Zillion27

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Hi guys, I thought I would share my experience of first couple of weeks with my Taycan. Went on an epic road trip to Yosemite.

Months of reading through this forum had me a little worried about potential issues with 12v batteries, PCM, electrify America… but here was my experience:

1/this car is amazing
2/no range anxiety ever (with battery +). Had zero issues with Electrify America and it is magical looking at the car add 5-6 miles per minute for free (plug and charge worked flawlessly). I did not track precisely but my range was way way longer than advertised as has been reported often.
3/ my RWD is (very) heavily optioned and I learnt to love just about every single box I ticked when configuring despite the cost (more on these later)
4/this car is amazing
5/only issue with the car so far is the PCM sometimes losing the favorite addresses stored (and one blue circle that would not go away on screen that was resolved with the two finger in corner of center panel hack that reboots PCM into engineering mode)
6/the speed of the RWD is plenty. Even with agressive driving you are never close to maxing out as instantly above any speed limit. Yes a bit more of a kick off the line would be fun but I felt happy with using the money for making the interior and tech top notch and the driving pleasure of the RWD is just as good as reviewers had said
7/ this car is amazing
8/ took me a while to figure out how to remove Porsche planning as it was not allowing me to charge battery as much as I wanted. Example of tech thinking it is smarter than you.
9/ compared to a Tesla the lack of regen is just a joy to drive with. Such a better feel for the road to drive like an ICE car.


so now onto the options

innodrive: this is the worst explained option and I was so close to not taking it and in fact my first times using I hated it (freeway) and then I figured out how to use it properly. Incredible. Let me explain. Like you I want a Porsche for the pleasure of driving. But many times - especially when in Yosemite - you are single lane on windy roads. This is where Innodrive excels. You have to remove the speed limit recognition and set the speed on the stalk some 5 to 10 miles above speed limit (and adjust via stalk by pulling towards you or pushing away when speed limits change) Typically you will catch up with car in front and then adaptative cruise control keeps nice distance and pace with car in front giving a great sense of added security in case someone slows down when you are not expecting) It takes turns beautifully 95% of the time. The amazing thing is that you are still driving and have a sentiment of steering especially when above speed limit as it takes some turns pretty agressively and you very much want your hands on the wheel, but the car is adjusting for topography and dealing with acceleration and guiding you along the road in a way that is more fun than controlling. I loved switching in and out of this depending on road conditions (taking over manually when road wide open). I had one epic 20 miles just outside the park at night with no cars on wide road with long curves that was a true piloting dream where I was very very happy to go above what innodrive would have let me do ;)

heads up display: I have actually dedicate the on wheel shortcut for this. It is great when approaching turns and you want it with innodrive to see instantly that the car has not lost the lanes. I find it a bit distracting at night and like to be able to run it off when on a longer stretch of road. I am happy to have taken this option that I agonized over.

3D cameras: i have seen a lot of conplaints on the rear cameras. When fully optioned the 3D camera where you canswivel around is pretty awesome. Love that.

passenger screen: makes the car look great and was constantly used during the road trip by passenger for music and secondary view of route and planning. Could have more options. Annoying that many of sub menus of PCM are locked when driving that could be opened up to passenger.

night view assist: looks great and super fun when trying to make sure we don’t miss a bear or a deer on the side of windy road. A bit of a luxury and does not change the driving experience but I like it.

Massage seats: the shiatsu mode is my favorite. It is really nice but not good at reaching my shoulder area due to position of head rest and would really need some on flat area of the seat to be optimal. Again gives sense of total luxury but could have lived without. It is one of those things that people who get in the car say “wow” about however.

sunroof: amazing for back passengers when travelling in such beautiful landscape. They loved having the rear control of the AC and again it just looks good to have screen there)

Olea leather seats ( beige) and paleo wood: feel and look awesome. Everything is just right. Loved the Bose sound system, ambient lighting and 14 way power seats. Did I mention before that this car is amazing?

rear axle steering: cannot compare what it would be without it but any less turning radius would be an issue. Same for PASM amd Porsche vectoring. Felt great but not sure what it would be like without. My sense is that all of these are a big plus.

powe folding mirrors, light puddle and port covers. None are required but all great to have and full sense of luxury and driving a very special vehicle.

