TC Fan
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So, I have now owned by 4s for about a month. Overall, it is, by far, the best car I've ever owned (as well as driven). As with anything, there are some drawbacks. However, I would buy again. Notwithstanding the positives, I think some changes could be made to the Taycan, Porsche, and Electrify America, to make things better overall.
Instead of posting a 5 page post, I'm going to hit the highlights, and expound where necessary. Happy to expound further/answer questions.
TAYCAN:
Good: Incredibly responsive, great handling, very comfortable, torque that makes driving fun (and merging/crossing roads/moving in front of people who won't let you in), and effortless. The trunk is large and holds 2 sets of golf clubs+.
Bad: The Aero wheels look cheap in person. Innodrive will often slow down out of nowhere - even when there's no cars around (sometimes due to a school zone (when there's no school), and sometimes for no apparent reason at all). The upgraded leather, though very nice, is not so much nicer to justify the premium price. Certain settings cannot be left on: sound, regen when you lift your foot off accelerator, etc., and need to be reset every time you get in the car.
Ugly - The car, inside and out, shows pretty much every fingerprint. The trunk has a design defect - the interior curve causes the automatic closure to reopen consistently (almost regardless of what's in the trunk). The back seat is not as spacious as I recall it being at the auto show (maybe it's because I have a 4s, but I would assume the opposite to be true).
PORSCHE:
Good: The company deserves its reputation of quality, great driving cars, and a fun brand,
Bad: Their customer service phone number largely pushes you back to the dealer, vs. being an independent and helpful service (PCS' knowledge base and willingness to help is low overall). This is fine if you have a good dealer, but if you don't, it feels like the company doesn't care (and will never know about the dealer's poor service). Pricing is nickel-and-diming. It's great that you can customize just about everything. As a practical matter, though, that customization doesn't necessarily incrementally increase the cost of the car. Giving choices within a pricing structure would be much more user friendly and customer-oriented. For example, window trim in black or silver should be the same price, and simply a choice.
Ugly: My sales team was horrible, and I don't say that lightly. Everything from telling me my order was fixed (when it wasn't), to giving me outright misinformation about the car and features (causing me not to order what I wanted), to delivering the car with less than a 30% charge (with no charging cable!), and not walking me through the features on delivery (the feature walkthrough issue was beyond their control, but then they weren't proactive and didn't reach out to schedule same), they were beyond bad. I could write a lengthy post just about this. Add to it the fact that when I raised this with Porsche, they kicked it back to the dealer twice (the first time the dealer called, left a message, and then did not return my call back - the second time they listened to me, but did not address my issues). Then, when I said I was still not happy with the outcome and wanted Porsche to contact me, they did not (and still have not - ~3 weeks later).
ELECTRIFY AMERICA:
Good: Once you get how it works, it's a fairly easy system to use. Not 100% plug and play, but very close, assuming you have a working station.
Bad: The Connect app actually doesn't work for this - you need to use the Porsche Charging App. Locations are extremely few (and I live outside of Chicago), and those that are around have few chargers in general (and almost none above 50kw, which is nowhere near the 800 kw touted by Porsche when I locked my order). I know, they're coming - but when? This should be a priority (at least upgrading the current ones, but it doesn't appear to be). Finally, almost every cable requires convoluted/sideways parking to plug into the machine. Another 2 feet per cable wouldn't have cost that much more, and would have made it much easier to use.
Ugly: For a relatively new system, it's surprising how many of their chargers are faulty/won't connect/are down/can't be fixed by a phone call. This is a real problem, because it's not like gas stations - you can't go another mile and get a fill up. While there may be other non-EA charging stations in the area, that will cost you (undermining the "free" 3 year charging at EA for Taycan owners), and the third-party locations are often not higher than 50kw either. If you are very low on charge, 50kw is slower than watching paint dry.
