I am not sure what update you refer to. I am taking it in tomorrow to dealership for some mysterious requirement, is that it? Otherwise I've tried the extended map on the front dash but I am still not comfortable watching it while driving. Too much small detail.
At least it's subsidised to a degree and it could be the cost differential is negligible once STD spec, list price, taxes & charging costs are taken into consideration. We need to see the spreadsheets to compare theses apples and pears.
I am going to try to stay closer from now on to see if you are correct, and sorry to those outside the US that did not get this as standard equipment. i DID say in my review I was not sure if it was an option or not. Clearly the answer is … "it depends."
Now that I’ve hit 1000 miles on the car, I’ve decided to offer my opinion on the features and purchased specs of my RWD Taycan, along with some mysteries yet to solve for those that might have more experience. I’ll start with the mysteries, then proceed to prioritize the features that I value most and would pay for if I were to be in the shoes of a buyer, and end with some irritations. For perspective, I drove a 911S for 12 years and my wife’s Tesla Model 3 for the past 2 years.
For those 911 owners I can confirm the car will be at least as much fun to drive as what you are giving up (unless you keep your 911, which is the better option). Before selling mine, I took it on the most winding roads in our area (the backroads of Rancho Santa Fe) and filmed the ride to show it off during a live auction. I took the Taycan on the same road recently and it seriously performed better on the turns, thanks in part to the rear-axle steering.
As for pick-up the RWD is not much different than either the 911S or Model 3. I am totally fine with that, any more power and I'd just catch up to traffic faster. Launch mode is a yawner for anyone that has driven either of these other vehicles. But what you lose in power you make up for in fit, finish, and other attributes of driving performance. The car is absolutely fun to drive. I need more places to go in it.
Now for the mysteries:
1. I don’t get “Sport Mode.” I keep the car in “Sport Plus” suspension and see no difference at all between “Sport” and “Normal” driving modes. It may be so subtle on the RWD model to be irrelevant. On the 911 the difference between both modes was very significant. Would love to hear from others.
2. Trunk operation. The auto-close feature doesn’t seem to work reliably, especially if there is an item in the trunk cavity. Even if that item is small and with plenty of clearance, the lid will only close halfway, which is useless.
3. I live in an area with a lot of steep driveways into and out of shopping plazas. I am afraid to leave the suspension on “Low” and leave it on “Lowered” and not clear on how to program the geo-location for it to rise automatically. I’ve manually lifted the car on exiting these lots and noticed that sometimes I’ll see “Smartlift automatically lifted the car” on passing through these areas but the performance of this feature is inconsistent. Advice on how to do this would be great.
If you are an owner please also check the “minor irritations” below in case you can relieve me of some of them!
Next: Prioritization of Features:
1. Auto-Regen. OMG this is a game changer and I am surprised it is not talked about more. I do a lot of freeway and stop/go driving, and I love that the car will slow down if I am cut off or approaching traffic. It significantly reduces fatigue and makes the ride smoother, because it does a better job braking than I could do myself. LOVE, LOVE. LOVE this feature. Would pay for it if it wasn’t already included. Far preferable to the Tesla auto-regen feature.
2. Rear Axle Steering. LOVE this feature. I can turn the car like it is a spinning top in a tight parking lot. This is a much bigger car than I drove before, and I am in fear of hitting things with it, but the RAS gives me the ability to turn on a dime. No more 3-point turns. Well worth the investment.
3. Ventilated Seats. I honestly did not know what this was but now that I have it, I love it. It will be especially nice in the summer to have the car cooling your butt.
4. It took some getting used to and I got a few bruises on my shins, but I now have the trunk opening feature working, and I think its an option but not 100% sure. You just tap the rubber underbody and the trunk lid lifts automatically. I use it whenever I am carrying sh*t that needs to go in there. Love it.
5. I never expected the wireless charging feature in the armrest for my phone. Value add!
6. The PCM has issues for sure, but overall I’ve been pleased with its performance. What I love is that the car knows I want to hear music and it connects and plays immediately. I don’t have to push play on my phone to activate it. I find myself playing with the display configurations much more than I need to. Its something of an irresistible time suck to have so many options on how to set up your displays.
