Newbie - day #1

[ct4s]

Day one with my new [to me] 2-year old 4S CT.

Initial thoughts and some questions below.

There’s a lot to learn and hopefully familiarity won’t take long. Is there a good user guide / top tips / gotchas site, forum post or YouTube channel to speed this process up?


Initially impressed with:

• Comfort - by far and away the best riding car I’ve owned; amazing on the motorway and local poor quality roads. Acoustic glass may play a big part or a subtle difference, I have no way of knowing.
• Performance - seems plenty quick enough. And very smooth with it.
• A very nice place to sit – full leather, heated seats + wheel and cooled seats too (def not needed today).
• Love the ground clearance. I have a steep driveway and the ride height memory function will be very useful.
• HUD is great; proving to be very helpful until I learn how to use the key driving features properly.
• Adaptive Cruise is great. But the execution in my 2017 Golf is way better – steering wheel buttons are simply better than a stalk; much easier to use in the Golf.
• Range seemed good enough. Full battery charge from the dealership, 135 mile trip and home with 45% battery left. (Stuck to the sped limits, so a gentle drive.)
• Looks amazing – grey with the 20” off road design wheels (which IMO looked better than the other Taycan’s at the dealer except for the Mission E’s).
• There will be many more things once I better know how it works.

Initial questions / advice needed:

• Tracker / tracker fob and insurance
  • When called my insurance co to activate the quote they provided last week, they told me it’s mandatory to have a tracker and it must be active at all times for the insurance to be valid. Luckily, there’s a Porsche tracker in the car, though I had to pay to activate it. However, the tracker has a separate fob, and by design there is no way to attach a key ring to it because they don’t want it being attached to the key. This makes sense in case the key is lost together with the tracker.
  • But, do I now need to carry two keys at all times – plus the car key being pretty large - verses just 1 key for every other car I’ve owned? And because the tracker fob can’t be attached to anything, the risk of losing it is quite high. I think this solution is very poorly executed and will be a massive faff.
  • Is this normal and how I should be using the tracker? I was hoping to use the app (ideally on Apple watch) to lock and unlock rather than taking the key with me; similar to what I think you can do with the iPace active key / Tesla.
  • If I leave the tracker fob at home, can I still drive the car and will the tracker itself still be active? Or will driving it with no tracker fob trigger an alarm / alert with Porsche?
  • Will the insurance still be valid if I don’t have the fob with me when I drive or park it? I know it won’t be insured if it’s stolen and I left the fob in the car, but I’m not clear on what happens if I drive to work and leave the fob at home for example.
• Heated mirrors
  • On my Golf, there is a heated mirror switch. The 4S has adaptive and dipping mirrors, but I can’t see a heating button or menu option. Is this another extra, is it automatic depending on temperature or simply not possible?
• Spotify
  • I’m a Spotify premium customer and I linked my account to the car with no issues. However, I can’t play any music, not even a playlist that is downloaded to my iPhone.
  • I can see playlists, can select a playlist, see all tracks, see the track artwork etc, but instead of music I get a “loading data” message
  • Any suggestions?
• Phone
  • Is there a better way to make calls for call clarity etc – so Apple CarPlay or the native Porsche phone app?
  • My car was in the wireless charger. But after 2.5 hours the battery was lower than when I started. I was using wireless CarPlay but even still, not impressed. And my phone was very hot!
  • As a fallback, is it possible to use a cable and wired CarPlay?
• Radio
  • Complete faff. Without going to the main screen and “music” menu, is there an easy and intuitive way to go back / forward for a radio station (or Spotify tack)? This is straight forward using steering wheels buttons on my Golf.
• PPF
  • I’ve not used the charger yet, but after watching several Taycan videos, it seems likely a public charger cable will drag on the wing / bonnet; especially water cooled ones which vibrate slightly. Anyone done a PPF? Happy with it / who would you recommend?

Unexpected / caught me out / is this normal:

• There was no way to charge from a UK 3 pin socket, just a public charger cable. Apparently this wasn’t standard kit on a Dec 2021 car. Sorted a satisfactory solution with the dealer, which is a relief as it’ll be a few weeks until I get a home charger.
• No boot mat / protector. It wasn’t listed in the advert but I assumed for a car with a retail of £120k it would be standard. I’ll have to order one.

