Macan EV Turbo major issues

[Distressed Macan Turbo EV]

I picked up my brand new Porsche Macan EV Turbo in December.

Driving home from the dealership it started to report error messages, which i called in to the dealership.

The following day, the car switched itself off in heavy traffic, randomly switched between miles and kilometers, kept returning various error messages, the heads-up display stopped functioning, the car randomly decelerated from 70mph to 15mph on the motorway, and more.

I called Porsche Assist (The AA) and when they came out they said they had no manuals for the car, were unable to fault find as they hadn't been enabled to deal with the car yet.

I emailed the dealership and asked them to recover the vehicle, they picked it up on the Monday, it's been with them ever since.

The dealership reported that there were so many system errors and faults, they didn't know where to start.

They tried to fix the issue, no luck. They also involved technical teams at Porsche UK and Porsche Germany.

Porsche Germany decided they needed to change a control unit, which regulates the temperature of the battery. The part took 4 weeks to arrive!

Once fitted, the test equipment needed to test the repair, was not available in the UK, so another wait while it was shipped over from Germany.

Since then, both the dealership and Porsche UK have dragged their heels on providing me assurances the car is safe, all the details of the faults, reassurance regarding handling of future issues, covering the costs of my lease for 3+ months and goodwill.

I raised a complaint with Porsche UK on 6th March, and had to escalate several times, including to their CEO, to get any traction.

During all this time, I've not taken a courtesy or loan car.

Porsche UK is now bullying me in to accepting a derisory offer to take the car back, stating if I don't i will be charged for storage costs for the car.

Dreadful service, unsafe and dangerous cars!!

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[tmrqs]

Sorry you got a lemon, happens with every brand: rare but really sucks when it happens to you.

Wouldn’t say that all the Macan (even more so the Turbo) are “unsafe and dangerous cars!!” - mine is extremely safe and not dangerous at all.

But I feel for you.

 

[Yves]

Well I had a similar issue not as bad, it turned out to be the sound module that created errors on the network, throwing up high voltage errors and unable to drive. It took Porsche 4 weeks to find the faulty module (October so quite new) Been driving ever since, no issues so far and almost 8 000km …
Me Too was not happy about the communication and wait time, but just accept the car, it’s great, they are just learning the car and indeed it could be better qua handling and communication.
So accept, and if there is another issue, they will fix it, it’s still under warranty. Pro tip, accept that courtesy car it speeds up the process …

 

[DanielFrench]

Sorry to hear of your issues, I hope you get them resolved... I think aside from your troubles 'on the whole' your car will be safe, however...

This opens a wider question - how can we fight back against Porsche and all the 'bugs' which I will open a poll for on a separate thread.

 

[BigApple]

At least here in NJ (US) they have the lemon law protection. 3x the same issue and you get a new one or walk away. I hope i never need it. But good to have it when needed.

 

[Wivenhoe]

My understanding in the UK is the dealers has 2 attempts to rectify a defect and if not successful then they must take the car back and pay back the cash in full. I’m not sure what happens with lease cars as I‘ve read the lease companies can decide not to pursue a return as they still cop their payments whether the car is being used or not.

 

[Yves]

While I do understand the right to return a car, I feel in this case it’s a bit premature, isn’t it, yes it takes to long for dealerships to figure out which module is throwing errors and Porsche should offer some compensation like a free service or so … but at least try to see if the car is fixed, if we all go around like this, it will be a complete mess … at least you need to accept the car and see if it’s fixed … if everybody starts refusing their car because it was in a repair shop for to long …

 

[Petzi]

While I do understand the right to return a car, I feel in this case it’s a bit premature, isn’t it, yes it takes to long for dealerships to figure out which module is throwing errors and Porsche should offer some compensation like a free service or so … but at least try to see if the car is fixed, if we all go around like this, it will be a complete mess … at least you need to accept the car and see if it’s fixed … if everybody starts refusing their car because it was in a repair shop for to long …

it might be a legal problem. if the car is fixed and the owner does not take it, it is just parked at the dealer..

 

[Yves]

it might be a legal problem. if the car is fixed and the owner does not take it, it is just parked at the dealer..

Correct and the dealer will charge storage costs …

 

[Wivenhoe]

The point here though is Porsche recognised their obligations so offered to take the car back which is the way it’s supposed to work. But the OP says their offer is derisory. That is wrong surely, if they take the car back then you should get the total cost back less any benefit you got - the HMRC rate of 45p / mile is I believe the norm. Which in the OP’s case can’t be very much as he has only driven for a few days. This smacks of the dealer trying to make a double profit out of the car. If the car is still ‘not fit for purpose’ then they can’t charge storage !
I would send an email to the dealer MD setting down the true sequence of events and say if they don’t make a reasonable offer to resolve it in the next 7 days I would take other steps.

 

[Petzi]

The point here though is Porsche recognised their obligations so offered to take the car back which is the way it’s supposed to work. But the OP says their offer is derisory. That is wrong surely, if they take the car back then you should get the total cost back less any benefit you got - the HMRC rate of 45p / mile is I believe the norm. Which in the OP’s case can’t be very much as he has only driven for a few days. This smacks of the dealer trying to make a double profit out of the car. If the car is still ‘not fit for purpose’ then they can’t charge storage !
I would send an email to the dealer MD setting down the true sequence of events and say if they don’t make a reasonable offer to resolve it in the next 7 days I would take other steps.

i don't think this is necessarily good advice. it is clear from the original post that the vehicle had some software problems after delivery and came into the workshop. in my opinion, there is no reason to assume that the problems were not fixed. i do believe that you can demand a replacement vehicle for the time of the repair, and if this was not possible, appropriate compensation. but refusing to take over the repaired vehicle is certainly not covered by law.

 

[Wivenhoe]

Petzi- my thoughts were based on Porsche accepting they should buy the car back so recognising the car wasn’t fixed. The OP said they were refusing to confirm the issues had been fixed and would not return. If the car was fixed and assurances given they knew for certain what the issues were and had rectified them so they would not return means, as you say, no right to refuse to take the car back.

 

[Petzi]

Petzi- my thoughts were based on Porsche accepting they should buy the car back so recognising the car wasn’t fixed. The OP said they were refusing to confirm the issues had been fixed and would not return. If the car was fixed and assurances given they knew for certain what the issues were and had rectified them so they would not return means, as you say, no right to refuse to take the car back.

you are right of course. I just cant believe that "porsche" would not confirm that the issues are fixed. thats not even possible. and even if this would be the case, in the moment they tell sombody to pick the car up it is implied that everything is fixed.
i think the case is, that Mike is upset -and rightfully so- that he drove the new car for the first time and it has been a fiasco. in addition the repair took 3 (!?!) months. so he does not want the car anymore. All I am saying is that the legal situation is not so clear cut. even if the car has been faulty, even if it took three months to repair ist, one can not just give it back. one have to take the car. one can and should demand compensation for everything.

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