Taycan 4S Cross Turismo or Mode 3 Long Range?

[backslashed]

I live in Europe, in Romania.

I am torn. I ordered a Tesla Model 3 Long Range in August which was supposed to arrive in December but it still hasn’t. I got frustrated by this and upped my budget to consider the Taycan which in my opinion is the only other car besides Tesla worth buying as an EV. One of these will be my daily driver.

I had a Tesla Model 3 (pre-facelift) last year before reserving mine for one week. I fell in love with it. It was the first powerful car and first EV I ever rode in so the impression was deep. The quality wasn’t great but the way the acceleration worked made me immediately overlook it all. I loved the driving too. I’ve been obsessing about it and waiting for it since then, being disappointed multiple times by how Tesla treats the Romanian market and also scared about the horror stories of Teslas being in service for almost a year due to repair parts being unavailable (I find it odd to believe given Shanghai pumps out one M3 every 30s).

Born of frustration, I decided the Cross Turismo 4S would be the best alternative given our roads, for driving in town, but also around the country and EU road trips. The range is shorter, but it charges quicker and the fact that they are opening up the Supercharger network to other cars is no longer a strong point in favor of the Tesla. However, the car is HUGE to the point that it is scary. I did not expect this. I am not used to large cars. I drive a VW Golf now! When you break, you can definitely feel how heavy it is. I drove it for 3 hours and loved it. Wow! First time in a Porsche.

I am ready to order this car but a few things scare me:

• Will I be making a mistake?
• Am I better off with a smaller car? Will i be able to fit it in my 218cm wide garage? (Taycan is 1966mm with windows folded!)
• Is it a good city car given its size? I am not used to such a size.
• Is the range too short for a Euro trip? I would like to do one in this beautiful car.
• The initial expense is no issue. Maintenance expenses are concerning though because I hear Porsche service bills are unjustifiably huge. Will this car surprise me with “Porsche level” expenses after some time? From what I see there are none except tyres which cost a lot and besides that warranty and insurance should cover it all.

I would love to hear from people who own both. I love the Taycan’s quality, comfort and driving experience and I think it’s much more versatile as Cross Turismo on our roads, but see my concerns above. Would I regret not getting the Tesla?

Lastly, I could probably get the Tesla in 1-3 months whereas for the Taycan I’d wait 6 months. Initial price is not a concern because given discounts and government aids I can easily sell it in one year for at least the same prize.

thank you for reading!

 

[dsak48]

Hello from Greece ,

Hope you are fine and I haven't been in Romania for more than 3 years.Your questions are valid and I am in a similar position.
Ordered a Taycan 4s CT Volcano grey with 35.000 euro in options in July of 21 and have a possible delivery this June.
Regarding your questions I'll try to give you my prospective ...I was about to go with the Panamera but the Taycan CT is a sexy car.
It is big and you will have problems in very narrow roads of Bucharest as in Athens ...like with all big cars and SUV's.
I also have a major issue with my garage so I will park it outside ...can't do anything else.
I do plan to go on a big family road trip in July and if you organize and calculate the trip you will have no issue ..only consider that it will be high season everywhere in the summer..
I have also received the 2 year non expensive service cycle but the car is new with no history.My biggest concern is the battery and it's lifespan.That will affect its residual value...
Last but not least the comparison with Tesla , Bmw,MB.There is none ,quality wise but most important when you drive it.You can go check other cars but the shape and design exterior and interior is in its own league.
Go for the Taycan CT and you will never look back.Hope I have helped and things are going well in Romania ...I have property for sale outside of Bucharest...

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

I am sure I will get hate for this statement here. Just keep in mind, this is only my opinion and I am not trying to convince anyone to take my position, or defend theirs. Simply, it is where I am currently at in my ownership of Porsche's first full-EV.

For me, the fact that you are considering the long-range, I am assuming (let me know if this is off) that you are valuing practicality of longer trips as a reliability factor as one of the top deciding factors. Along with usability of cargo space, you seem to be wanting a vehicle that can meet your needs on trips and not have to worry about it.

In the US, I can't speak for Romania, the EV netrowk for Lv3 chargers has been a challenge for me, personally, on longer trips. This can be anything from: -Active/working chargers at the station, -connecting issues, -chargers not working/out of service with little options nearby, -chargers not operating at their advertised charging speed (throttled down), -lack of service crews fixing charging stations, -increased problems/slow charging in colder months.

Now, I bought my sedan with the 'fun-factor' and put more of a premium and deciding factors on the actual cars performance (not 0-60, but overall derivable joy) and simply took it at face-value (now I realize I took it for granted) that there was a network of 'fast-chargers' that would be available and working to meet any of my needs when I took the car for a road trip.

What I have experienced is that the reality is that, you can't take the infrastructure of the charging network for granted. Nor, can you separate the charging network from the decision on which vehicle to purchase, when you are considering Tesla vs. Non-Tesla. If your question was between two non-Tesla's, then you can look at the vehicle as a stand-alone comparison.

That said, if I did not want to worry about longer trips, I would actually look at the charging network as the main deciding factor on which brand I would purchase as the first criteria. Then, I would choose the actual model within that decision making matrix after the network was chosen. With this in mind, I would choose the Tesla network and then in your case, it would be the Model 3 LR.