Overall, impressed and need to do a lot of learning.

If you got this far, thanks for reading.

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[RAHRCR]

Hey newbie and welcome…..congrats on the car. You are obliged to post a pic though ?

 

[daveb3473]

Spotify needs an almost perfect signal. Otherwise you get loading data. Also. Once you get loading data it will never work until you stop lock wait. Unlock etc. it’s rubbish!

 

[MarkR]

Welcome to the forum, and great choice. It would be good to see some pics. There is a lot of experience here. I am relatively new to a CT4 and have found that everyone is very helpful.

In terms of your experiences so far, I agree the tracker fob is a bit of a faff. Remember to keep it separate from the keys when at home. I have mine in a faraday pouch, and the same with the keys in a different place. Have to remember to take them both when I go out, but getting used to it now, as it is a bit of a routine. I had battery issues in mine and kept getting calls from the tracker company, so yes you do need to make sure you take it with you to prevent this.

I think the mirror heats up automatically. At least that is my experience.

I am also a Spotify Premium customer too and it does work. I have had an issue over the weekend which cleared yesterday, where it would not link to my account, but that is solved now. Have you tried connecting through Android Auto or Carplay to check this works? I do get a short period where it is loading, but that only last about a minute at most.

In terms of the radio, I believe that you can set the diamond button on the steering wheel to move to the next track, I have this set for sport sound, but I think you can use it for a music function instead. Worth checking this.

Enjoy the car...!

 

[ct4s]

Spotify needs an almost perfect signal. Otherwise you get loading data. Also. Once you get loading data it will never work until you stop lock wait. Unlock etc. it’s rubbish!

Christ - that’s crap.
Is that even the case for a playlist downloaded to my phone?

Spotify needs an almost perfect signal. Otherwise you get loading data. Also. Once you get loading data it will never work until you stop lock wait. Unlock etc. it’s rubbish!

 

[daveb3473]

downloaded

I’m afraid so!

 

[allroadusa]

Nice ride!
Heated mirrors are manually activated along with the rear window defroster softkey or automatically when preconditioning.

 

[Hirschaj]

Christ - that’s crap.
Is that even the case for a playlist downloaded to my phone?

Use CarPlay or Android Auto for your Spotify needs and you'll be just fine.

 

[ct4s]

Use CarPlay or Android Auto for your Spotify needs and you'll be just fine.

Tried CarPlay [can't use Android Auto because I'm an Apple user] and it didn't work, just showed the message, "loading data".
Or do you mean using wired CarPlay?

 

[Hirschaj]

Tried CarPlay [can't use Android Auto because I'm an Apple user] and it didn't work, just showed the message, "loading data".
Or do you mean using wired CarPlay?

Both wired and wireless CarPlay work great for me.

 

[arijaycomet]

Pardon if any of my replies below are a repeat of others...

Heated mirrors
As others said, works in conjunction with rear defrost, and/or when preconditioning (preheating cabin) on a cold day. Same goes with the rear defrost, actually; if it is cold enough when you "remote start" that will just happen as needed in my experience.

Phone (+ Spotify/etc)
I'm an Apple CarPlay user, and I find that works best for call quality. I use wireless CarPlay here, and it has been good. Additionally, the native Music feature in PCM kind of sucks. I dont use Spotify, but I use Apple Music and have the same issues you and others mentioned. I have found that CarPlay connects faster, and the UX is better. So if you don't mind that experience, you'll prefer the queue up of music via that. Only downside is you aren't using the music icon on the far LEFT but instead in the CarPlay menu just to right of it. But muscle memory you'll be fine eventually.

Charging
Wireless charger in the car overheated my phone too. I ended up getting a setup from ProClipUSA (but I'm stateside, you clearly are not). (Maybe they ship overseas?) either way, an alternate charger is ideal, or of course if you are not a "phone user while driving" then wired CarPlay may be your preference. Matter of fact, you'll have less lag from the radio buttons.

