Would you buy a Taycan again?

[Fish Fingers]

Totally agree, long time loyal Porsche customer - While I do like the Taycan, the way all issues are managed, will likely turn me off from this brand and behaviors....

Different angle but same outcome for me.

My first Porsche.
I was expecting a much better ownership experience.
But it's actually been worse than any other car I've owned.

Will be glad to get away from Porsche and will not be getting another.

Sponsored

 

[D00notD00d]

What would you choose instead?

 

[Fish Fingers]

What would you choose instead?

I will look around next year, see what's available.

I will stick with an EV, but would prefer something smaller than a Taycan. Don't need a family car.

I wish BMW made an EV version of the M2.

 

[csm7djs]

I haven't really suffered with the dreaded depreciation as I bought a fully loaded used model.

Depreciation on all EV's seems to be terrible (in the UK) at the moment. We also have another electric vehicle that is on lease - Looking on Autotrader that has lost 50%-60% of its value in <2 years.

The problem with the Taycan is that the original price is so high, when it hits the same % level of depreciation as other vehicles, the original higher starting price makes it a much larger number of £'s.

Would I buy another Taycan - YES as it think it suits my usage and I love how it looks and drives. Would I buy a new one - NO because that dreaded depreciation % is a huge amount of £'ss.

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

I will be driving my beautiful car until the warranty is out in October of 2027. New battery in August and 150+ days in the shop will hopefully mean that all major items have been addressed, and I'm looking forward to enjoying my car for the next few years. A lot of things will change in the next 3 years, so it's difficult for me to say whether I'd buy another Taycan. I'm terribly dissapointed in the 'facelift' and would not buy that styling. However I think Porsche should be very close to introducing a new Taycan for 2028, and look forward to seeing what they come up with.

 

[D00notD00d]

I will look around next year, see what's available.

I will stick with an EV, but would prefer something smaller than a Taycan. Don't need a family car.

I wish BMW made an EV version of the M2.

I’m a fan of the latest M240i - which seems to be 90% of an M2 and more subtle.

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

I will look around next year, see what's available.

I will stick with an EV, but would prefer something smaller than a Taycan. Don't need a family car.

I wish BMW made an EV version of the M2.

Porsche will make an electric 718 end of '25.
Likely my choice as convertible.
The Taycan will stay, though.

 

[Jagu]

My dealership experience with Porsche has been abominable. The techs are generally incompetent and I have been lied to by service advisors. In two occasions they overlooked a requested service item and just told me it’s not a big deal, we’ll catch it next time. For this reason, I might go back to BMW where I never had a problem with service.

 

[Jonathan S.]

Shop around. Doesn't cost very much to make a few calls (or send emails). The closest to you dealer knows they have a convenient locations, so they can charge you more. The guys farther away know that unless they beat the closer guy, you're not coming. Also, be prepared they will probably start at a lower trade-in, full price, but practice some negotiating - it's nowhere near as hard as it was during the pandemic when the dealers held all the cards.

Quoted for emphasis -- shopping around is the only strategy that has a chance.
And as you previously noted, "Be willing to walk away [...]"

I agree with the other poster who wrote that:

"Note that most experienced salespeople are well-versed in all counter-negotiation tactics, so the chances of these successfully working are rare."​

Remember in pre-smartphone days, when you would pass a bit of time on a plane by reading the in-flight magazine, which always featured those big ads from a negotiating seminar whose tagline was something like:

"In business, you don't get what you deserve, but what you negotiate!"​

Jedi mind tricks though don't work with car dealerships.
But if you contact a few dealerships, you might get a decent offer, or at least just wait it out and see if anyone eventually offers any discount in response to your price hesitancy.
The only hitch I've found is that some dealerships are reluctant to sell to a buyer who is closer to another dealership with the explanation that the other dealership is likely to get all the service work.

I also agree with this:

"On another note, spending upwards of $100K to $200K on a Porsche doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll receive any special treatment—beyond the initial pleasantries. Many expect the “Porsche experience” to reflect the luxury price tag, but that’s really not the case. Ironically, to get real bang for your buck in terms of special treatment, you’d be better off spending over $100K at a Toyota dealership, where the treatment probably might exceed your expectations for that amount."​

Unless you're in the market for something truly exotic like a McLaren, the Porsche dealership (at least in the U.S.) is almost certainly part of a local (or regional) chain that includes all the usual mainstream brands with the usual mainstream car dealership tactics.
Even just sending a one-sentence email inquiring "Is this vehicle available to purchase or instead another customer's build order that is essentially already spoken for?" is in my experience a long drawn-out ordeal lasting for days -- with the potential to show up for a test drive only to learn the opposite (yes I'm talking about you Herb Chambers BMW!).
Having gone from Subaru dealerships to Audi, BMW, and Porsche, I was amazed (at first) that if anything the purchase experience was worse.