If you place the vehicle's drive-ability, fit/finish, style, attention to quality, etc. higher than functional use/ease of long-trip charging; then this changes everything. Again, my position on this is based on the assumption that you "don't want to have to think about charging on long trips", "want the charger to work every time, without having to think about it, or worry about the conditions" and "have enough space and comfort for long trips" as your main decision criteria.

Hope this helps?

 

[backslashed]

I am sure I will get hate for this statement here. Just keep in mind, this is only my opinion and I am not trying to convince anyone to take my position, or defend theirs. Simply, it is where I am currently at in my ownership of Porsche's first full-EV.

For me, the fact that you are considering the long-range, I am assuming (let me know if this is off) that you are valuing practicality of longer trips as a reliability factor as one of the top deciding factors.
Along with usability of cargo space, you seem to be wanting a vehicle that can meet your needs on trips and not have to worry about it.

In the US, I can't speak for Romania, the EV netrowk for Lv3 chargers has been a challenge for me, personally, on longer trips. This can be anything from: -Active/working chargers at the station, -connecting issues, -chargers not working/out of service with little options nearby, -chargers not operating at their advertised charging speed (throttled down), -lack of service crews fixing charging stations, -increased problems/slow charging in colder months.

Now, I bought my sedan with the 'fun-factor' and put more of a premium and deciding factors on the actual cars performance (not 0-60, but overall derivable joy) and simply took it at face-value (now I realize I took it for granted) that there was a network of 'fast-chargers' that would be available and working to meet any of my needs when I took the car for a road trip.

What I have experienced is that the reality is that, you can't take the infrastructure of the charging network for granted. Nor, can you separate the charging network from the decision on which vehicle to purchase, when you are considering Tesla vs. Non-Tesla. If your question was between two non-Tesla's, then you can look at the vehicle as a stand-alone comparison.

That said, if I did not want to worry about longer trips, I would actually look at the charging network as the main deciding factor on which brand I would purchase as the first criteria. Then, I would choose the actual model within that decision making matrix after the network was chosen. With this in mind, I would choose the Tesla network and then in your case, it would be the Model 3 LR.

If you place the vehicle's drive-ability, fit/finish, style, attention to quality, etc. higher than functional use/ease of long-trip charging; then this changes everything. Again, my position on this is based on the assumption that you "don't want to have to think about charging on long trips", "want the charger to work every time, without having to think about it, or worry about the conditions" and "have enough space and comfort for long trips" as your main decision criteria.

Hope this helps?

Thanks for this nice answer! You have helped me put into perspective what I would gain/lose for each choice. It’s not necessarily that I value longer trips, but more the latter part of your assumption that I was trying to minimize the things to worry about.

Frankly, I think what you’ve described in your last paragraph is more important to me: having a car that is fun to drive and is good quality. I do however want it to be a good daily and not a pain. I generally would not go outside the country and spend most of the time in town or nearby. So that would meet 98% of my needs.

When I do get the car, I do plan on taking it on a Eurotrip to Western Europe. By looking at the network there, it doesn’t look like there is anything to worry about judging by route planning apps. Also, I think Tesla Superchargers will open up to everyone soon.

My biggest concern is parking it in my garage where I would have to charge it too. With mirrors folded (considering that the dimensions I see online are correct: 1966mm) I would have only 10cm left on both sides of the car going in and out. I have some ideas on how to make that work and hopefully it won’t be an issue.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

@backslashed - it sounds like you will be within a single charge 90% of the time and will not have the charger issues (with Open-Tesla-Network and single RFID Card and Maintenance up-to-date) in your neck of the woods that I seem to have in the U.S.

So, in that case, I would choose the CT/ST in that case. Glad my comments were useful and hope this helps with the final decision!

 

[McgR]

If parking in your garage is essential I would do a test drive and see if it fits. 10 cm on both sides seems tight. I wonder if you can even get out of your car. And if you can I would order the electric charge cover.

 

[backslashed]

If parking in your garage is essential I would do a test drive and see if it fits. 10 cm on both sides seems tight. I wonder if you can even get out of your car. And if you can I would order the electric charge cover.

Once I get in, the space on one side gets wider, so I could get out. It is not possible to do a test drive in my town.

I was thinking to install some cameras on the ceiling so i can see how close I am to the wall while going in and out. Might be doable that way ?

 

[McgR]

Once I get in, the space on one side gets wider, so I could get out. It is not possible to do a test drive in my town.

I was thinking to install some cameras on the ceiling so i can see how close I am to the wall while going in and out. Might be doable that way ?

I had an X5 before that a bit wider. You could try to park that in your garage.

And I would glue some rubber to your wall. The soft stop might be a safer, cheaper and easier solution.

Surround camera view may also be a good option.

Good luck with your choice

 

[backslashed]

I had an X5 before that a bit wider. You could try to park that in your garage.

And I would glue some rubber to your wall. The soft stop might be a safer, cheaper and easier solution.

Surround camera view may also be a good option.

Good luck with your choice

Interesting idea. I wonder who would give me their X5 to try that ?

I think I am going to experiment with hacking together a bunch of ultrasonic sensors on the wall connected to a Raspberry Pi which should give me a clear image of the car’s position in reference to the wall. I am a programmer so it might as well be fun and work out efficiently.

P.S. this post has twisted into a different topic