6 months in with 4S - the great/good, the bad/ugly

[IcanTaycan]

If I wanted a vehicle that prioritized electronics, but drove sloppily, I would have bought another Model S. Do the messages about Sirius/XM bother me? Nope, because I know the car climbs, descends, corners, and accelerates like no other.

This is a false choice though, a car at this price point should both drive like a porsche and have great electronics and software experience. If Tesla (and others) can bring better software and electronics at lower price point than what Porsche charges today, Porsche should be expected to beat that experience instead of compensating for it in driving experience IMO

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[Greenmachine]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have spent countless hours learning about this car, and even have my house wired up and ready to charge it even though I’m months away from getting it. My excitement has gone back up a bit…thanks

4 months in with a 2021 and it has been pretty flawless. Yes I get the occasional words in German and yes the alarm goes off if I don’t turn off the interior sensors, but really, who the hell cares about these when the car looks, drives and feels so much better than anything else on the road.

 

[Mazikeen]

I have a MY22 that I took delivery of in December. I have not had many of the problems some other owners have reported. The only problem I have is with plug & charge. It works sporadically so I mainly go thru the app. I tried again yesterday and still ended up having to go thru the app to get the session started.

Overall, I am very happy with the car.

 

[mod72346]

It's actually surprising to hear so many positive testimonies. I literally just 5 minutes ago stepped outside to put my car into garage, and it gave me the usual "subscription changed", "check SiriusXM antenna", and then boom -- "Park Assist not available, service necessary, blah-blah-blah" and cameras wouldn't work. I had to shut it down, wait a minute, start again - only then cameras came on. Is my car a lemon??? I get it, it's fun to drive, but it's just been so frustrating.

 

[GG77]

I just took delivery of a MY22 4S a couple of weeks ago and my experience has been very positive so far. But I definitely understand your frustration. I went through something like that with our first Cayenne a few years ago. Got rid of it after trying to work with the dealer and PCNA to make things work. Revisited last year, bought one and it's worked very well.

If the frustrating aspects outweigh the positives for you I would certainly think about letting go of the vehicle and moving to something else for the time being. Maybe revisit the platform in time when Porsche software has had more refinements.

There's a point, after most reasonable avenues have been exhausted, where it's not worth the trouble..obv that point is different for everyone.

 

[f1eng]

I think Porsche's tradition of having many different options must make keeping any software bug free and efficient all but impossible.
There are thousands of different combinations of controller and its software interactions on a Porsche whereas there sensibly seem to be only two choices on a Tesla, if I understand correctly.

I am not a complete technophobe, having written the software that first earned me money in 1970/71 (in Fortran on punched cards) at a time when Imperial College, where I was a student, had a total of 2 computers.

Whilst this does look like a car ripe for disappointment I actually wish it had a mode where it was just a car
I want central locking and quite like sat nav but I could do without everything else.
The cars the Taycan will replace have been fault free for many years, had none of these things and the only thing I miss on them is hands-free 'phone though I use that very rarely.

It is sad that Porsche doesn't match their software quality with the car quality, I fear until they only sell one or two specs that will remain a problem. They are a car company struggling to match software expectations with their traditional multi-choice strategy.

It is a bit (IMHO) like the inverse of Tesla who are a software company making very average vehicle dynamics and build quality.

 

[feye]

With regard to WiFi - it's baffling why I can't connect my Taycan to home WiFi. Even my smart watch can seamlessly switch between cellular/Bluetooth/WiFi. But a $150k computer on wheels can't?

For what purpose?

 

[feye]

@mod72346
My perspective is that the way the car drives offsets all of the minor software glitches that affect the vehicle. All of your complaints, but one, are about the electronics of the vehicle.

Exactly!

If I wanted a vehicle that prioritized electronics...

...I'd buy the Taycan and a big tablet!

