Taycan Made Better?

[mhockett]

I've been asked what would make my Taycan better. I can only think of a few things. Here are my thoughts. I'd be interested in yours.

1. Pano roof with variable light control. This option came out AFTER I ordered my 2022. Yip - missed out.
2. Capacitive steering so the car knows I'm touching the wheel and I don't have to jerk it every 15 seconds in cruise
3. Soft close doors - available on the Panamara, it baffles the mind whey it isn't an option on the Taycan
4. A "comfort" suspension setting one level softer than Taycan's "normal" mode. The Audi E-tron has "Comfort", which indeed is softer than Taycan's "Normal".
5. Fix the earthquake wind buffeting when a rear window opens. At 60, you are unable to roll up a single rear window as the safety mechanism kicks in.

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[schad]

I concur without comment on 1, 3, and 5.

I concur on 2, with caveats. My experience is that Audi's ALK equivalent is considerably more reliable than Porsche's. I'd be worried that a softer touch on the wheel might be dangerous on the Taycan, while it's wonderful on the e-tron.

I'm neither for nor against 4, though if it becomes a feature, I would very much want either configurable stock modes, or for the last-selected mode to be persistent across car restarts. For the former, I mean that I should be able to say that "normal" mode now has the suspension in "comfort" mode. For the latter, I mean that if I turn the car off in "sport," it should go back into that mode when I restart it, even if it's days or weeks later. My BMW had a pretty squishy suspension setup by default, and every freaking time I started the car I had to put it in sport or I'd get carsick. Huge annoyance.

I would add the following:

6. CarPlay/Android Auto navigation displays in HUD.
7. More performance information. For example, I'd like to see a chart of battery temperature over time.
8. Split and total max values for all performance information, per sport chrono. For example, what's my max G-force for this lap, and for all laps?
9. Why am I limited to putting certain information on certain dash circles? For example, why can't I show PDCC and G-force at the same time on the left and right circles?
10. Better PCM apps. We don't need calendar or news. We have those on our phones already. What we would benefit from are things like Netflix, Prime Video, etc., which would be much nicer on bigger screens. Even better if the passenger can watch on headphones while the car's in motion.
11. Better UI/UX for profiles and timers.
12. The app's just got to be more responsive than it is today.
13. Smart auto-off. When I put the car in park and then open the door, turn the car off (and activate comfort exit features). Either that or activate comfort exit/entry features whenever the door is opened and the seat belt unbuckled, regardless of whether the car is on or not.

 

[philbur]

1. Pano roof - I havent had a summer yet, but there are lots that say that the layers they use are good at thermal management. we had the screen in our cayenne which was beautiful engineering, but never used it.
2. Capacitive steering - I dont think we can trust the general public to pay attention - moving the wheel today is the only way to do that. we need eye gazing to watch the driver
3. Soft close doors - Luxury item to me.. this is a sports car.
4. A "comfort" suspension - another sports car item.. if you want cushy then get an audi
5. Wind buffeting - i still dont get why engineering hasnt figured this out at all.. at speed i dont like opening windows - is it something to do with modern aero? i dont remember having this issue growing up. Every porsche model has this issue - there are the little wind disruptors for the 911. need one for the taycan and would give up a little aero to drive with the windows open - we can do better!

 

[kort]

the reason for having to touch the steering wheel is because when tesla introduced this feature there were many morons who abused the system so they were forced to increase the nags in order to limit their liabilities. when AP first came out I could drive 20-30 miles without a nag, it got to the point of nagging every minute or so.
as for the wind buffeting that is caused by the aerodynamics of the car.

 

[jasperp]

Going from a Model X to a Taycan I would say:
1) A Porsche charging network.
2) Electrical doors. Having the model X made me too lazy to close the doors myself.
3) Better active lane keeping

And also:
4) Electrical closing front storage space with a button on the outside of the car. Using the remote is clumsy.
5) A way to manually force preheating the battery to prepare for a long roadtrip or fast charging. It should be just a button in the user interface.

 

[David Bennett]

For me some form of sport response button, so I could have my 2.5 seconds of extra power any time I wanted it. Or maybe just any time I mashed the throttle

 

[Archimedes]

All I want is for my radio to come on exactly where I left it when I last shut the car off, with my favorites listed, and not have to go through three menus to get it back. That's all I want Porsche. I know that's next level stuff, but please Porsche, make it happen.

 

[mhockett]

I concur on the memory feature on #4. The car should have an expected setup when you re-enter. Not sure if you've encountered it, but I've found several times that I've lost the radio enhancement features (like Bose and bass/treble settings). These features are supposed to be locked in when you hit the lock button on the remote. Even setting everything up and using the seat memory doesn't guaranty the radio features to be how you set them.

