Macan Turbo in for service Macan 4 loaner, my experience

[prime]

My Ruby Red Metallic Macan Turbo is in service at Porsche South Bay in California for a few items/fixes after my recent purchase:

front door alignment off
Pano roof creaking on uneven roads
Passenger door panel rattling (during audio and highway driving)
Rear windshield wiper out of alignment
AC system not working

I feel like that’s a lot of issues for a brand new Porsche at well over $100k. Upon initial presentation at the service center, I was told by the adviser that it’s all quite normal to have squeaks and rattles and that his Porsche Macan has plenty. I didn’t take that too well, we went on a test drive and I received acknowledgement that the noises were not normal and would be addressed. I was also told that having panel alignment issues are quite normal for Porsche because it’s all hand built.. also didn’t take this well as I know the Macan is not all hand built, plenty of assembly videos online at this point.

Another annoyance.. I had booked the service appointment a few weeks prior with a loaner. When I arrived I was told loaners are not guaranteed and there were none available, this was not discussed previously when making the appointment and I needed to get back to work then home afterwards. After some more serious tone discussion on dissatisfaction of this initial service experience, I was eventually given a loaner that became available.

So I received a blue Macan 4, 15 miles on the odometer (possibly right off the sales lot). No door squeaks or creaks in the pano roof, but a bad metallic rattle somewhere in the dash noticed during highway driving. Did Porsche quality take a down turn? My sister has had a Macan and currently a Cayenne with overall good experiences. Growing up I also always remember everyone praising Porsche for build quality. I know Macan isn’t a 911, but it’s the same company. This is my first Porsche and I am not very impressed with the build or the service so far.

My driving impressions after a couple weeks with the turbo and a couple hours with the 4: they drive overall pretty similar, the loaner I have is also on 22 inch wheels, both have air suspension and premium package. Macan 4 acceleration is totally fine for anyone coming from a ICE vehicle and most coming from EVs unless it’s been a performance oriented EV. Highway pickup and overall around the town acceleration was more than adequate and handling was very similar to the turbo; my Macan has the rear wheels steer, which makes handling a little better.

I read a few posts about the Macan 4 feeling underwhelming in dynamics, from my experience I would disagree. I think it’s quite good and more than needed for fun around the town driving. With the turbo I can barely get my foot a quarter down the accelerator before being way over the speed limit, it’s fun, but I can’t use most the power unless I’m willing to deal with the legal consequences.

I’m still happy to have the turbo I do like the styling better, but the 4 is a great vehicle and for the majority a perfect daily driver with great comfort and dynamics.

Porsche needs to get a grip on service and QC from my limited experience. I’m hoping the issues I have will all be resolved on pickup.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Really sorry to hear about your experience and another report of totally unacceptable quality to release the product from the German factory. And no, they are not hand built, this is a total BS, but anything that is built in Germany with a Porsche crest should be better than what you got. Cayennes are no longer built in Germany and they are made solid, so clearly Macan EV quality is allowed to lapse to make up for a 2 year delay as in ship it now and figure it out later.

I can tell you that alignment, rattles, creaking, and major systems like AC not working are not acceptable and should not pass quality. The only excuse is that it is a launch product and they are letting things go out as fast as they can. This is certainly not the case with Macan ICE products that are solid with none of the issues you are describing, but that platform is at its peak of production quality.

Also, the loaner not guaranteed is another BS but may vary by the dealership. Usually, loaner appointments are set out further in time, but you are entitled to a loaner while they sort out a long list of warranty items that the dealership gets paid to resolve including loaner cost.

 

[PanameraFrank]

My 4S has zero rattles. Rock solid.

 

[JonoNZ]

What was the build date of your Macan Turbo?

 

[prime]

What was the build date of your Macan Turbo?

Early it’s a lunch model 4/2024, I believe.

 

[JonoNZ]

Early it’s a lunch model 4/2024, I believe.

Ok, interesting. I completely share your feelings on the quality and service - something I would not stand for either. I doubt my dealer would even try the no loan car being available scenario, that would be rubbing salt into the wound and would be very poorly received by me.

My Turbo had a production date of 27 November, it’s still on the boat on its way to NZ. It had better be more trouble free that your experience.

 

[W1NGE]

My Ruby Red Metallic Macan Turbo is in service at Porsche South Bay in California for a few items/fixes after my recent purchase:

front door alignment off
Pano roof creaking on uneven roads
Passenger door panel rattling (during audio and highway driving)
Rear windshield wiper out of alignment
AC system not working

I feel like that’s a lot of issues for a brand new Porsche at well over $100k. Upon initial presentation at the service center, I was told by the adviser that it’s all quite normal to have squeaks and rattles and that his Porsche Macan has plenty. I didn’t take that too well, we went on a test drive and I received acknowledgement that the noises were not normal and would be addressed. I was also told that having panel alignment issues are quite normal for Porsche because it’s all hand built.. also didn’t take this well as I know the Macan is not all hand built, plenty of assembly videos online at this point.

Another annoyance.. I had booked the service appointment a few weeks prior with a loaner. When I arrived I was told loaners are not guaranteed and there were none available, this was not discussed previously when making the appointment and I needed to get back to work then home afterwards. After some more serious tone discussion on dissatisfaction of this initial service experience, I was eventually given a loaner that became available.

