Great car that dealer cannot explain how to set up features

[Scotty]

The car is amazing, unfortunately when i purchased the car 4 weeks ago no one at the dealership knew how the pcm or other features work. I had to read the manual and it took me several hours to figure out the car. I still cannot get Porsche Connect to work. Porsche customer support also cannot explain how to get it to work. I tried to reach a connect specialist but that is impossible with long wait times
Area Porsche needs to ensure dealers can set up for new clients
* How to charge car and set up a profile for 85% charge target
* PCM key features that dealer should program with client
* Porsche Connect. Set up on clients phone and make sure it works
i think of the Taycan like a F35 fighter and i have been flying a Cessna. Maybe a little “training” from Porsche would help

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[Miwa]

I sure hope your Location isn't your password there in your user info...

On topic, for a lot of dealers, they can't do the full delivery experience, due to COVID. I'm bummed, as I rather like the whole delivery thing, even if the salesperson is telling me a bunch of stuff I already know.

 

[KensingtonPark]

I sure hope your Location isn't your password there in your user info...

I thought the exact same thing before I scrolled down to see your message!

 

[CJE]

The car is amazing, unfortunately when i purchased the car 4 weeks ago no one at the dealership knew how the pcm or other features work. I had to read the manual and it took me several hours to figure out the car. I still cannot get Porsche Connect to work. Porsche customer support also cannot explain how to get it to work. I tried to reach a connect specialist but that is impossible with long wait times
Area Porsche needs to ensure dealers can set up for new clients
* How to charge car and set up a profile for 85% charge target
* PCM key features that dealer should program with client
* Porsche Connect. Set up on clients phone and make sure it works
i think of the Taycan like a F35 fighter and i have been flying a Cessna. Maybe a little “training” from Porsche would help

I think the problem is that few or none of the sales people have lived with their new Taycans or have ever had extended experience with a Tesla. Like us, before we actually got our cars, they've either been reading the literature Porsche has been providing or engaging in a few test drives which does not prepare one for actually using all the car's features.

I think it takes day after day of fooling with settings and learning to use quick response features that makes driving with this new technology seamless. Using the controls, reading the screens, setting up options so they work reflexively takes time and trial and error. The dealer just doesn't know what to tell you or how regular usage works.

This happens with ICE cars to some degree if they have new tech that takes some getting used to, but in the case of an EV, it's all Greek to a dealer and the Greeks don't make a car.

 

[porsche_coyote]

FWIW, Porsche themselves do a pretty good job on the delivery at the Porsche Experience Center (at least that was my experience at PEC LA). I found the folks there were generally quite knowledgable and I left with everything set the way I needed it. They even noted that there were great YouTube videos that I could refer to later from Paul Steinbruner. Overall, it was a great experience but Porsche certainly need to get their dealers to the same place or risk a lot of unhappy customers. Given the number of Taycan buyers they've said are new to the Porsche brand, I believe that can't afford to continue with the half-baked delivery experience.

 

[Schlossj]

Literally leaving now to pick up my 4S (very excited) and dealer called to tell me PCM updates are not allowing my Connect profile to be loaded...so I’ll be driving around under a Guest profile for a bit. Trying not to get too bummed...anyone know what that means other than the fact that I won’t be able to use the app / get status of the car remotely?

 

[Dlurker20]

Literally leaving now to pick up my 4S (very excited) and dealer called to tell me PCM updates are not allowing my Connect profile to be loaded...so I’ll be driving around under a Guest profile for a bit. Trying not to get too bummed...anyone know what that means other than the fact that I won’t be able to use the app / get status of the car remotely?

Your settings won’t get stored. Did you give him your ID & password? H’ed need that in order to actually load you. On password, there’s a thread on password challenges, don’t have it too long (8 or 9 characters), only use ! as a special character, etc. Try doing it yourself.

As the OP highlighted, some dealerships don’t have a clue. Fortunately mine was great and my SA is very well versed in the Taycan and PCM. He helped me get everything setup and when I had questions after he was super fast with the right answers.

