Goodbye folks... 4s and 3 year summary review...

[robborover]

Hi!

Long time, no post

So my MY21 4S is being returned next week (contract hire via biz) and here are my views:

1. It was fine as a car
2. It was average at best with software and technology
3. I should have had the larger battery - you could pick back then
4. Some of the features have simply never worked well e.g. auto boot opening with foot
5. low profile and driving position were nice but not great for me on the longer journeys
6. non porsche but charging network was/is rubbish at times
7. Having to go back to dealers for major software changes was a pain
8. My porsche / profile was/is poor

It still gets admiration and looks great so can't fault it for that but I won't be rushing to climb back into another one.

Thanks for all the help and support on here, especially in the early days. In the end I just gave up with all the niggles!

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[robborover]

Oh and munches tyres like no tomorrow... (not too heavy footed honest!)

 

[AllanG]

Thanks for your write up

What replacement car are you going for?

 

[robborover]

Thanks for your write up

What replacement car are you going for?

At the moment a health issue prevents that but once sorted….

Something way more practical / cheaper:

Kia EV6 / Volvo / Polestar. You get the picture.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Thank you for sharing your experience with 2021s certainly in the early adopter category. I drove several 2021 loaners for out-of-town journeys and experienced issues related to key not recognized, XM disappearing completely from PCM, charging connections (had to call EA almost every time I needed to charge), alarm going off, and so on. Then when 2022s came out, I drove that one for many days, and experienced no issues, so I placed the order for a 2023 in May of 2022 before the Heater issues reared their head in the 2022-2023 winter and Amplifiers were still on back order. My build was in April 2023, delivery in June 2023 and it has been flawless, just passed APN2 recall and on WPN9 update. The point I am trying to make is to give perspective to the new buyers who are looking at used 2020/2021 models vs 2022+ models. Compare this to a 2023 Lucids with now hours of footage of all kinds of issues with them, so their strategy is to announce an SUV at the LA auto show to drown that out. Every time I see one, I think, they are driving a Beta car, and like to deal with all the problems while losing money at an alarming rate.

 

[SteveDC]

Thank you for sharing your experience with 2021s certainly in the early adopter category. I drove several 2021 loaners for out-of-town journeys and experienced issues related to key not recognized, XM disappearing completely from PCM, charging connections (had to call EA almost every time I needed to charge), alarm going off, and so on. Then when 2022s came out, I drove that one for many days, and experienced no issues, so I placed the order for a 2023 in May of 2022 before the Heater issues reared their head in the 2022-2023 winter and Amplifiers were still on back order. My build was in April 2023, delivery in June 2023 and it has been flawless, just passed APN2 recall and on WPN9 update. The point I am trying to make is to give perspective to the new buyers who are looking at used 2020/2021 models vs 2022+ models. Compare this to a 2023 Lucids with now hours of footage of all kinds of issues with them, so their strategy is to announce an SUV at the LA auto show to drown that out. Every time I see one, I think, they are driving a Beta car, and like to deal with all the problems while losing money at an alarming rate.

I have the MY21 4S. I agree my first year was one problem after another, including dodgy charging at EA and getting to know their help team almost on a personal basis. After some software updates, things seem to have settled down. Charging at EVGo works mostly fine and EA even works sometimes. The car as a driving machine is just fine and a privilege to own. I will probably be looking at Taycan 2.0 when it comes out. As for my need to burn gas into the atmosphere, I have my little red car which I take out to play when the weather is good.

 

[007]

As for my need to burn gas into the atmosphere, I have my little red car which I take out to play when the weather is good.

Exciting! Something sporty and special like this?

 

[ChrisM]

At the moment a health issue prevents that but once sorted….

Something way more practical / cheaper:

Kia EV6 / Volvo / Polestar. You get the picture.

My wife has a Polestar - would happily have it as my daily driver if I didn’t have the Taycan. Can’t match it, clearly, as a driving machine but good enough for 85% of journeys.

 

[Crick]

It sucks that so many have had bad experiences - wish it weren’t the case. I can represent at least one case in which the experience has been excellent.

As a counter perspective, my MY21 has been super.

EA charge: I plug it in and it charges. Works great. That isn’t to say that EA hasn’t had issues with broken or out of service chargers - but the Taycan has been flawless. Home charging is dead simple (never had an issue with timer, limits, or cabin preheating).

The car had a broken lug soon after I took possession. My dealer simply replaced all the lugs on that wheel.

Software update was painless and added a bunch of features like Home Link access when in reverse.

The boot opens with a kick every time. The frunk - not so consistently … but I knew the frunk hand wave would be degraded by the PPF so I don’t blame Porsche.

it is a joy to drive at any speed. It’s fast. It’s quiet. The Burmester sound fills the cabin.

Range is exactly as advertised. I charge to 85% which gets me 196 mi (granted, temps where I live almost never drop below freezing).

Redwood City Porsche has been great. I had purchased tire and wheel insurance and needed both due to potholes this past winter. My dealer sourced and replaced a tire with a sidewall bulge and repaired a rim - $0 under insurance.