sports sound: I personally did not see the value in this. Was actually shocked despite my insulating glass (that I am very happy I took as I imagine it would be way worse otherwise) how aware i was of the noise of the car without the sport sound.
Parking assist: completely useless

Porsche connect: I knew I wouldn’t want this and annoyed at myself at having given in and now have a massive useless set of cables and charger I will likely never need given electrify America everywhere I need it.

refrigerated case that plugs into 12v rear trunk. Never seen anyone talk about this. Great add-on that my dealer ended up throwing in along with cover. Great for trips.

and yes you guys guessed my conclusion: this car is AMAZING ?

a few pics from road trip (even if by then car was pretty dirty):

Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 617F76E8-EBB1-41DF-9BD7-08CEE235B144
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 51E64E54-5AAF-49EC-BA8B-4CE93AB27716
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 19E99ADF-0C82-47FC-B607-F3230E16F69A
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 08374BC1-0078-4C46-896E-9453B24B9E11
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 58E7F288-BBFB-4E4D-B9C2-FC4EC02FF649
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) 3181F098-F611-438F-BE7A-FE5709AE3030
Porsche Taycan Review of first 1000 miles Taycan RWD (all options ranked) A71111AB-6424-412C-9E52-31770DECFF8F
 
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submatrix

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refrigerated case that plugs into 12v rear trunk. Never seen anyone talk about this. Great add-on that my dealer ended up throwing in along with cover. Great for trips.
Any idea if/where this can be purchased?

Also, can you detail where you stayed in Yosemite? Did you have to charge while in the park, and if so, where?
 
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Zillion27

Zillion27

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The fridge is the “cool bag” on the configurator under the accessories. $210. Love it.

There is 5 ultra fast (350h) EA charging stations at a Yosemite Westgate Lodge 15 miles from park entrance. We stayed at Rush Creek Lodge that is nearby (and was great) Many charge points and other slower chargers in and around the park including one at Rush Creek itself (but kind of expensive and slow)
 

Windpower

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Great write up and fabulous pics! Thank you!

You have a very similar configuration to mine, but I decided NOT to go with Innodrive since it gets mixed reviews and I wanted to try it before I bought it. One of the nice things about the Tesla is that it comes standard with auto steer so you see how erratically the car steers itself in traffic before you plunk down $10,000 for the auto pilot (which, in my opinion, a complete waste of $10 grand). That said, I truly enjoy the Tesla auto steer when on an open road and am looking forward to the adaptive cruise control and testing Innodrive.
 


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Zillion27

Zillion27

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Yeah I hear you. I was so close to not taking it and I now feel it really adds to long trips and mixed driving modes (chill following other cars on winding road or uphill where it is nice to not keep foot on accelerator). It is a really interesting feeling to have such constant speed that a « manual driver » on windy roads switching between up and downhill never achieve the same level of smoothness. My passengers in the back called it « the train » when innodrive was on and said how much more relaxing for them it was vs me accelerating out of corners. The reason I didn’t go with the « testing » is that after much research I understand that the over the air version is missing some of the hardware that make it just right (can now not remember but I think the way the lane-keeping works…In my case it was really good and not at all « bouncy » as some have reported. )
 
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Zillion27

Zillion27

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I have just ordered a Model Y (without FSD) so will report back on comparing with Tesla base auto-pilot later but I have driven Tesla a few times and the philosophy is completely different. In Tesla case the car is driving you whereas innodrive is guiding you to be the better pilot. You are still in control and can accelerate and steer. It will be reading the topography ahead and know (almost always accurately) when to encourage you to slow down on a road you don’t know where there might be a dip or shaper turn ahead. Tesla does not do that. On some turns innodrive actually encourages you to tale the curb faster than you naturally would without knowing that road because it reads that the car is fully able to take it even 10 miles above speed limit.
 

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Re innodrive: I wish I’d configured my Taycan with that. Sadly, because I also failed to option the ACC, I cannot add Innodrive as a FoD. You review made me doubly bummed! Thanks for the post though, since we're almost twins.
 


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I have just ordered a Model Y (without FSD) so will report back on comparing with Tesla base auto-pilot later
Yes, it would be interesting to hear what you think. I don't use auto steer on my Y that much. But two times when I was using auto steer in traffic, it became confused and stopped steering. Luckily I was holding onto the steering wheel and was able to take over and avoided any problem. Thats why I think even the term 'auto pilot' is dangerous since it gives people the feeling that the car will really drive itself. Most of the time, on clear divided highways, auto steer works fine. Its just the once-in-awhile events where it auto steer can be dangerous.
 

