A Question For All Current, Future or Thinking About Becoming a Macan EV Owner

[GaryV]

I would like to use this Forum to pose a question that I honestly do not know the answer to and would really appreciate it if community members would provide their perspectives to help me form an informed opinion.

The Context - I have been the owner of 2 Macans and still own a 911. I took delivery a little more than a month ago of a Macan Turbo EV which I placed a deposit on 3 years ago so clearly I am in the camp of a Porsche enthusiast. The situation I am now experiencing is a series of "failures" displayed as random rotating warnings (photos attached). The 1st instance resolved after locking the car and returning after 15 minutes. The 2nd incident occurred a day later and I was unable to drive the car. It too resolved after the lock, wait and return methodology was used. The vehicle is now at the dealership for nearly 2 weeks and there is no indication that the source of the failures have been diagnosed, never mind corrected. Porsche AG has been involved for at least a week and I see no indication that they have any insights that will lead to a fix.

The Question - With that context and having read through many of the posts to this Forum from newly minted Macan EV owners who are experiencing a significant number of a diverse range of failure warnings with no identifiable trigger associated with them, I ask the question .... how does any individual owner or community in the case, evaluate what level of software instability is "acceptable" in a newly released vehicle or alternatively, at what point does the volume and breath of the issue give rise to the conclusion that the software platform quality is seriously flawed. Keeping in mind that while this Forum provides a great opportunity to share perspectives, ideas and recommendations, the participants represent a subset of all new Macan EV owners and therefore what we see here is not representative of the extent of the issues to the broader ownership.

My Ask - As you can imagine, I am very frustrated that for nearly 40% of my ownership period , my new $135,000 car has been unavailable to me. I suspect that many community members will have the perspective that this is to be expected in a newly released vehicle. But is that really the case or is there more at work here that may suggest deeper quality issues that extend beyond what is acceptable (I encourage reading through the variety of these types of issues that have been posted to the Forum before answering this question).

Thank you for your indulgence if you made it through this lengthy post and I look forward to your collective perspectives..

 

[Dragon Tourniquet]

I'm not sure how I'd make that decision, because of a few things:

1. We don't know if this is a software problem or a hardware problem (could be bad connectors, bad motherboard, bad RAM, or even a bad voltage regulator somewhere in the system). Hopefully it's a hardware problem so they just have to replace a single component to actually fix it (maybe ESD damaged RAM, or a pinched cable that is shorting something), but if it is it's definitely taking them a bit to figure out the commonality.
2. We don't know how common the problems actually are. People with problems are much more likely to find an outlet to talk about them than people with no issues that just want to talk about the car generally. That results in a distorted picture of how prevalent issues actually are.
3. We don't know how much of the time to diagnose the issue is because of each of the following:
   1. Staffing levels (are they being pushed too much for additional feature or model launches and don't have enough time to actually focus on issues with the newly launched one?)
   2. Poor component design (is it just too hard to isolate problems when given a set of symptoms?)
   3. Poor software design (are they not able to implement extensive test coverage?)
   4. Poor test design (do the tests not actually test what they think they should?)
   5. Poor training of dealership techs (have they not trained the techs how to debug and isolate problems?)
   6. Communication latency between HQ and the dealership (if the devs are only working standard business hours in Germany, that's only a couple of hours of overlap each business day with the US east coast, or basically no overlap with the US west coast). This would somewhat go back to staffing levels.

There definitely seems to be some problems with some subsystems, such as the road sign reading in the UK, but what you're seeing really seems like a larger or more fundamental issue. I'd guess a voltage problem or wiring issue. Those could point to a problem with the platform (did they design the tolerances too tight so things get pinched too much?), or just be a bad batch of components.

That isn't to say the issues that have been reported don't concern it. I definitely won't be doing a road trip in the first couple of months after getting the car, just so I'm not in the middle of nowhere if a problem comes up early in the car's life.

 

[Yves]

Have a Turbo as well, have the issue of the boot that is not opening anymore and a few hours ago, HV battery error, unable to charge anymore, please park car …
The boot thing I couldn’t resolve and the car will go in for service.
The HV battery error went away by stepping out and locking it … was ready to call a tow truck.

I attribute these errors to software issues, bit disappointed they where not catch-ed during the long
Testing of this car, but it seems the price today you pay with these cars … I’ve read the same issues with Lotus/Xpeng/Volvo … The ones that finally seem to have a grip on things and are selling lots of EV’s are BMW …

 

[Dragon Tourniquet]

The ones that finally seem to have a grip on things and are selling lots of EV’s are BMW …

BMW definitely doesn't have it all figured out. My iX seems to "forget" my iPhone for CarPlay every other time I drive it. The iPhone still shows the BMW in Settings | General | CarPlay, but the iX doesn't show any paired phones. I basically have to repair it each time that happens. Though at least the car hasn't thrown phantom warnings.

