Taycan 4S J1.2 Facelift delivered, some thoughts / review

[Vicelow]

Hi all,

I finally took delivery of my Taycan 4S facelift this week, and needless to say, I’m very happy overall!
This is it: https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PSJYA2H5

I’d like to share a few initial observations (mostly areas for improvement, so I won’t mention everything I like, which is most of the car). I’d love to hear your thoughts on the following:

Driving

• This is clearly where the car excels: fantastic road feel, incredible acceleration, and more.
• The electric sound adds a nice touch without detracting from the electric-car feel.
• I know range estimates can be inaccurate in the beginning, but does this also apply to consumption? I’ve seen very high values (e.g., 36 kWh/100 km yesterday). Is this normal for a new car, or is it more due to winter conditions here in Switzerland?

Driver assistance

Coming from a 2012 Audi A5 that cost a fraction of the Taycan, I’m surprised by the lack of progress in some areas over the past 15 years.

• The lane-keeping feature bounces between lanes, just like my old Audi, instead of keeping the car centered.
• The adaptive cruise control works better than the Audi, especially in stop-and-go traffic below 30 km/h. That’s a welcome and noticeable improvement.

I know many people argue that Porsche is about self-driving, but I disagree. There’s a difference between enjoying a sunny countryside drive and navigating a long, tedious highway commute in bad weather, where driver assistance is much appreciated. One doesn’t have to exclude the other.

I also intended to try out InnoDrive during the trial period and purchase it later if I liked it. Unfortunately, I learned just before delivery (too late to change the configuration) that FOD (Feature on Demand) for InnoDrive has been discontinued. That was quite disappointing.

Interior

I chose partial leather and regret it. I should have looked into it more closely, but I didn’t expect Porsche to include so many plastic parts that feel almost cheap for a car at this price point. The full leather in my Audi—at a fraction of the cost—was much nicer. Also, the beige tone isn’t quite what I expected.

Storage and practicality are a significant step backward and honestly the worst I’ve experienced in any car:

• No dedicated place for sunglasses.
• The space below the center console display is hard to access, and you can’t see what’s stored there.
• The armrest compartment is poorly designed—hard to open fully, difficult to access, and a terrible spot for phone charging. It doesn’t always charge immediately, so I have to adjust the phone’s position while driving

I’ve ordered the Nine Volt MagSafe charger for the cupholder, hoping it will help. For comparison, the Volvo EX90 we ordered has a tray with an easily accessible Qi charger—no awkward arm movements required.

Software

The infotainment system is less bad than I expected (I was prepared for the worst).

• Instrument cluster: Excellent—by far the best part.
• Main display: Could look more modern and feel snappier. The large middle-console display is nice, but the touchpad for navigating the main display doesn’t seem to work with CarPlay. Why?
• GPS: Google Maps with integrated POIs is a nice touch, but the maps look outdated. The Google Maps interface in the Volvo EX90 we test-drove recently seemed far more modern.
• There’s no CarPlay integration in the instrument cluster or HUD like in the Macan.
• While it’s nice to integrate Apple Maps for charge planning and SoC predictions, it seems buggy, often syncing incorrect information. Plus, there’s no battery preconditioning, making it less useful in practice.
• The My Porsche app is well-crafted with helpful features like charge planning and remote controls. I especially love the ability to plan routes and send them to the car. However, it’s slightly buggy (e.g., it showed I needed a major service two days after delivery, which later disappeared).
• The remote parking feature via the app is disappointing. It takes ages to connect, crashes, and isn’t intuitive. I’ve seen this feature work much better in other cars.
• From what I’ve read, Porsche’s software updates and OTA feature expansions are limited compared to competitors.

Miscellaneous

• Why can’t I close the trunk with the remote control (or am I missing something)?
• It would be great to close the windows, trunk, and charge ports via the app.
• Integration of remote features (e.g., preheating) into iOS Control Center in iOS 18 (like Tesla) would be a welcome addition.
• An iPad version of the My Porsche app, especially for trip planning, would also be helpful.

And a photo (sorry, no better one available with the current cold and rainy weather here)

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[Boss Hogg]

Congrats on the new car, looks great.

Regen from braking takes a hew hundred km to start to allow the mechanical brakes to bed in, so consumption will be high until this activates. If you brake hard a lot you can shorten the kms it takes for regen to start.

If you don't have the Active Lane Keep option, the default Lane Keep Assist is poor and jerky, turn it off by long pressing the bottom button on the cruise control stalk. Active Land Keep is far superior and much smoother at keeping the car in the lane.

 

[Vicelow]

Update, I’m withdrawing my comment about the software not being so bad. Wireless CarPlay stopped working, it’s driving me nuts. Tried everything - including a PCM reset to default, without luck. When I try to activate it, it says in the PCM: „activate the function on your smartphone and reconnect“. It does work via cable.

Any suggestions?

 

[DerekS]

I also intended to try out InnoDrive during the trial period and purchase it later if I liked it. Unfortunately, I learned just before delivery (too late to change the configuration) that FOD (Feature on Demand) for InnoDrive has been discontinued. That was quite disappointing.

Trust me that you’re missing nothing with Innodrive. It does irritating speed changes and little else.