It looks like you do a lot of track stuff and - I don't. I think I'm getting too old? When counting the number of launches I've done, I'm not sure if I get to my toes.

I like your Netflix option! That reminded me about the 3rd screen (passenger side) option, which I have. I almost never see it because it only comes on with a passenger sitting in the seat or if I'm in Park. I think it would be cool to see it - even if you can't operate it (for safety reasons) during motion. I also thought that, if you have that option, it would be cool to be able to swipe your finger to the right (on the middle screen) and have the right and left screens swap. So if I have the map on the middle and radio on the right and swiped the middle, then I would have the map on the right and radio on the middle (main).

If you bought the right screen as an option, I say "light it up all the time!" Adds to the cool factor - especially when you see the occasional Tesla owner peering into the car when you pass.

I like #13 too!

 

[mhockett]

I concur without comment on 1, 3, and 5.

I concur on 2, with caveats. My experience is that Audi's ALK equivalent is considerably more reliable than Porsche's. I'd be worried that a softer touch on the wheel might be dangerous on the Taycan, while it's wonderful on the e-tron.

I'm neither for nor against 4, though if it becomes a feature, I would very much want either configurable stock modes, or for the last-selected mode to be persistent across car restarts. For the former, I mean that I should be able to say that "normal" mode now has the suspension in "comfort" mode. For the latter, I mean that if I turn the car off in "sport," it should go back into that mode when I restart it, even if it's days or weeks later. My BMW had a pretty squishy suspension setup by default, and every freaking time I started the car I had to put it in sport or I'd get carsick. Huge annoyance.

I would add the following:

6. CarPlay/Android Auto navigation displays in HUD.
7. More performance information. For example, I'd like to see a chart of battery temperature over time.
8. Split and total max values for all performance information, per sport chrono. For example, what's my max G-force for this lap, and for all laps?
9. Why am I limited to putting certain information on certain dash circles? For example, why can't I show PDCC and G-force at the same time on the left and right circles?
10. Better PCM apps. We don't need calendar or news. We have those on our phones already. What we would benefit from are things like Netflix, Prime Video, etc., which would be much nicer on bigger screens. Even better if the passenger can watch on headphones while the car's in motion.
11. Better UI/UX for profiles and timers.
12. The app's just got to be more responsive than it is today.
13. Smart auto-off. When I put the car in park and then open the door, turn the car off (and activate comfort exit features). Either that or activate comfort exit/entry features whenever the door is opened and the seat belt unbuckled, regardless of whether the car is on or not.

AND I wish my "cherry metallic" color was more cherry than burgundy! You get the cherry in the sunlight, but in the clouds - it's old-school burgundy.

 

[Daniel]

For me some form of sport response button, so I could have my 2.5 seconds of extra power any time I wanted it. Or maybe just any time I mashed the throttle

Same here, it was very usefull with my Macan S ....

 

[cometguy]

1. Fix the earthquake wind buffeting when a rear window opens. At 60, you are unable to roll up a single rear window as the safety mechanism kicks in.

I'm curious: what do you mean by "the safety mechanism kicks in"? What happens, exactly?

I agree with Schad about the absurdity of having a news "app" in the infotainment screen; having the radar weather map is actually something I use, however.

Here are some things I'd like in the Taycan:
1) option to show the NVA infrared image in the center infotainment screen; place the infrared camera higher (top of windshield) and give it a wider-angle lens

2) offer the Cross Turismo with no glass/pano roof in the US

3) offer the option of setting the electrochromic roof glass to opaque (not just translucent)

4) remove the shelf/lip at bottom of the infotainment screen, which makes it difficult to access the lower part of the screen

5) add in a dial to zoom in/out on the map (like on the non-BEV Porsches)

6) make the door handles regular (not recessed), or at least offer that option; I'm not worried about losing range by having regular door handles, which are infinitely better than electronically recessed handles in terms of practical use

7) make the center vent manual, not electronic

8) full-size spare front wheel/tire in the frunk (option or standard)

9) AM radio

10) heated, no-air windshield (like is optional in the Cayenne and Macan)

11) power-folding rear headrests (like in Volvos)

12) functional automatic plug-and-charge at public-charging stations with no need to ever use a phone app

13) make the maps look better -- like the recent maps in the non-BEV four-door Porsches

14) allow the driver to display the map on the passenger screen with no passenger

15) go back to having frames around the doors' window glass

 

[mhockett]

the reason for having to touch the steering wheel is because when tesla introduced this feature there were many morons who abused the system so they were forced to increase the nags in order to limit their liabilities. when AP first came out I could drive 20-30 miles without a nag, it got to the point of nagging every minute or so.
as for the wind buffeting that is caused by the aerodynamics of the car.

