always enjoy calm auto videos.

This thumbnail was not that bad right? I've seen worse.

Fun fact about the thumbnails, and us buying expensive Porsches... People who click on loud thumbnails and people who buy a Porsche Taycan actually work the same way. It’s all emotion first, logic later. Both react to some kind of promise. One wants a quick hit of curiosity or excitement. We want status and a sense of identity (probably subconscious). The difference is mostly in timing and probably context or a gen and age thing. One is after instant dopamine, we something that feels deeper or more lasting. In the end, both are just finding a way to feed the same emotional circuit. Fixing the mind that we don't click (or others click) screaming thumbnails will also fix our 'flaw' that decided to buy Taycans. What I'm saying with a lot of words @irrelevant and @whitex, you are more Gen Z / Gen A than you think. You just have different triggers.

 

[whitex]

Thanks for sharing Jonathan. I actually liked the video, I always enjoy calm auto videos.

This thumbnail was not that bad right? I've seen worse.

Fun fact about the thumbnails, and us buying expensive Porsches... People who click on loud thumbnails and people who buy a Porsche Taycan actually work the same way. It’s all emotion first, logic later. Both react to some kind of promise. One wants a quick hit of curiosity or excitement. We want status and a sense of identity (probably subconscious). The difference is mostly in timing and probably context or a gen and age thing. One is after instant dopamine, we something that feels deeper or more lasting. In the end, both are just finding a way to feed the same emotional circuit. Fixing the mind that we don't click (or others click) screaming thumbnails will also fix our 'flaw' that decided to buy Taycans. What I'm saying with a lot of words @irrelevant and @whitex, you are more Gen Z / Gen A than you think. You just have different triggers.

If you're saying we all have emotions, we sure do. Do we all act on emotions, that's more complicated. I try to make my decisions using logic, or rational thinking, but that can and in fact does account for emotional outcomes. For example, I bought the Taycan because I enjoy driving as well as reverse engineering and improving my cars, and out of all the cars I looked at for a while, I decided it would give me the most pleasure, which is an emotion. I drove Model S'es for a decade because couldn't find a car I thought would give me more pleasure. I compared that against how much pleasure would saving the money by driving different cars instead be, and decided the Taycan is worth it to me. Status didn't really factor in, I've actually always preferred to tone down the flashiness of my cars (one reason quiet electric cars appeal to me).

As for click-bait, I try not to click on it not because of some arbitrary rule, but because I value my time. Headlines like "Porsche just did something that will anger its investors" tell me it's going to be a long article designed to show me as many ads as possible so that I can find out what that something is that Porsche did. That would be a waste of time for me.

PS>I'm quietly hoping AI will help solve most of the click-baits by providing summaries, so a headline like "Show X new season premiere date announced" will simply show me "Show X season premiere has been announced to be mm/dd/yy at hh:mm", rather than having to click on the headline and scroll through 5 pages looking for the date. Kind of like the story of a beta tester of Apple AI how his girlfriend sent pages and pages of text messages, of which AI provided a succinct summary "You are no longer in a relationship. Ex-girlfriend wants her stuff back".

 

[irrelevant]

It wasn’t meant to disparage Mr. Volk. I enjoy his reviews from time to time.

it’s more of an observation/lamentation that when EVERYTHING becomes “important/breaking/outrageous”…nothing is.

In general, I think AI is overhyped, but I’m starting to look forward to it replacing all the social media influencers/attention whores.

 

[pjg03d]

The smart creators' title+thumbnail creation is very data driven. They will try different ones, the ones which get most engagement (also, make most money) win. So what drives it is not creators, but viewers. Therefore, it's not creators that have to figure it out, but rather the rest of the world - a much tougher proposition, so much less likely to ever happen.

Here is some more information on that, if interested:

Indeed. "If you want better politicians, make better voters"; "The government you elect is the government you deserve," etc etc

 

[B61]

More importantly, he experienced a Red Circle of Death, which amazingly enough went away, and then (after a dealer service first) never returned. (Whew!)

I have experienced Red Circle of Death on my CT4 as well… and it went away after 40 minutes, so i was able to drive about 70km to next charging stations, where it charged well. When i ended, a yellow “circle of death” occured on the screen… and the rest is the history, now i have 4S

 

[262X40]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

Clickbait is a title that doesn’t deliver when it comes to content. I delivered in this video. It’s critical to get people into the tent. Why spend days producing and throw the effort away with a boring thumbnail?

Tom posted at this forum when he took delivery, but I couldn't find that thread, so I'm starting a new thread here for his follow-up video assessment.

Overall, and as always, I appreciate his earnest and straightforward manner (so unlike many social media influencer types).

His criticism of the bizarrely non-ergonomic center console lid is of course entertaining, although I haven't found the cargo sensor to be as overly cautious as he describes. (Although perhaps that's a sedan vs CT issue?)

I find the frunk far more useful than he does -- I used it to store my EVSE, adapters, downhill ski patrol emergency kit, snow shovel, ski repair tools, back-up clothing, and probably some other items I'm forgetting, so perfect size for all that, as well as kept out of my way given how seldom any of that is needed.