XLR82XS

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Aloe leather seats ( beige) and paleo wood: feel and look awesome. Everything is just right. Loved the Bose sound system, ambient lighting and 14 way power seats. Did I mention before that this car is amazing?

and yes you guys guessed my conclusion: this car is AMAZING ?
BOSE is the best BOSE in a Porsche. Ambient lighting & 14-way seats: a must have.

And yes.... Taycan is amazing! :cool: ??
 

RobbieRed

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That is a fantastic review!
Really captures the kind of things and feelings we all buy a Porsche for.
I’ve only ever had one and that was a Macan diesel so that doesn’t count. ???
Got a 4S CT in dolomite silver due to me in October and I’m so excited I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas and this has just made me ever more excited! ?
 

taycanfun

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Hi guys, I thought I would share my experience of first couple of weeks with my Taycan. Went on an epic road trip to Yosemite.

Months of reading through this forum had me a little worried about potential issues with 12v batteries, PCM, electrify America… but here was my experience:

1/this car is amazing
2/no range anxiety ever (with battery +). Had zero issues with Electrify America and it is magical looking at the car add 5-6 miles per minute for free (plug and charge worked flawlessly). I did not track precisely but my range was way way longer than advertised as has been reported often.
3/ my RWD is (very) heavily optioned and I learnt to love just about every single box I ticked when configuring despite the cost (more on these later)
4/this car is amazing
5/only issue with the car so far is the PCM sometimes losing the favorite addresses stored (and one blue circle that would not go away on screen that was resolved with the two finger in corner of center panel hack that reboots PCM into engineering mode)
6/the speed of the RWD is plenty. Even with agressive driving you are never close to maxing out as instantly above any speed limit. Yes a bit more of a kick off the line would be fun but I felt happy with using the money for making the interior and tech top notch and the driving pleasure of the RWD is just as good as reviewers had said
7/ this car is amazing
8/ took me a while to figure out how to remove Porsche planning as it was not allowing me to charge battery as much as I wanted. Example of tech thinking it is smarter than you.
9/ compared to a Tesla the lack of regen is just a joy to drive with. Such a better feel for the road to drive like an ICE car.


so now onto the options

innodrive: this is the worst explained option and I was so close to not taking it and in fact my first times using I hated it (freeway) and then I figured out how to use it properly. Incredible. Let me explain. Like you I want a Porsche for the pleasure of driving. But many times - especially when in Yosemite - you are single lane on windy roads. This is where Innodrive excels. You have to remove the speed limit recognition and set the speed on the stalk some 5 to 10 miles above speed limit (and adjust via stalk by pulling towards you or pushing away when speed limits change) Typically you will catch up with car in front and then adaptative cruise control keeps nice distance and pace with car in front giving a great sense of added security in case someone slows down when you are not expecting) It takes turns beautifully 95% of the time. The amazing thing is that you are still driving and have a sentiment of steering especially when above speed limit as it takes some turns pretty agressively and you very much want your hands on the wheel, but the car is adjusting for topography and dealing with acceleration and guiding you along the road in a way that is more fun than controlling. I loved switching in and out of this depending on road conditions (taking over manually when road wide open). I had one epic 20 miles just outside the park at night with no cars on wide road with long curves that was a true piloting dream where I was very very happy to go above what innodrive would have let me do ;)

heads up display: I have actually dedicate the on wheel shortcut for this. It is great when approaching turns and you want it with innodrive to see instantly that the car has not lost the lanes. I find it a bit distracting at night and like to be able to run it off when on a longer stretch of road. I am happy to have taken this option that I agonized over.

3D cameras: i have seen a lot of conplaints on the rear cameras. When fully optioned the 3D camera where you canswivel around is pretty awesome. Love that.

passenger screen: makes the car look great and was constantly used during the road trip by passenger for music and secondary view of route and planning. Could have more options. Annoying that many of sub menus of PCM are locked when driving that could be opened up to passenger.

night view assist: looks great and super fun when trying to make sure we don’t miss a bear or a deer on the side of windy road. A bit of a luxury and does not change the driving experience but I like it.