I totally get it, but we're not talking about having to touch the steering wheel, we're talking about having to give it a jerk every 15 seconds or so - when you get the message to "take over steering". I had a BMW 840 that had the capacitive steering wheel. I had to touch it for safety reasons, but that was all. The capacitive steering wheel sensed my touch and as long as I was touching the wheel, I never got a warning. I drove all the way from Richmond to Virginia Beach and never got a message to "take over steering" and I never had to jerk the wheel.

 

[mhockett]

Going from a Model X to a Taycan I would say:
1) A Porsche charging network.
2) Electrical doors. Having the model X made me too lazy to close the doors myself.
3) Better active lane keeping

And also:
4) Electrical closing front storage space with a button on the outside of the car. Using the remote is clumsy.
5) A way to manually force preheating the battery to prepare for a long roadtrip or fast charging. It should be just a button in the user interface.

I agree with everything except the battery preheating. I've never had a problem - even in the winter. Porsche has been pretty good about battery function and expected range - and getting your car warmed up quickly in the winter.

 

[mhockett]

I concur without comment on 1, 3, and 5.

I concur on 2, with caveats. My experience is that Audi's ALK equivalent is considerably more reliable than Porsche's. I'd be worried that a softer touch on the wheel might be dangerous on the Taycan, while it's wonderful on the e-tron.

I'm neither for nor against 4, though if it becomes a feature, I would very much want either configurable stock modes, or for the last-selected mode to be persistent across car restarts. For the former, I mean that I should be able to say that "normal" mode now has the suspension in "comfort" mode. For the latter, I mean that if I turn the car off in "sport," it should go back into that mode when I restart it, even if it's days or weeks later. My BMW had a pretty squishy suspension setup by default, and every freaking time I started the car I had to put it in sport or I'd get carsick. Huge annoyance.

I would add the following:

6. CarPlay/Android Auto navigation displays in HUD.
7. More performance information. For example, I'd like to see a chart of battery temperature over time.
8. Split and total max values for all performance information, per sport chrono. For example, what's my max G-force for this lap, and for all laps?
9. Why am I limited to putting certain information on certain dash circles? For example, why can't I show PDCC and G-force at the same time on the left and right circles?
10. Better PCM apps. We don't need calendar or news. We have those on our phones already. What we would benefit from are things like Netflix, Prime Video, etc., which would be much nicer on bigger screens. Even better if the passenger can watch on headphones while the car's in motion.
11. Better UI/UX for profiles and timers.
12. The app's just got to be more responsive than it is today.
13. Smart auto-off. When I put the car in park and then open the door, turn the car off (and activate comfort exit features). Either that or activate comfort exit/entry features whenever the door is opened and the seat belt unbuckled, regardless of whether the car is on or not.

I forgot another thing... Let's call it 14! lol

14. "Active lane change" should be exactly that! My BMW 840 would check traffic and steer to the next lane (right or left) simply by hitting the turn signal. That was super nice.

 

[mhockett]

1. Pano roof - I havent had a summer yet, but there are lots that say that the layers they use are good at thermal management. we had the screen in our cayenne which was beautiful engineering, but never used it.
2. Capacitive steering - I dont think we can trust the general public to pay attention - moving the wheel today is the only way to do that. we need eye gazing to watch the driver
3. Soft close doors - Luxury item to me.. this is a sports car.
4. A "comfort" suspension - another sports car item.. if you want cushy then get an audi
5. Wind buffeting - i still dont get why engineering hasnt figured this out at all.. at speed i dont like opening windows - is it something to do with modern aero? i dont remember having this issue growing up. Every porsche model has this issue - there are the little wind disruptors for the 911. need one for the taycan and would give up a little aero to drive with the windows open - we can do better!

I'm 60 this year and anything over $100k should have some luxury features. I bought a Porsche because it was sporty looking and really drove well. If I wanted a rocket, I would have bought a Tesla Plaid - that handled really badly! lol It seams the older I get, the softer my booty!

Why have lane keep assist if it only works for 15 seconds? BMW and others use the capacitive steering, which forces your hand to the wheel without all the jerking. If the capacitive steering doesn't sense your touch, it turns off after 15 seconds - just like everything else. Decent compromise to me. The jerking thing seems like a slow motion Parkinson's disease. Even Cadillac has the highway mode.

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