More importantly, he experienced a Red Circle of Death, which amazingly enough went away, and then (after a dealer service first) never returned. (Whew!)

I suspect he is far too trusting of the PCM for planning routes and charging, given that following it blindly for me would often add about an hour to a three-hour route.

As for the answer that the question in the subject header, I won't provide a spoiler!

The PCM works great for me against ABRP on my phone. And I store my charger and car cover up front. Works well for that!

The fact of the matter is the attention span of users is very small and if one is not immediately sold on the video thumbnail (which can vary based on device- phone, TV, desktop of varying window sizes, Tesla Youtube app, Google search result with even smaller thumbnail, etc) and clearly describing what it is about beyond a stock-looking photo of the Taycan and the person next to it, the video would not get viewed. The clearly visible title is just fine- at least there’s no AI imagery of an annoyed/exploding person’s face.

Tom has gone to great lengths on his Taycan purchasing and ownership video series, with a lot of detail that would only concern prospective CPO Porsche owners; I imagine that is a very small percentage of his viewers but he did it anyway and I appreciate the effort he has put to make this and making every step as transparent and detailed as possible and appropriate for video consumption. I for one got value from this as I was making my CPO purchase journey at the same time and got my Taycan shortly after Tom’s.

Amen. The thumbnail can be as small as an inch on some screens. It has to pop. Hope I was of some help during your purchase!

The smart creators' title+thumbnail creation is very data driven. They will try different ones, the ones which get most engagement (also, make most money) win. So what drives it is not creators, but viewers. Therefore, it's not creators that have to figure it out, but rather the rest of the world - a much tougher proposition, so much less likely to ever happen.

Here is some more information on that, if interested:

True. I had three thumbnails. This was the clear winner in the A B C testing.

If you're saying we all have emotions, we sure do. Do we all act on emotions, that's more complicated. I try to make my decisions using logic, or rational thinking, but that can and in fact does account for emotional outcomes. For example, I bought the Taycan because I enjoy driving as well as reverse engineering and improving my cars, and out of all the cars I looked at for a while, I decided it would give me the most pleasure, which is an emotion. I drove Model S'es for a decade because couldn't find a car I thought would give me more pleasure. I compared that against how much pleasure would saving the money by driving different cars instead be, and decided the Taycan is worth it to me. Status didn't really factor in, I've actually always preferred to tone down the flashiness of my cars (one reason quiet electric cars appeal to me).

As for click-bait, I try not to click on it not because of some arbitrary rule, but because I value my time. Headlines like "Porsche just did something that will anger its investors" tell me it's going to be a long article designed to show me as many ads as possible so that I can find out what that something is that Porsche did. That would be a waste of time for me.

PS>I'm quietly hoping AI will help solve most of the click-baits by providing summaries, so a headline like "Show X new season premiere date announced" will simply show me "Show X season premiere has been announced to be mm/dd/yy at hh:mm", rather than having to click on the headline and scroll through 5 pages looking for the date. Kind of like the story of a beta tester of Apple AI how his girlfriend sent pages and pages of text messages, of which AI provided a succinct summary "You are no longer in a relationship. Ex-girlfriend wants her stuff

It’s critical to get people into the tent. Why spend days producing and throw the effort away with a boring thumbnail? And I think AI will only make things worse. Hope I’m wrong.

 

[262X40]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

Clickbait is a title that doesn’t deliver when it comes to content. I delivered in this video. It’s critical to get people into the tent. Why spend days producing and throw the effort away with a boring thumbnail?

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

Without having seen, I can say after 17 months and 30K miles:
YES!

 

[262X40]

Tom posted at this forum when he took delivery, but I couldn't find that thread, so I'm starting a new thread here for his follow-up video assessment.

Overall, and as always, I appreciate his earnest and straightforward manner (so unlike many social media influencer types).

His criticism of the bizarrely non-ergonomic center console lid is of course entertaining, although I haven't found the cargo sensor to be as overly cautious as he describes. (Although perhaps that's a sedan vs CT issue?)

I find the frunk far more useful than he does -- I used it to store my EVSE, adapters, downhill ski patrol emergency kit, snow shovel, ski repair tools, back-up clothing, and probably some other items I'm forgetting, so perfect size for all that, as well as kept out of my way given how seldom any of that is needed.

More importantly, he experienced a Red Circle of Death, which amazingly enough went away, and then (after a dealer service first) never returned. (Whew!)

I suspect he is far too trusting of the PCM for planning routes and charging, given that following it blindly for me would often add about an hour to a three-hour route.

As for the answer that the question in the subject header, I won't provide a spoiler!

Thanks man, you beat me to posting it!

 

[262X40]

I'm waiting for the day when YouTube creators figure out the way to have their video get noticed is to do something different from everyone else, and NOT put a giant clickbait title in bright yellow letters on the thumbnail.

It seems we should be fast approaching that day.

Well, I'll argue a clickbait title is one that doesn't deliver on the content. My video delivers. I answer things. A guys got to get people in the tent. Subtle doesn't work these days.

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