My car suffered from long brake pedal travel (lots of posts on this issue). I showed my dealer the service bulletin and the dealer did the recommended brake flush under warranty which fixed the problem completely.

For anyone considering a Taycan, note that some folks have had some issues with their cars. But not all of us have. Some of us are quietly relishing every mile of driving pleasure.

 

[snstevens]

Hi!

Long time, no post

So my MY21 4S is being returned next week (contract hire via biz) and here are my views:

1. It was fine as a car
2. It was average at best with software and technology
3. I should have had the larger battery - you could pick back then
4. Some of the features have simply never worked well e.g. auto boot opening with foot
5. low profile and driving position were nice but not great for me on the longer journeys
6. non porsche but charging network was/is rubbish at times
7. Having to go back to dealers for major software changes was a pain
8. My porsche / profile was/is poor

It still gets admiration and looks great so can't fault it for that but I won't be rushing to climb back into another one.

Thanks for all the help and support on here, especially in the early days. In the end I just gave up with all the niggles!

I also have a MY21 4S, but I'm keeping it and want to offer a different perspective for potential buyers (I'll keep my points aligned with your numbering system above for easy comparison).

1. Great car to drive! Fast and quiet, and so much fun both in routine driving, spirited driving, and on long trips. On long trips I will admit to having to do more planning than I'd like to be sure I have alternative to EA sorted out ahead of time.
2. It might sound heretical to some, but I'm quite used to the PCM and find that it has been fine overall. As an overall grade I'd give it a 3+/4- out of 5, so there is still room for improvement. What would I like?
   1. Faster boot times, frequent OTA updates for stability (bug fix), and new features.
   2. The ability to put Apple Maps (or other mapping available on Car Play) in the center tube of the dashboard.
   3. Better auto-parking support.
   4. Ability to show videos on the passenger display.
   5. Other misc. features.
3. I have the Performance Plus battery, but would love to have 110kWh battery (up from 93.4 kWh) which would give me ~280 miles range at 85%, and 330 miles at 100%. For my typical driving, the Performance Plus has been fine though. My hope is that new anode technology will offer additional kWh to the same battery size/weight footprint.
4. No trouble with the rear trunk "kick to open", or the frunk "swipe to open". I did have to watch a video first to get the right technique and location though.
5. My 14-way seats give the amount of adjustment I need. I've heard the 18-way seats have bolsters that are too aggressive, but this is one of those very personal things and I've not tried them so...
6. #1 ISSUE -- The problems with EA have been reported extensively. Some of the issues have to do with the CCS1 connector itself which is prone to breaking and hard to wrangle into the plug at times, some of it is the lack of timely repair to down chargers (coupled with a charger reliability which is inherently low), and some of it is an inability to provide charging speeds that are advertised. I continue to wait to hear of a Porsche partnership with Tesla - this will be a make or break item when I decide to get my next EV.
7. I have not found going to the dealer for an update to be an issue. My dealer has been responsive and loaners available. As mentioned above, I'd like to seem more OTA updates.
8. My Porsche has generally worked well for me. Some improvements I'd like to see include --
   1. Faster connection time.
   2. Ability to connect the PCM to it's server via my home WiFi.
   3. Ability to use my iPhone as the key to the car.
   4. Customizable Notifications.
   5. Stability (sometimes I can't tell if it is connecting or not).

I'd also like to complement everyone on this forum. I've learned so much from this group, and I always value your perspectives. Can't say I always agree, but in general you all meet my "no assholes" interaction criteria

 

[robborover]

Very pleased you have had good experiences. This is not my first porsche and who knows what they might tempt me in, in the future. I am not sure UK dealers have the same ethos as their US counterparts but that may be unfair.

 

[Kranky]

Any idea of total maint costs, tires, etc over the time you had the vehicle?

--K

 

[fullmetalbaal]

My lease is also approaching the point where I have to decide what car to drive next.

It's likely not going to be a Taycan. Just too many issues, both in terms of sw quality and in terms of overall design/trade-offs. And their pace in the last 2 years gives me zero confidence that they will suddenly magically fix it in the next updates.

Guilty conscience is stopping me from going back to a 911. I keep waiting for the EV-Macan to be ready in the hopes that they finally get some of the EV basics right, but they keep moving that date out...

Maybe I'll just do something very different and give the Rivian a try while Porsche sorts their shit out.

 

[robborover]

Any idea of total maint costs, tires, etc over the time you had the vehicle?

--K

Great question
I would say low on maintenance for sure... over almost exactly 3 years, less thank £600 GBP.

On tyres, probably... > £2,000 over the same period easily.

 

[robborover]

My lease is also approaching the point where I have to decide what car to drive next.

It's likely not going to be a Taycan. Just too many issues, both in terms of sw quality and in terms of overall design/trade-offs. And their pace in the last 2 years gives me zero confidence that they will suddenly magically fix it in the next updates.

Guilty conscience is stopping me from going back to a 911. I keep waiting for the EV-Macan to be ready in the hopes that they finally get some of the EV basics right, but they keep moving that date out...

Maybe I'll just do something very different and give the Rivian a try while Porsche sorts their shit out.

What generation are Rivian on now though? Whilst my 4s was not first model year it certainly felt like it was!

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