 

[ThumbsUp]

There was an individual dedicated to assisting customers with Taycan where I bought my car. My SA turned me over to him and he was fantastic in providing an orientation, helping me set everything up, and answering all my questions. He spent well over a couple of hours with me.

 

[Schlossj]

Your settings won’t get stored. Did you give him your ID & password? H’ed need that in order to actually load you. On password, there’s a thread on password challenges, don’t have it too long (8 or 9 characters), only use ! as a special character, etc. Try doing it yourself.

As the OP highlighted, some dealerships don’t have a clue. Fortunately mine was great and my SA is very well versed in the Taycan and PCM. He helped me get everything setup and when I had questions after he was super fast with the right answers.

Dealer stating there’s a PCM issue right now nationally when trying to add new cars...not sure if that’s BS but I’ve programmed a Guest Profile that seems to stick. Let’s see what tomorrow brings...

 

[svp6]

I tried to reach a connect specialist but that is impossible with long wait times

You have not missed a thing. I was able to connect 3 times so far, all politely clueless....

Porsche connect does not connect for me at all....

 

[Dlurker20]

You have not missed a thing. I was able to connect 3 times so far, all politely clueless....

Porsche connect does not connect for me at all....

As of this morning it’s not working for me either. Says “Car Control is currently unavailable. Please try again or contact Porsche Support.”

 

[Scotty]

I think the problem is that few or none of the sales people have lived with their new Taycans or have ever had extended experience with a Tesla. Like us, before we actually got our cars, they've either been reading the literature Porsche has been providing or engaging in a few test drives which does not prepare one for actually using all the car's features.

I think it takes day after day of fooling with settings and learning to use quick response features that makes driving with this new technology seamless. Using the controls, reading the screens, setting up options so they work reflexively takes time and trial and error. The dealer just doesn't know what to tell you or how regular usage works.

This happens with ICE cars to some degree if they have new tech that takes some getting used to, but in the case of an EV, it's all Greek to a dealer and the Greeks don't make a car.

I think you are correct. Some dealers have at least one person who has been trained. I went to BH Porsche and they were clueless once I purchased the car. The service reps do not even know how to correctly pronounce the name of the car! What is frustrating is Porsche customer support is also clueless, They do not even know the correct dept to transfer me to for technical support. This forum has been very helpful with tips . The suggestion that I view Paul Steinbruner's videos was good advice. Paul does a excellent job in explaining how to program etc the Taycan.

 

[Jaydoc]

So, what do you do when you have an issue and both Connect and the dealer are clueless? I've learned more here than anywhere. My Connect is completely disabled now and I don't have a lot of confidence that the dealer will be able to fix it next week (soonest appt!)

 

[NormF]

The car is amazing, unfortunately when i purchased the car 4 weeks ago no one at the dealership knew how the pcm or other features work. I had to read the manual and it took me several hours to figure out the car. I still cannot get Porsche Connect to work. Porsche customer support also cannot explain how to get it to work. I tried to reach a connect specialist but that is impossible with long wait times
Area Porsche needs to ensure dealers can set up for new clients
* How to charge car and set up a profile for 85% charge target
* PCM key features that dealer should program with client
* Porsche Connect. Set up on clients phone and make sure it works
i think of the Taycan like a F35 fighter and i have been flying a Cessna. Maybe a little “training” from Porsche would help

I agree. There are almost too many options to program/customize. The tech guy at my dealership was OK but I don’t think they have been fully trained on many things (such as charging). The Porsche website is woefully inadequate with regard to technical info/videos etc.

 

[wmras]

FWIW, Porsche themselves do a pretty good job on the delivery at the Porsche Experience Center (at least that was my experience at PEC LA). I found the folks there were generally quite knowledgable and I left with everything set the way I needed it. They even noted that there were great YouTube videos that I could refer to later from Paul Steinbruner. Overall, it was a great experience but Porsche certainly need to get their dealers to the same place or risk a lot of unhappy customers. Given the number of Taycan buyers they've said are new to the Porsche brand, I believe that can't afford to continue with the half-baked delivery experience.

Your quote “I left with everything set the way I needed it.” should be the outcome of every delivery.

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