 

[kort]

I think Porsche's tradition of having many different options must make keeping any software bug free and efficient all but impossible.

and that is the part of elon's genius that allows the teslas to be less buggy, your model 3, S, whatever is other than battery size the same as the next one. You might be onto something with this idea that the plethora of options makes it hard to get the software perfect in each individual build

 

[gnop1950]

and that is the part of elon's genius that allows the teslas to be less buggy, your model 3, S, whatever is other than battery size the same as the next one. You might be onto something with this idea that the plethora of options makes it hard to get the software perfect in each individual build

That is a two-edged sword. The lack of customization options is one of the reasons I would never consider a Tesla. Personally, I'm confident that Porsche will constantly improve the software so I'm not overly concerned on that point.

 

[yman182]

I am sorry to hear about the troubles you guys are having with your cars. I have a MY22 4S. My personal experience has also been different. My sample size is much smaller than yours as I have only had the car for about a month and have about 1k miles on it. So far, knock on wood, I have not had any issues with it other than the internal alarm going off once when it should not have. Other than that the PCM has been rock solid, and it is by far the most fun I have ever had in a car.

 

[fgwinn]

It would be interesting to know how many programmers working on the Taycan product line at Porsche are actually driving a Taycan as a daily driver. If ALL of these programmers were behind the wheel of a Taycan the software bugs would probably be exterminated in a month.

 

[RBGtaycan]

It would be interesting to know how many programmers working on the Taycan product line at Porsche are actually driving a Taycan as a daily driver. If ALL of these programmers were behind the wheel of a Taycan the software bugs would probably be exterminated in a month.

It's called eating your own dogfood..Amen!

 

[Hirschaj]

It would be interesting to know how many programmers working on the Taycan product line at Porsche are actually driving a Taycan as a daily driver. If ALL of these programmers were behind the wheel of a Taycan the software bugs would probably be exterminated in a month.

Porsche are not building the software. They use this company… https://cariad.technology/de/en.html

So unfortunately I don’t think we will ever see the quality of software we’re looking for unless enough of us complain to both Porsche and Cariad in some very public ways.

 

[thecoloradokid]

It's actually surprising to hear so many positive testimonies. I literally just 5 minutes ago stepped outside to put my car into garage, and it gave me the usual "subscription changed", "check SiriusXM antenna", and then boom -- "Park Assist not available, service necessary, blah-blah-blah" and cameras wouldn't work. I had to shut it down, wait a minute, start again - only then cameras came on. Is my car a lemon??? I get it, it's fun to drive, but it's just been so frustrating.

I am pretty confident a number of us get those same messages. Does it affect the quality of the drive? Nope. Not trying to be a jerk, but If that stuff bothers you, then you are in the wrong car. Some of those messages have been popping up for quite a while, and Porsche has not addressed them, and I don't think they will.

Last fall I charged in Winslow, AZ on my way to Scottsdale for a little R&R. When I finished charging at 90% I unplugged and then turned the car on. The PCM did not even turn on. Frustrating? Kind of, but I still enjoyed my scenic drive via Payson down to Scottsdale. When I checked into the Westin in Kierland, the PCM reset itself and I have not seen that happened again. It is what it is.

This is a new type of vehicle for Porsche, so if you thought you were going to get a perfect car then that is on you, especially once people started to share their frustrations after the vehicle first came out. I can't remember his name, but he was one of the first Taycan owners on this forum to document some of the software issues with the Taycan. He drove his new Taycan from Maine to Florida, to California, Canada, and then home. He documented a lot of issues with the vehicle, so information was available on the wonkiness of the software from the first cars that rolled out.

Other than tell you to not let the mediocre electronics frustrate you, I don't know what to say. I drive my Taycan almost every day, and road trip almost monthly in it. I am 6'3 and look like an idiot getting in and out of the car, but I don't care because the car is phenomenal to drive. I focus on the road and the feel of the car. Hell, I barely look at the PCM except to change an XM station.

Cheers, and I hope you learn to love your car since many of us do.

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