Music Buttons
You can set the diamond buttons (either) to be "next track" -- I have the one on the steering wheel set accordingly. That said, if you hit the top left corner "home" button a second time you have 3x tiles you can set to whatever you want. My preference there left to right is navigation, music, weather. Use the 3-dot menu button to configure that screen. in that display, there will be buttons for next/prev play/pause under the music playing -- that is a nice on screen method

Steering Wheel Controls / ACC
Totally agree here. I've had more than my fair share of cars and I've always preferred to have the cruise as buttons on the wheel over a stalk. I find the stalk works acceptable, but not as intuitive at times. It sort of makes sense (move stalk FORWARD makes the car go faster, move stalk BACKWARDS to slow down, up to resume, down to cancel) -- but I'm with you there. My wife's Volvo has buttons, it's just better.

PS: I'm not a UK resident but my replies should be universal, hopefully! enjoy the car!

 

[W1NGE]

Day one with my new [to me] 2-year old 4S CT.

Initial thoughts and some questions below.

There’s a lot to learn and hopefully familiarity won’t take long. Is there a good user guide / top tips / gotchas site, forum post or YouTube channel to speed this process up?


Initially impressed with:

• Comfort - by far and away the best riding car I’ve owned; amazing on the motorway and local poor quality roads. Acoustic glass may play a big part or a subtle difference, I have no way of knowing.
• Performance - seems plenty quick enough. And very smooth with it.
• A very nice place to sit – full leather, heated seats + wheel and cooled seats too (def not needed today).
• Love the ground clearance. I have a steep driveway and the ride height memory function will be very useful.
• HUD is great; proving to be very helpful until I learn how to use the key driving features properly.
• Adaptive Cruise is great. But the execution in my 2017 Golf is way better – steering wheel buttons are simply better than a stalk; much easier to use in the Golf.
• Range seemed good enough. Full battery charge from the dealership, 135 mile trip and home with 45% battery left. (Stuck to the sped limits, so a gentle drive.)
• Looks amazing – grey with the 20” off road design wheels (which IMO looked better than the other Taycan’s at the dealer except for the Mission E’s).
• There will be many more things once I better know how it works.

Initial questions / advice needed:

• Tracker / tracker fob and insurance
  • When called my insurance co to activate the quote they provided last week, they told me it’s mandatory to have a tracker and it must be active at all times for the insurance to be valid. Luckily, there’s a Porsche tracker in the car, though I had to pay to activate it. However, the tracker has a separate fob, and by design there is no way to attach a key ring to it because they don’t want it being attached to the key. This makes sense in case the key is lost together with the tracker.
  • But, do I now need to carry two keys at all times – plus the car key being pretty large - verses just 1 key for every other car I’ve owned? And because the tracker fob can’t be attached to anything, the risk of losing it is quite high. I think this solution is very poorly executed and will be a massive faff.
  • Is this normal and how I should be using the tracker? I was hoping to use the app (ideally on Apple watch) to lock and unlock rather than taking the key with me; similar to what I think you can do with the iPace active key / Tesla.
  • If I leave the tracker fob at home, can I still drive the car and will the tracker itself still be active? Or will driving it with no tracker fob trigger an alarm / alert with Porsche?
  • Will the insurance still be valid if I don’t have the fob with me when I drive or park it? I know it won’t be insured if it’s stolen and I left the fob in the car, but I’m not clear on what happens if I drive to work and leave the fob at home for example.
• Heated mirrors
  • On my Golf, there is a heated mirror switch. The 4S has adaptive and dipping mirrors, but I can’t see a heating button or menu option. Is this another extra, is it automatic depending on temperature or simply not possible?
• Spotify
  • I’m a Spotify premium customer and I linked my account to the car with no issues. However, I can’t play any music, not even a playlist that is downloaded to my iPhone.
  • I can see playlists, can select a playlist, see all tracks, see the track artwork etc, but instead of music I get a “loading data” message
  • Any suggestions?
• Phone
  • Is there a better way to make calls for call clarity etc – so Apple CarPlay or the native Porsche phone app?
  • My car was in the wireless charger. But after 2.5 hours the battery was lower than when I started. I was using wireless CarPlay but even still, not impressed. And my phone was very hot!
  • As a fallback, is it possible to use a cable and wired CarPlay?
• Radio
  • Complete faff. Without going to the main screen and “music” menu, is there an easy and intuitive way to go back / forward for a radio station (or Spotify tack)? This is straight forward using steering wheels buttons on my Golf.
• PPF
  • I’ve not used the charger yet, but after watching several Taycan videos, it seems likely a public charger cable will drag on the wing / bonnet; especially water cooled ones which vibrate slightly. Anyone done a PPF? Happy with it / who would you recommend?