Massage seats: the shiatsu mode is my favorite. It is really nice but not good at reaching my shoulder area due to position of head rest and would really need some on flat area of the seat to be optimal. Again gives sense of total luxury but could have lived without. It is one of those things that people who get in the car say “wow” about however.

sunroof: amazing for back passengers when travelling in such beautiful landscape. They loved having the rear control of the AC and again it just looks good to have screen there)

Aloe leather seats ( beige) and paleo wood: feel and look awesome. Everything is just right. Loved the Bose sound system, ambient lighting and 14 way power seats. Did I mention before that this car is amazing?

rear axle steering: cannot compare what it would be without it but any less turning radius would be an issue. Same for PASM amd Porsche vectoring. Felt great but not sure what it would be like without. My sense is that all of these are a big plus.

powe folding mirrors, light puddle and port covers. None are required but all great to have and full sense of luxury and driving a very special vehicle.

sports sound: I personally did not see the value in this. Was actually shocked despite my insulating glass (that I am very happy I took as I imagine it would be way worse otherwise) how aware i was of the noise of the car without the sport sound.
Parking assist: completely useless

Porsche connect: I knew I wouldn’t want this and annoyed at myself at having given in and now have a massive useless set of cables and charger I will likely never need given electrify America everywhere I need it.

refrigerated case that plugs into 12v rear trunk. Never seen anyone talk about this. Great add-on that my dealer ended up throwing in along with cover. Great for trips.

and yes you guys guessed my conclusion: this car is AMAZING ?

a few pics from road trip (even if by then car was pretty dirty):

617F76E8-EBB1-41DF-9BD7-08CEE235B144.jpeg
51E64E54-5AAF-49EC-BA8B-4CE93AB27716.jpeg
19E99ADF-0C82-47FC-B607-F3230E16F69A.jpeg
08374BC1-0078-4C46-896E-9453B24B9E11.jpeg
58E7F288-BBFB-4E4D-B9C2-FC4EC02FF649.jpeg
3181F098-F611-438F-BE7A-FE5709AE3030.jpeg
A71111AB-6424-412C-9E52-31770DECFF8F.jpeg
Thanks for sharing and great photos- It is also great to hear you feel the RWD has the power still.

On the porsche connect- are you saying you don't need it, a waste for money and basic cables etc it comes standard with is fine?
 
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Zillion27

Zillion27

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On the porsche connect- are you saying you don't need it, a waste for money and basic cables etc it comes standard with is fine?
For where I am I do not need to charge at home and the cost of redoing electrical and installing to have optimized charging is simply not worth it when I am 2 minutes away from a super charger. But happy to give you a great price on an unused Porsche connect if you want one ?
 

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For where I am I do not need to charge at home and the cost of redoing electrical and installing to have optimized charging is simply not worth it when I am 2 minutes away from a super charger. But happy to give you a great price on an unused Porsche connect if you want one ?
I've actually used mine a couple of times when I was pretty far from a high speed charger but could plug in overnite (including using it at a hotel once!)..you may want to keep it -esp. since you won't get much for it!
 

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Hi guys, I thought I would share my experience of first couple of weeks with my Taycan. Went on an epic road trip to Yosemite.

Months of reading through this forum had me a little worried about potential issues with 12v batteries, PCM, electrify America… but here was my experience:

1/this car is amazing
2/no range anxiety ever (with battery +). Had zero issues with Electrify America and it is magical looking at the car add 5-6 miles per minute for free (plug and charge worked flawlessly). I did not track precisely but my range was way way longer than advertised as has been reported often.
3/ my RWD is (very) heavily optioned and I learnt to love just about every single box I ticked when configuring despite the cost (more on these later)
4/this car is amazing
5/only issue with the car so far is the PCM sometimes losing the favorite addresses stored (and one blue circle that would not go away on screen that was resolved with the two finger in corner of center panel hack that reboots PCM into engineering mode)
6/the speed of the RWD is plenty. Even with agressive driving you are never close to maxing out as instantly above any speed limit. Yes a bit more of a kick off the line would be fun but I felt happy with using the money for making the interior and tech top notch and the driving pleasure of the RWD is just as good as reviewers had said
7/ this car is amazing
8/ took me a while to figure out how to remove Porsche planning as it was not allowing me to charge battery as much as I wanted. Example of tech thinking it is smarter than you.
9/ compared to a Tesla the lack of regen is just a joy to drive with. Such a better feel for the road to drive like an ICE car.