 

[Krinsky1965]

No, I wouldn't but mostly due to the depreciation. I bought a 22021 2wd with not 1 option for sticker price and a 2022 CT4 with almost every option available. The 2021 2wd was great and never a single issue, it may make sense at some time to do this again but the 2022 CT4 was a complete nightmare with gremlins affecting little electronic issues that totaled 87 days in service. I was lucky enought o walk away using the California Lemon Law, side-stepping the depreciation but couldn't count on this again for a depreiation "bailout". I did pickup a 2023 MB EQS 450 for less than 1/2 of sticker with 1 year and 17K of use, certified but hopefully I don't need to use it. This will be my commuter and I will go back to a 992 Carerra S for my "fun-wagon".

 

[whitex]

Quoted for emphasis -- shopping around is the only strategy that has a chance.
And as you previously noted, "Be willing to walk away [...]"

I agree with the other poster who wrote that:

"Note that most experienced salespeople are well-versed in all counter-negotiation tactics, so the chances of these successfully working are rare."​

Remember in pre-smartphone days, when you would pass a bit of time on a plane by reading the in-flight magazine, which always featured those big ads from a negotiating seminar whose tagline was something like:

"In business, you don't get what you deserve, but what you negotiate!"​

Jedi mind tricks though don't work with car dealerships.
But if you contact a few dealerships, you might get a decent offer, or at least just wait it out and see if anyone eventually offers any discount in response to your price hesitancy.
The only hitch I've found is that some dealerships are reluctant to sell to a buyer who is closer to another dealership with the explanation that the other dealership is likely to get all the service work.

I also agree with this:

"On another note, spending upwards of $100K to $200K on a Porsche doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll receive any special treatment—beyond the initial pleasantries. Many expect the “Porsche experience” to reflect the luxury price tag, but that’s really not the case. Ironically, to get real bang for your buck in terms of special treatment, you’d be better off spending over $100K at a Toyota dealership, where the treatment probably might exceed your expectations for that amount."​

Unless you're in the market for something truly exotic like a McLaren, the Porsche dealership (at least in the U.S.) is almost certainly part of a local (or regional) chain that includes all the usual mainstream brands with the usual mainstream car dealership tactics.
Even just sending a one-sentence email inquiring "Is this vehicle available to purchase or instead another customer's build order that is essentially already spoken for?" is in my experience a long drawn-out ordeal lasting for days -- with the potential to show up for a test drive only to learn the opposite (yes I'm talking about you Herb Chambers BMW!).
Having gone from Subaru dealerships to Audi, BMW, and Porsche, I was amazed (at first) that if anything the purchase experience was worse.

I agree with all your points above, except for art of negotiation. No Jedi mind tricks required, but there is definitely still benefit to be had from having negotiation skills. Heck, ask the experienced sales people, they negotiate ever higher prices, and upsells, with their customers all the time! Now, is it hard to go up and win against someone who negotiates every day, sure, but it is possible. They really do know all the tricks. I remember negotiating a price for a car for my in-laws a while back. I remember my mother in law getting angry with me because "that poor salesman had kids to feed and is losing money on the deal you negotiated for us!" - no amount of explaining worked on her, the salesman (correctly) identified her weakness, incorrectly identified who is making the decision - my father-in-law closed the deal at the price I negotiated. Side note, I was not not invited to their next car purchase by the way (for which from what I heard after the fact my mother-in-law overpaid, which I knew well as I got almost the same minivan myself around the same time).

In my decades of buying cars for myself, and negotiating for friends and family I have tried all kinds of methods. When I was young, I used to like the brute force method, do my research (back then it was going to he library to pull blue book and black book values, dealer costs, etc - no internet yet), figure out what a good deal would be, then go from dealer to dealer offering to buy the car on the spot for a set amount (after trade-in), or collect their best offer with the intention to come back to them if they are the lowest after I visit all the dealers within ~200 mile range (this was before internet, all deals were done in person). It was on cars like Toyota or Honda, so plenty of dealers around to visit who had stock of the common cars I wanted to buy. It usually took about an hour or two for the dealer to either accept of reject my deal (and try to negotiate, but I was firm, either take my offer or give me your best price, I will be back if it's the lowest I see over the next few days). The most it took was 8 dealers, 3 days days of driving and shopping around, but got the price I offered (it was going from a 2yo Honda Civic to new Acura Integra). The key there was, "if you can meet this price, I am buying right now" which motivated the sales people. Over time I learned there are better methods (and yes, I read a few books on negotiations) - more time efficient and yielding same or better prices. I negotiated enough cars around where I went to high school, that on a couple of occasions I took my dates out in a test drive car - the dealer knew if I like the car I just might buy it, so they didn't mind, as long as I returned the car before closing and left my car there, they were fine with it. Side note, I bought one of the two date test drive cars I got for dates, so they were not wrong! LOL Oh, and I was not loaded, son of immigrants who came to Canada at ~40 years old with zero money, so I always told them that I don't want money from them, took on my own debt for my education, that the best thing they can do for me is retire on their own (which they did btw, so hell yea it's possible to do well if you're willing to work hard, my parents worked multiple jobs at a time sometimes, but are retired and doing well on their own now). I did run my own business while in high school selling PC and custom electronics, so I had more money to spend than most other kids my age (that was before the likes of Dell shrunk the profit margins), most of which went to cars LOL.