 

[Awaz]

In that regard, BMW are definitely better than other premium cars mentioned.
Never encountered a single issue in 17 months ownership of BMW i4 eDrive 40.
And my Android phone always connected.
Just sold the BMW now, as the Porsche is “coming soon”

 

[byebye]

The big issue for you is how long will it take for Porsche to figure it out?
We have no clue, moreover, it was very painful for them to even do the mandatory recalls.
Why? It was a mixture of undertrained techs, bad designed software processes and need to replace bad electronic parts. But, actually, they’ve succeeded.

The problems in you car could be:
- one little thing that sends to the internal network bad messages that software can’t tackle/process/opt-out. As a consequence, a multitude of errors are fired.
- and/or a big problem (wire, random electrical/electronic problem, incompatibility between two or more specific options in your conf…)
- and/or a “loophole” in the software that probably occurs because of your specific config

With a bit of luck, and a good motivated tech guy, some days to find the root cause, and 1/2 weeks to get new parts (best case scenario) and/or ?? weeks to have a new software release/patch.

My guess is 3 weeks as a best case scenario, and no idea for the worst one.

Maybe you should wait 3/4 weeks, and if nobody in our community is experiencing same issues in the meantime AND if there is no solution, you should consider asking for a full refund, or a new one if you still want a Macan EV.

My 0.5 €

 

[PanameraFrank]

It's definitely a concern. I'm glad I canceled my initial order and have a couple months for my 4S to show up, as I'm strongly considering an iX instead.

It's worth noting it's not just the Macan, the Taycan has had countless issues since launch. Look at the list of recalls! You also will find limitless posts about battery and software issues in Taycanforums.

Porsche is building a EVs that drive really well and have a nice balance of range & charging, but also seem to have a ton of bugs and issues.

 

[shawn]

My SA said they had more of a struggle getting the Turbo they had to behave than the 4’s they had. He said it was more complicated. I have no idea what specifically he was referring to but wondering if there are more niggles with the Turbo configuration setup. I have no data just asking if there is a trend or if it is just luck of the draw.

 

[adamjay79]

BMW definitely doesn't have it all figured out. My iX seems to "forget" my iPhone for CarPlay every other time I drive it. The iPhone still shows the BMW in Settings | General | CarPlay, but the iX doesn't show any paired phones. I basically have to repair it each time that happens. Though at least the car hasn't thrown phantom warnings.

BMW 100% doesn’t have to figured out. Our iX died in the middle of the road multiple times (completely black screens and car wouldn’t move) until they bought it back. Never again.

 

[tmrqs]

Coming from a Mach-e, it was issues galore on all first models. It got better with more recent ones… but still, if you read the MME forum, some people will have the same type of issues you have.

Tesla/Toyota have been in the electric game longer than others - but all brands struggle.

Sure on guy will say BMW/Mercedes/x is awesome but another one will have a lemon and say it’s the worst brand ever.

Sadly, it’s the same everywhere.
Get an iX and maybe it’ll be perfect. Or maybe it’ll be toast. It’s a roulette.

 

[Dragon Tourniquet]

Tesla/Toyota have been in the electric game longer than others - but all brands struggle.

I was really shocked when Toyota released the bz4x and the first recall had nothing to do with the electric powertrain, and instead it was because the wheels could literally fall off. The one aspect of cars that has been there since the beginning (even when some cars had the equivalent of tillers), and they messed that up on that car.

 

[krissrock]

well..i initially was interesting the Lyriq. and reddit was flooded with issues...
This was a big turn off for me. It's what got me looking into other EV's, and finally settling on the Porsche.
I must admit, that these recent slew of issues that ppl are reporting is killing my boner... But i want to keep things in persective.

now, i'm not saying because that car is worse, what's happening with the porsche is ok... For me, it's my reasoning that these issues aren't that bad. I chose the Porsche because i had faith in their quality and that they wouldn't put out a bad product... So i think to answer our question, i would be just as upset with not having your car. They dealer should def provide you with a comparable loaner. I don't know what you could demand as compensation for the down time. I wonder if this outlined in the purchase agreement...

 

[PanameraFrank]

as @tmrqs says, all EVs have had their slew of issues. With that said, an Electric Macan would be very, very low on my list if reliability was a prominent concern of mine.

The Taycan has been a nightmare since day one. Tons of recalls, constant 12v and main battery issues, bricked cars all over the place. On top of that, I find Porsche one of the most difficult manufacturers to deal with when you do have an issue. Their dealerships tend to have bad staff that really isn't all that onboard with EVs, and dealing with corporate is really, really difficult.

The iX has CERTAINLY had its issues. Car buybacks, some lemons, etc.. But I also know dozens of people that have had flawless experiences with the iX and I absolutely can't say that about the Taycan, even though I know MORE people that own/have owned Taycans. I also find BMW a lot easier to work with and the dealerships don't give off the same "too cool for EVs" vibe I pick up at many Porsche dealerships.

If I was really concerned about having the easiest car owning experience, I'd go BMW. In general I also now only recommend leasing EVs, it's a LOT easier to deal with a problem when you have a lease vs own.

I have a Macan on order because I'm willing to risk problems to have exactly the car I want. If this car goes wrong for me, though, I will be out of Porsche EVs for good.