Unexpected / caught me out / is this normal:

• There was no way to charge from a UK 3 pin socket, just a public charger cable. Apparently this wasn’t standard kit on a Dec 2021 car. Sorted a satisfactory solution with the dealer, which is a relief as it’ll be a few weeks until I get a home charger.
• No boot mat / protector. It wasn’t listed in the advert but I assumed for a car with a retail of £120k it would be standard. I’ll have to order one.

Overall, impressed and need to do a lot of learning.

If you got this far, thanks for reading.

1. Tracker - you must carry it when driving or moving the car otherwise you will trigger a silent alarm to Vodafone. Separate fob has been a Porsche thing forany years across the range. I've never lost mine. Don't leave on the car as this will deactivate the tracker.

2. Heated mirrors (if fitted) have no separate switch and activate when rear window demister is on.

3. Spotify or Apple Music.ale sure your Porsche ID is linked (My Porsche web site). Make sure you have LTE connectivity. Use the in built PCM app rather than your phone. Ensure Bluetooth is enabled and your phone is connected. Maybe check Privacy mode for the car is not enabled

4. Radio navigation via PCM media display, Hey Porsche, options via wheel are limited but depress the thumb wheel when media is displayed on the right list tube on the main instrument display to see the options.

5. Public charging shouldn't present cable issues at all. Not experienced that on 3+ years. My Dec'21 4S came with 2 tail connectors - 3 pin (emergency use only) and a 32A industrial connector / commando. Your Porsche EVSE would have been supplied with both from new. The optional item was the AC cable for public charging.

6. Load protector is always an extra. Good quality when you get one.

 

[ct4s]

Pardon if any of my replies below are a repeat of others...

Heated mirrors
As others said, works in conjunction with rear defrost, and/or when preconditioning (preheating cabin) on a cold day. Same goes with the rear defrost, actually; if it is cold enough when you "remote start" that will just happen as needed in my experience.

Phone (+ Spotify/etc)
I'm an Apple CarPlay user, and I find that works best for call quality. I use wireless CarPlay here, and it has been good. Additionally, the native Music feature in PCM kind of sucks. I dont use Spotify, but I use Apple Music and have the same issues you and others mentioned. I have found that CarPlay connects faster, and the UX is better. So if you don't mind that experience, you'll prefer the queue up of music via that. Only downside is you aren't using the music icon on the far LEFT but instead in the CarPlay menu just to right of it. But muscle memory you'll be fine eventually.

Charging
Wireless charger in the car overheated my phone too. I ended up getting a setup from ProClipUSA (but I'm stateside, you clearly are not). (Maybe they ship overseas?) either way, an alternate charger is ideal, or of course if you are not a "phone user while driving" then wired CarPlay may be your preference. Matter of fact, you'll have less lag from the radio buttons.

Music Buttons
You can set the diamond buttons (either) to be "next track" -- I have the one on the steering wheel set accordingly. That said, if you hit the top left corner "home" button a second time you have 3x tiles you can set to whatever you want. My preference there left to right is navigation, music, weather. Use the 3-dot menu button to configure that screen. in that display, there will be buttons for next/prev play/pause under the music playing -- that is a nice on screen method

Steering Wheel Controls / ACC
Totally agree here. I've had more than my fair share of cars and I've always preferred to have the cruise as buttons on the wheel over a stalk. I find the stalk works acceptable, but not as intuitive at times. It sort of makes sense (move stalk FORWARD makes the car go faster, move stalk BACKWARDS to slow down, up to resume, down to cancel) -- but I'm with you there. My wife's Volvo has buttons, it's just better.

PS: I'm not a UK resident but my replies should be universal, hopefully! enjoy the car!

Very helpful - thank you.

 

[ct4s]

Thanks for the replies.
No doubt I'll have more questions next week

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