Base Taycan announced (RWD/80k). Anyone intrigued?

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by John V

With the exception of the early plebian-model water-cooled engines, Porsche reliability seems to be pretty good, so..

Yeah, but limited slip diffs are wear items. Most people will never even know that theirs has failed.

[robg]

Originally Posted by equ

What are your driving use cases? Did you (pre-covid) you commute to work with a car? How many trips per year? Where and for how many days?

I never used to ask myself these questions for years beyond 1. is it fun to drive 2. how is it for a summer trip? a ski trip? 3. need decent looks, depreciation & reliability.

For an EV, I think I'd need to think a little harder. How long are the trips? How many days stay? Do I go somewhere remote/off the beaten path, or stick to main/busy corridors and stay in modern hotels? I agree that many people overweight their rare trips that they could handle with rentals.

My trips are few as well but my commute is non-existent. If I were perfectly rational, I would not only sell my cars to get an EV, I'd sell the EV, not have a car and only rent / turo / silvercar as needed.

For sure-- yeah I used to commute but I think I'll be working mostly remote even when COVID ends. That being said, even during covid we've managed to put about 10k a year on our car so it still gets used plenty. Thinking about the longer trips we make, the vast majority are no more than 100 miles each way. So pretty much any long range EV would be able to handle it without necessarily even having to charge at the destination or en route. For the very rare trips that exceed that mileage, could either rent or do a little planning to make use of high speed or destination charging.

Most driving is the typical around town stuff where EVs shine. Other than the price, the other issues that I'd have with the Taycan sedan are potentailly low ground clearance and lack of a hatchback. The upcoming wagon version might solve those issues, but my guess is Porsche will charge atleast 10k more for it.

Anyway, this isn't something I'd consider getting in the near future, but buying a used one in a few years might be appealing (given the likely lower maintenance/repair costs). It's been a while since I've been excited by any new car, so it's been fun to find a car that I find appealing enough to research and maybe aspire to owning one day.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

Yeah I have read the same thing but I think Nick's frame of reverence is a bit skewed

To be honest, the joy of shifting a manual transmission is the key component of enjoying a car for me. If I'm not going to have that, then all that really matters is whether or not it's comfortable and quiet, because I'm not really going to be entertained.

Yeah, it's true that an automatic car can be a joy when pushed towards the edge. Aside from all the mechanical failures, I actually did enjoy my SMGII E46 - but that was also at a point when I was doing dozens of track days per year, plus conepacking. Since I'm not doing that, and since these new cars are all so fast that it's zero-to-jail in 3 seconds, the question is "how entertaining are they when driven at 5-20% of their capability?"

[robg]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

torque vectoring electrically controlled diff per the literature. so, yes, limited slip. curious what the durability of that thing is?

Looks like its actually a 1500 option atlleast on the base model. ITs called Porsche Torque Vectoring plus I guess. Porsche's option names and descriptions are always kind of obtuse. If "PTV plus" is standard, does that imply that there is a regular "non plus" version that is standard. Hard to tell. Probably just a brake based system if anything.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by robg

Looks like its actually a 1500 option atlleast on the base model. ITs called Porsche Torque Vectoring plus I guess. Porsche's option names and descriptions are always kind of obtuse. If "PTV plus" is standard, does that imply that there is a regular "non plus" version that is standard. Hard to tell. Probably just a brake based system if anything.

[robg]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

To be honest, the joy of shifting a manual transmission is the key component of enjoying a car for me. If I'm not going to have that, then all that really matters is whether or not it's comfortable and quiet, because I'm not really going to be entertained.

Yeah, it's true that an automatic car can be a joy when pushed towards the edge. Aside from all the mechanical failures, I actually did enjoy my SMGII E46 - but that was also at a point when I was doing dozens of track days per year, plus conepacking. Since I'm not doing that, and since these new cars are all so fast that it's zero-to-jail in 3 seconds, the question is "how entertaining are they when driven at 5-20% of their capability?"

Yeah I get that. Used to be a die hard manual guy as well. Having now had a few automatic cars (ZF 8 speed), I've realized that I can enjoy car's chassis and steering tuning in that 5-20% daily driving zone. Used to mess with the paddles, but dont' anymore so having an EV with no transmission (ok fine the taycan has a 2 speed), isn't a big stretch. Engine sound is the other thing, but frankly, none of the modern turbo cars sound all that inspiring to me. I think the precise way you can apply and meter out power with an EV would be fun to play with in a daily driver- and with RWD all the better.

Will probably end up buying an older car with a stick again at some point.

[John V]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

To be honest, the joy of shifting a manual transmission is the key component of enjoying a car for me. If I'm not going to have that, then all that really matters is whether or not it's comfortable and quiet, because I'm not really going to be entertained.

Yeah, it's true that an automatic car can be a joy when pushed towards the edge. Aside from all the mechanical failures, I actually did enjoy my SMGII E46 - but that was also at a point when I was doing dozens of track days per year, plus conepacking. Since I'm not doing that, and since these new cars are all so fast that it's zero-to-jail in 3 seconds, the question is "how entertaining are they when driven at 5-20% of their capability?"

True story, I had never heard the term "conepacking" so I asked someone if they knew what it meant. The reply: "Yeah. it's what club racing backmarkers call autocross."

Got LOL out of me

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by John V

True story, I had never heard the term "conepacking" so I asked someone if they knew what it meant. The reply: "Yeah. it's what club racing backmarkers call autocross."

Got LOL out of me

[equ]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

To be honest, the joy of shifting a manual transmission is the key component of enjoying a car for me. If I'm not going to have that, then all that really matters is whether or not it's comfortable and quiet, because I'm not really going to be entertained.
...
since these new cars are all so fast that it's zero-to-jail in 3 seconds, the question is "how entertaining are they when driven at 5-20% of their capability?"

I never thought our views would converge as much... You've always been wise now you are getting older.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by equ

I never thought our views would converge as much... You've always been wise now you are getting older.

Well, my options are certainly narrowing.