ACC+ALK is all you need for the “autopilot” (ish) experience. Note however that it will disengage if it can’t see lines on the road, without warning. It requires full attention at all times.

 

[McgR]

Update, I’m withdrawing my comment about the software not being so bad. Wireless CarPlay stopped working, it’s driving me nuts. Tried everything - including a PCM reset to default, without luck. When I try to activate it, it says in the PCM: „activate the function on your smartphone and reconnect“. It does work via cable.

Any suggestions?

Make sure you are connected with Bluetooth and wifi to pcm. That can be an issue.

 

[kmcdonal]

Update, I’m withdrawing my comment about the software not being so bad. Wireless CarPlay stopped working, it’s driving me nuts. Tried everything - including a PCM reset to default, without luck. When I try to activate it, it says in the PCM: „activate the function on your smartphone and reconnect“. It does work via cable.

Any suggestions?

Also make sure the phone is near the center stack. When I have it in my left pocket with my keys and wallet, it often won't connect. If I then put it in the cup holder, it connects.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Welcome to the forum with your observations spot on. I wish you would have posted your build before you made the order on the forum so we could have guided you through the option choices.

Consumption: This will improve over time as the car is not optimal for consumption when new that has to do with limited regen as others mentioned, possibly keeping the battery in the tighter temperature range, and having more rolling resistance in the new tires. I can confirm driving a brand new 2025 RWD that I saw the same consumption figures. 2025 models have been extensively revised for efficiency to achieve 30% more range than before.

Driving Assistance: The issue is that you only have LKA which is not a lane keeping function and works as expected to assist you for not crossing the lanes. ALK is the function that you are expecting, that is part of InnoDrive. ALK and InnoDrive still available for pre-refresh models via FOD, but it is not available for 2025 models or Macan EV for anyone who did not option InnoDrive from the factory. Somehow, many were under the impression that the FOD will go on, but there is ZERO information about it in any launch materials for 2025 Taycan or Macan EV, or dealers misled the customers. I believe it will be available in the future if more owners complain.

Interior: This has been the biggest gripe from the beginning that the Standard interior vs. Leather Interior is not fitting the vehicle of this level and price. That is why it is important to compare the two in person to come to our forum and ask before you make the choice. I found that in the 2025 the Standard Interior has improved in quality over say a 2022 that I test drove a few years ago.

Storage: I agree with your storage gripes, but I see Taycan as a super car so compromises to be expected. I have not seen Porsche SUVs with sunglass storage unless the bins under the seat is one, with many basic cars having a cubby that falls down near the rearview mirror to store them. Some use sunglass clips on visors or other aftermarket gadgets to overcome this issue.

Software: I cannot speak to the software issues use cases that you describing as I am not an Apple user, so my impression is totally the opposite, since I like the most simplistic and cleanest interface that they have delivered in the original Taycan that I own. However, they have complicated the 2025 by imposing Audi Assistance Stock and then scatter Assistance functions all over the place, while I do like that Assistance screen now is in the middle tube. At least, it is not a mess I saw on the Macan EV I drove with lots of clear logical interface functions now way too complex and confusing, with my first impression that they crossed the line they always stuck to as in clean, simple, and minimalistic.

On the Misc front, all those are true and just cannot be expected on a Porsche. I think at least now on Macan EV it can lock itself when you walk away with a key, but I have not tested that on a 2025 Taycan if that is the case. Digital Key is also on the roadmap for Macan EV but not sure if that will trickle into the Taycan.

 

[Vicelow]

Thanks - it worked again after a while (without me doing anything) but seems buggy overall. I have a suspicion that it somehow interferes with my home WiFi (that the car is also connected to). Will observe futher

 

[Vicelow]

Thank you for the detailed response and interesting comments.

Regarding the software, I'm not missing any major functionality. However, the main screen software and Google Maps interface feel a bit outdated. More importantly, it should work seamlessly without the connection hiccups I mentioned in my follow-up post.

Some have mentioned that Innodrive is not worth it, but I still want to try it for myself. I agree that the communication has been misleading. I was not immersed in the Porsche community when ordering, but I did my research. However, there were no clear official warnings that the FOD would be phased out. The only feature I really miss now is the ALK. The configurator was also quite misleading—I didn't realize there were two versions of lane keeping (the basic bouncing version and the premium lane-centering one).

Regarding my miscellaneous suggestions, I'm not sure I want to agree that they can't be expected from Porsche. I understand that Porsche is a sports brand, so expecting the largest trunk in its class would be unrealistic. However, the points I mentioned are more about convenience and ease of use. Therefore, I believe they would suit Porsche very well.

I wish I had discovered this forum earlier to research these points and get your feedback, but it is what it is now. It's a good car overall, and there will be new versions in the future I can upgrade to to iron our these "little bugs" in my configuration. ;-)

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

Interesting take. I am nearing 4 years with a 2021 4S and share the exact same praise and complaints. Great to drive, interior ergonomics questionable, lane keep assist worthless, stop&go adaptive cruise control excellent, etc. You would think Porsche would have fixed these known issues with the "updated" 2025 Taycan after nearly 6 years on the market.

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