As I said, I'm happy to expound, but hopefully this is helpful to people waiting/considering buying. Also, given there are supposedly a number of Porsche employees on this site, attention to customer service (and responding to requests for follow up), should be a priority. Covid-19 has not affected the ability to pick up the phone or send emails.
Instead of posting a 5 page post, I'm going to hit the highlights, and expound where necessary. Happy to expound further/answer questions.
TAYCAN:
Good: Incredibly responsive, great handling, very comfortable, torque that makes driving fun (and merging/crossing roads/moving in front of people who won't let you in), and effortless. The trunk is large and holds 2 sets of golf clubs+.
Bad: The Aero wheels look cheap in person. Innodrive will often slow down out of nowhere - even when there's no cars around (sometimes due to a school zone (when there's no school), and sometimes for no apparent reason at all). The upgraded leather, though very nice, is not so much nicer to justify the premium price. Certain settings cannot be left on: sound, regen when you lift your foot off accelerator, etc., and need to be reset every time you get in the car.
Ugly - The car, inside and out, shows pretty much every fingerprint. The trunk has a design defect - the interior curve causes the automatic closure to reopen consistently (almost regardless of what's in the trunk). The back seat is not as spacious as I recall it being at the auto show (maybe it's because I have a 4s, but I would assume the opposite to be true).
PORSCHE:
Good: The company deserves its reputation of quality, great driving cars, and a fun brand,
Bad: Their customer service phone number largely pushes you back to the dealer, vs. being an independent and helpful service (PCS' knowledge base and willingness to help is low overall). This is fine if you have a good dealer, but if you don't, it feels like the company doesn't care (and will never know about the dealer's poor service). Pricing is nickel-and-diming. It's great that you can customize just about everything. As a practical matter, though, that customization doesn't necessarily incrementally increase the cost of the car. Giving choices within a pricing structure would be much more user friendly and customer-oriented. For example, window trim in black or silver should be the same price, and simply a choice.
Ugly: My sales team was horrible, and I don't say that lightly. Everything from telling me my order was fixed (when it wasn't), to giving me outright misinformation about the car and features (causing me not to order what I wanted), to delivering the car with less than a 30% charge (with no charging cable!), and not walking me through the features on delivery (the feature walkthrough issue was beyond their control, but then they weren't proactive and didn't reach out to schedule same), they were beyond bad. I could write a lengthy post just about this. Add to it the fact that when I raised this with Porsche, they kicked it back to the dealer twice (the first time the dealer called, left a message, and then did not return my call back - the second time they listened to me, but did not address my issues). Then, when I said I was still not happy with the outcome and wanted Porsche to contact me, they did not (and still have not - ~3 weeks later).
ELECTRIFY AMERICA:
Good: Once you get how it works, it's a fairly easy system to use. Not 100% plug and play, but very close, assuming you have a working station.
Bad: The Connect app actually doesn't work for this - you need to use the Porsche Charging App. Locations are extremely few (and I live outside of Chicago), and those that are around have few chargers in general (and almost none above 50kw, which is nowhere near the 800 kw touted by Porsche when I locked my order). I know, they're coming - but when? This should be a priority (at least upgrading the current ones, but it doesn't appear to be). Finally, almost every cable requires convoluted/sideways parking to plug into the machine. Another 2 feet per cable wouldn't have cost that much more, and would have made it much easier to use.
Ugly: For a relatively new system, it's surprising how many of their chargers are faulty/won't connect/are down/can't be fixed by a phone call. This is a real problem, because it's not like gas stations - you can't go another mile and get a fill up. While there may be other non-EA charging stations in the area, that will cost you (undermining the "free" 3 year charging at EA for Taycan owners), and the third-party locations are often not higher than 50kw either. If you are very low on charge, 50kw is slower than watching paint dry.
As I said, I'm happy to expound, but hopefully this is helpful to people waiting/considering buying. Also, given there are supposedly a number of Porsche employees on this site, attention to customer service (and responding to requests for follow up), should be a priority. Covid-19 has not affected the ability to pick up the phone or send emails.
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