So I received a blue Macan 4, 15 miles on the odometer (possibly right off the sales lot). No door squeaks or creaks in the pano roof, but a bad metallic rattle somewhere in the dash noticed during highway driving. Did Porsche quality take a down turn? My sister has had a Macan and currently a Cayenne with overall good experiences. Growing up I also always remember everyone praising Porsche for build quality. I know Macan isn’t a 911, but it’s the same company. This is my first Porsche and I am not very impressed with the build or the service so far.

My driving impressions after a couple weeks with the turbo and a couple hours with the 4: they drive overall pretty similar, the loaner I have is also on 22 inch wheels, both have air suspension and premium package. Macan 4 acceleration is totally fine for anyone coming from a ICE vehicle and most coming from EVs unless it’s been a performance oriented EV. Highway pickup and overall around the town acceleration was more than adequate and handling was very similar to the turbo; my Macan has the rear wheels steer, which makes handling a little better.

I read a few posts about the Macan 4 feeling underwhelming in dynamics, from my experience I would disagree. I think it’s quite good and more than needed for fun around the town driving. With the turbo I can barely get my foot a quarter down the accelerator before being way over the speed limit, it’s fun, but I can’t use most the power unless I’m willing to deal with the legal consequences.

I’m still happy to have the turbo I do like the styling better, but the 4 is a great vehicle and for the majority a perfect daily driver with great comfort and dynamics.

Porsche needs to get a grip on service and QC from my limited experience. I’m hoping the issues I have will all be resolved on pickup.

Your "adviser" is a clown at best.

Plenty of quality issues reported which is disappointing to say the least. Taycan was similar at launch in 2020.

Getting a launch car can be risky in hindsight and would discourage it.

 

[USMA81]

My 4 build was early August. No issues, except rodents damaged a wiring harness somewhere in transit. That caused comfort entry to not work, but was fixed pretty easily once they found it. Solid otherwise.

I was a quality engineering consultant for much of my career and had several engagements with auto makers. In general, my impression is Porsche’s higher models, (911, Cayenne) will have better quality, more experienced workers, but EV’s in general should fair well mechanically compared to ICE. Software is still evolving, as we can see from posts here. Porsche generally scores well in JD Power automotive reviews, but any vehicle in the first build year will be riskier. I bought first year believing the delay in bringing the Macan to market has allowed them to resolve early issue more so than most first year vehicles.

 

[dwgillette]

Hopefully they will address your issues better and quicker than they did mine. I took delivery of a Macan 4 EV late October. A computer failed within a week. I got a loaner car after nearly a week. (As a side note, the My Porsche app showed no battery drain the first 6 days in the shop and a drain only 3 other days, so not sure if they looked at it more than once a week or so). It took over 2 weeks for them to determine the problem. Then, the new computer took 2 weeks to ship. I was without it 43 days, after owning it less than a week.

 

[prime]

Hopefully they will address your issues better and quicker than they did mine. I took delivery of a Macan 4 EV late October. A computer failed within a week. I got a loaner car after nearly a week. (As a side note, the My Porsche app showed no battery drain the first 6 days in the shop and a drain only 3 other days, so not sure if they looked at it more than once a week or so). It took over 2 weeks for them to determine the problem. Then, the new computer took 2 weeks to ship. I was without it 43 days, after owning it less than a week.

At that point I would be tempted to ask for a buy back and get into a new vehicle. That’s way too long not to have your vehicle.

 

[prime]

Thanks for the comments Macan EV community, I have a bit more sanity with the feedback and experiences of others who posted.

I was supposed to get a call back from the service adviser yesterday to let me know how things were looking. Sent a text and wrote a email to have things in writing (learned this is better than phone calls), but no responses to either. Tempted to reach out to / request a different adviser.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

In response to the OP’s concern that there are a lot of early issues for such an expensive vehicle, no disputing that but at the same time as one who has owned over 50 vehicles (more than half new), what is new of the first year of the Macan EV is true of almost every other first year vehicle. As both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports suggest, they recommend our not buying first year vehicles unless we are willing to put up with lots of little things yet to be ironed out — taking a full first year, even noting that Rolls Royce and similar top level first year vehicles also have their irritating first year issues.

Has not stopped me in buying first year vehicles/models but we need to have patience we choose to buy them in the frist twelve moths after the first ones have arrived at dealers. For not matter how much testing the OEM’s do, we are real world customers (they are not), e.g., our experiencing negatives and then for them to fix/upgrade things. Especially in our software and electronic equipment dominated new vehicles.

As to dealerships not communicating back to us in a timely manner when we have send a defective new vehicle to them, no excuse for that in my book.

 

[PanameraFrank]

The biggest issue is how poor Porsche dealerships generally are. Every manufacturer has bad dealerships, sure, but I'd easily rank Porsche at the top of the list for "most likely to have poor customer service."

I go into BMW dealerships around here and get treated like a king, even though I've owned a grand total of 1 BMWs in my life and didn't buy it from any of them.

I've spent hundreds of thousands here for Porsches and I feel lucky if they don't spit on me.

 

[Yves]

What about efficiency? Any remarks on that 4 vs turbo?

 

[daveo4EV]

What about efficiency? Any remarks on that 4 vs turbo?

the 4 is less efficient at generating profits for Porsche vs. the Turbo - Porsche prefers you in the higher cost higher margin products…

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