so now onto the options

innodrive: this is the worst explained option and I was so close to not taking it and in fact my first times using I hated it (freeway) and then I figured out how to use it properly. Incredible. Let me explain. Like you I want a Porsche for the pleasure of driving. But many times - especially when in Yosemite - you are single lane on windy roads. This is where Innodrive excels. You have to remove the speed limit recognition and set the speed on the stalk some 5 to 10 miles above speed limit (and adjust via stalk by pulling towards you or pushing away when speed limits change) Typically you will catch up with car in front and then adaptative cruise control keeps nice distance and pace with car in front giving a great sense of added security in case someone slows down when you are not expecting) It takes turns beautifully 95% of the time. The amazing thing is that you are still driving and have a sentiment of steering especially when above speed limit as it takes some turns pretty agressively and you very much want your hands on the wheel, but the car is adjusting for topography and dealing with acceleration and guiding you along the road in a way that is more fun than controlling. I loved switching in and out of this depending on road conditions (taking over manually when road wide open). I had one epic 20 miles just outside the park at night with no cars on wide road with long curves that was a true piloting dream where I was very very happy to go above what innodrive would have let me do ;)

heads up display: I have actually dedicate the on wheel shortcut for this. It is great when approaching turns and you want it with innodrive to see instantly that the car has not lost the lanes. I find it a bit distracting at night and like to be able to run it off when on a longer stretch of road. I am happy to have taken this option that I agonized over.

3D cameras: i have seen a lot of conplaints on the rear cameras. When fully optioned the 3D camera where you canswivel around is pretty awesome. Love that.

passenger screen: makes the car look great and was constantly used during the road trip by passenger for music and secondary view of route and planning. Could have more options. Annoying that many of sub menus of PCM are locked when driving that could be opened up to passenger.

night view assist: looks great and super fun when trying to make sure we don’t miss a bear or a deer on the side of windy road. A bit of a luxury and does not change the driving experience but I like it.

Massage seats: the shiatsu mode is my favorite. It is really nice but not good at reaching my shoulder area due to position of head rest and would really need some on flat area of the seat to be optimal. Again gives sense of total luxury but could have lived without. It is one of those things that people who get in the car say “wow” about however.

sunroof: amazing for back passengers when travelling in such beautiful landscape. They loved having the rear control of the AC and again it just looks good to have screen there)

Aloe leather seats ( beige) and paleo wood: feel and look awesome. Everything is just right. Loved the Bose sound system, ambient lighting and 14 way power seats. Did I mention before that this car is amazing?

rear axle steering: cannot compare what it would be without it but any less turning radius would be an issue. Same for PASM amd Porsche vectoring. Felt great but not sure what it would be like without. My sense is that all of these are a big plus.

powe folding mirrors, light puddle and port covers. None are required but all great to have and full sense of luxury and driving a very special vehicle.

sports sound: I personally did not see the value in this. Was actually shocked despite my insulating glass (that I am very happy I took as I imagine it would be way worse otherwise) how aware i was of the noise of the car without the sport sound.
Parking assist: completely useless

Porsche connect: I knew I wouldn’t want this and annoyed at myself at having given in and now have a massive useless set of cables and charger I will likely never need given electrify America everywhere I need it.

refrigerated case that plugs into 12v rear trunk. Never seen anyone talk about this. Great add-on that my dealer ended up throwing in along with cover. Great for trips.

and yes you guys guessed my conclusion: this car is AMAZING ?

a few pics from road trip (even if by then car was pretty dirty):

617F76E8-EBB1-41DF-9BD7-08CEE235B144.jpeg
51E64E54-5AAF-49EC-BA8B-4CE93AB27716.jpeg
19E99ADF-0C82-47FC-B607-F3230E16F69A.jpeg
08374BC1-0078-4C46-896E-9453B24B9E11.jpeg
58E7F288-BBFB-4E4D-B9C2-FC4EC02FF649.jpeg
3181F098-F611-438F-BE7A-FE5709AE3030.jpeg
A71111AB-6424-412C-9E52-31770DECFF8F.jpeg
awesome post!!
 
 




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