7. The shortcut buttons are nice to have. I am constantly changing tunes and so I have the one on the steering wheel programmed to advance to the next song on my Spotify playlist. I haven’t thought of a good use for the other one because I use Homelink to operate my garage door (which works great).
8. The seats on the car are fantastic, and this is something every Porsche seems to get better than its competition. Not only is this version super comfortable, but the options for customizing your seat position are infinite.
9. The Auto Lane Keep feature is nice but I’ve seen it perform better on some cars I’ve rented. Many times the car is not detecting the lane markers on the left and/or right side of the road. There is no way this keeps me safe, so its just something I’d put on for those long drives to LA (I live in San Diego) to reduce fatigue.
10. The charging process has been straightforward for me so far, but to be honest, I’ve not used a public charger. I program the car to charge to 85% at night when our rates are lowest. No issues.
11. For cosmetics, I paid for the colored wheel crests and the black high-gloss trim. Together with the extra heavy tint it completes the look of the car (see pic). For now, Neptune Blue (which cost a bit extra) turns a lot of heads, but I expect over time we will see more of them. I just wish my neighbor did not buy the EXACT same color.
12. I finally figured out how to get the ambient light to match the album art. What a useless feature. But fun nevertheless.
Now for some minor irritations:
1. The maps options don’t really do it for me, maybe b/c I am so used to the huge display on the Tesla. Maybe over time I’ll find them useful. Even when I am using the navigation I find the image too small and crammed with a lot of info and icons I don’t understand. I think the CarPlay nav might be better and I’ve seen some debate about this elsewhere, but then you can’t use the “Hey Porsche” feature to activate it.
2. Speaking of “Hey Porsche,” I find I’ll ask her to “Call Mark” or something like that and get back “There is no location with that name.”
3. The weather app is very inconsistent. Many times it will not show. Or it will show, then disappear. Irritating especially if you have a new passenger that will inevitably ask “why isn’t that working.”
Bottom line: Great car, worthy of all the praise it has received. If I could have one in each color, I'd be set for life!
Thank you for your time to write down your experience. It gives great insight to what to expect when delivery day finally arrives.Now that I’ve hit 1000 miles on the car, I’ve decided to offer my opinion on the features and purchased specs of my RWD Taycan, along with some mysteries yet to solve for those that might have more experience. I’ll start with the mysteries, then proceed to prioritize the features that I value most and would pay for if I were to be in the shoes of a buyer, and end with some irritations. For perspective, I drove a 911S for 12 years and my wife’s Tesla Model 3 for the past 2 years.
For those 911 owners I can confirm the car will be at least as much fun to drive as what you are giving up (unless you keep your 911, which is the better option). Before selling mine, I took it on the most winding roads in our area (the backroads of Rancho Santa Fe) and filmed the ride to show it off during a live auction. I took the Taycan on the same road recently and it seriously performed better on the turns, thanks in part to the rear-axle steering.
As for pick-up the RWD is not much different than either the 911S or Model 3. I am totally fine with that, any more power and I'd just catch up to traffic faster. Launch mode is a yawner for anyone that has driven either of these other vehicles. But what you lose in power you make up for in fit, finish, and other attributes of driving performance. The car is absolutely fun to drive. I need more places to go in it.
Now for the mysteries:
1. I don’t get “Sport Mode.” I keep the car in “Sport Plus” suspension and see no difference at all between “Sport” and “Normal” driving modes. It may be so subtle on the RWD model to be irrelevant. On the 911 the difference between both modes was very significant. Would love to hear from others.
2. Trunk operation. The auto-close feature doesn’t seem to work reliably, especially if there is an item in the trunk cavity. Even if that item is small and with plenty of clearance, the lid will only close halfway, which is useless.