The car salesmen also keep inventing new tricks. One new trick I encountered last year I've never seen - it was quoting me an "approximate monthly payment" on the amounts and interest rates we agreed on, then putting on quite a dramatic scene how their computer must be broken because it's coming up with $100 a month less (it was exactly $100.00 lol). I told the guy I want to speak with their finance manager, to print out everything, and I will help them find the error, because I don't want to take advantage of them. So we did it (the finance manager was not amused, but played along), found no error of course. Then when I went back with the sales guy, he tried to upsell me on BS stuff, then when I politely declined, he stuck to his script saying "come on, you're saving a hundred bucks a month due to our computer error, you can spend fifty on some upgrades". I reminded him we just went through the paperwork line by line and there was no error, then asked him if he wants to call his boss to do it again, he said no. LOL

I even managed to negotiate a custom order 2023 Taycan Turbo CT, one of only 256 allocations for the whole model year for the US market (less than 3 per state), net under MSRP (only slightly under, but everyone else wanted $15K-$50K ADM, so I consider it a good deal for the times). It wasn't a dealership near me either, actually almost the farthest dealer from my house I could find in the US. That one took some creative negotiations. The SA told me he's never seen a deal like like mine, neither proposed by any customers, nor accepted by management.

To be fair, I have been bested sometimes by some dealers too. For example the Audi dealer which showed me the "you are saving $100 a months due to a computer error" trick actually managed to snag me for ~$300. I didn't catch on until the following day - too late to undo. Long story short I lost a tax credit due to how their structured the lease. The silver lining was that they didn't get any of that money, as I terminated the lease 2 weeks later. So in the end the state got an extra $300 from me. It still bugs me that I didn't catch it during the negotiations.

 

[A.Mayor]

@whitex

Most of what you’ve described seems more like the art of countering your opponent’s tactics — resisting being misled in a deal or pushed into upsells — rather than negotiating hard bargains. I agree with you that defensive negotiation skills are highly valuable.

Regarding your mother-in-law, it must be frustrating to see someone overpay, but from what I’ve learned, some people actually like and want to overpay. Whether it’s for a sense of control, a desire to help others, their life and moral ethos, or other (emotional and or altruistic) reasons — it’s all about perception. By negotiating a lower sticker price, you may have unintentionally disrupted her negotiating interests.

No wonder you weren’t invited to their next car purchase. (I’m joking!)

Heck, sometimes I knowingly overpay too, and you might even catch me saying your mother-in-law’s words: “That poor salesman has a family to feed”.

It’s interesting how your stories seem to reveal your own drives too.

This whole negotiation topic reminds me of King of the Hill S12 E13 (The Accidental Terrorist), where Hank Hill finally discovered that he has been taken for a ride by his car salesman for 25 years, “paying sticker price and not a dime more”, ahahaha.

Hey, after all, we all bought a Porsche …

 

[Jonathan S.]

I remember my mother in law getting angry with me because "that poor salesman had kids to feed and is losing money on the deal you negotiated for us!"

Your mother-in-law should get together with my wife to compare notes!
Seriously, I've had to explain to her that the salesman is just putting on an act as part of his job, and that in turn our job is not to make him feel happy, and if he plays at being upset, then we're doing our job correctly.
(In other contexts though, sure, e.g., a bulk used Lego purchase from a woman who didn't have room in her new residence for all the kids' Lego since she was getting divorced and could afford only a far smaller place, while I packed up all the Lego to load into my Taycan as she yelled at her kids in the background, ugh.)

But so much of this comes down to being prepared to just walk away, and go through a couple rounds of all the nearby-ish dealers.
Negotiating tactics seem far more valuable for inherently one-on-one deals, e.g., landlord-tenant lease renewals, hostage releases, union contracts.

 

[whitex]

Most of what you’ve described seems more like the art of countering your opponent’s tactics — resisting being misled in a deal or pushed into upsells — rather than negotiating hard bargains.

Is there a difference? Negotiation is countering your opponent’s moves. Whether it’s countering their upsell or trying to make you feel like you won the lottery because they are willing to sell you a car at “only MSRP”, so you shouldn’t question the jacked up interest rate - it all falls under negotiations.

 

[whitex]

But so much of this comes down to being prepared to just walk away, and go through a couple rounds of all the nearby-ish dealers.
Negotiating tactics seem far more valuable for inherently one-on-one deals, e.g., landlord-tenant lease renewals, hostage releases, union contracts.

Whether walking not buying a car, moving to a different landlord, willing to blow away your hostages, walking out on a strike - isn’t all of it at least partially about “being willing to walk away?”

Negotiations for a car start before you make first contact with the dealer. It’s research to know the cars on the market, prices they sell at, dealer costs, incentive programs, rebates, interest rates, etc. The actual negotiation is secondary. You cannot negotiate the best deal if you don’t have the data what is possible/feasible.

Sponsored