3. I live in an area with a lot of steep driveways into and out of shopping plazas. I am afraid to leave the suspension on “Low” and leave it on “Lowered” and not clear on how to program the geo-location for it to rise automatically. I’ve manually lifted the car on exiting these lots and noticed that sometimes I’ll see “Smartlift automatically lifted the car” on passing through these areas but the performance of this feature is inconsistent. Advice on how to do this would be great.
If you are an owner please also check the “minor irritations” below in case you can relieve me of some of them!
Next: Prioritization of Features:
1. Auto-Regen. OMG this is a game changer and I am surprised it is not talked about more. I do a lot of freeway and stop/go driving, and I love that the car will slow down if I am cut off or approaching traffic. It significantly reduces fatigue and makes the ride smoother, because it does a better job braking than I could do myself. LOVE, LOVE. LOVE this feature. Would pay for it if it wasn’t already included. Far preferable to the Tesla auto-regen feature.
2. Rear Axle Steering. LOVE this feature. I can turn the car like it is a spinning top in a tight parking lot. This is a much bigger car than I drove before, and I am in fear of hitting things with it, but the RAS gives me the ability to turn on a dime. No more 3-point turns. Well worth the investment.
3. Ventilated Seats. I honestly did not know what this was but now that I have it, I love it. It will be especially nice in the summer to have the car cooling your butt.
4. It took some getting used to and I got a few bruises on my shins, but I now have the trunk opening feature working, and I think its an option but not 100% sure. You just tap the rubber underbody and the trunk lid lifts automatically. I use it whenever I am carrying sh*t that needs to go in there. Love it.
5. I never expected the wireless charging feature in the armrest for my phone. Value add!
6. The PCM has issues for sure, but overall I’ve been pleased with its performance. What I love is that the car knows I want to hear music and it connects and plays immediately. I don’t have to push play on my phone to activate it. I find myself playing with the display configurations much more than I need to. Its something of an irresistible time suck to have so many options on how to set up your displays.
7. The shortcut buttons are nice to have. I am constantly changing tunes and so I have the one on the steering wheel programmed to advance to the next song on my Spotify playlist. I haven’t thought of a good use for the other one because I use Homelink to operate my garage door (which works great).
8. The seats on the car are fantastic, and this is something every Porsche seems to get better than its competition. Not only is this version super comfortable, but the options for customizing your seat position are infinite.
9. The Auto Lane Keep feature is nice but I’ve seen it perform better on some cars I’ve rented. Many times the car is not detecting the lane markers on the left and/or right side of the road. There is no way this keeps me safe, so its just something I’d put on for those long drives to LA (I live in San Diego) to reduce fatigue.
10. The charging process has been straightforward for me so far, but to be honest, I’ve not used a public charger. I program the car to charge to 85% at night when our rates are lowest. No issues.
11. For cosmetics, I paid for the colored wheel crests and the black high-gloss trim. Together with the extra heavy tint it completes the look of the car (see pic). For now, Neptune Blue (which cost a bit extra) turns a lot of heads, but I expect over time we will see more of them. I just wish my neighbor did not buy the EXACT same color.
12. I finally figured out how to get the ambient light to match the album art. What a useless feature. But fun nevertheless.
Now for some minor irritations:
1. The maps options don’t really do it for me, maybe b/c I am so used to the huge display on the Tesla. Maybe over time I’ll find them useful. Even when I am using the navigation I find the image too small and crammed with a lot of info and icons I don’t understand. I think the CarPlay nav might be better and I’ve seen some debate about this elsewhere, but then you can’t use the “Hey Porsche” feature to activate it.
2. Speaking of “Hey Porsche,” I find I’ll ask her to “Call Mark” or something like that and get back “There is no location with that name.”
3. The weather app is very inconsistent. Many times it will not show. Or it will show, then disappear. Irritating especially if you have a new passenger that will inevitably ask “why isn’t that working.”
Bottom line: Great car, worthy of all the praise it has received. If I could have one in each color, I'd be set for life!
AMAZING! Congratulations - one of the best color combos out there..Attached is some car porn for you….apart from the leather interior the only other cosmetic feature I added was the porsche crest to the front row seats. Sorry forgot to grab that pic.
