Would you stick with Porsche?

[Helixer]

There are so many new EV coming out with very cool concept. The EQG from Mercedes, Polestar 4, Lotus Eletre, and even the Cadillac Lyriq. Looks are subjective but I think these cars do look pretty cool and futuristic. I love the way my Taycan drives and the way it looks but some of these brands also know a thing or 2 about building cars. I feel like the electric car market is giving many automakers a second chance to rebrand themselves. Personally really looking forward to what Lotus will release after the Eletre and what the Polestar 4 will be like. Very curious to how many of us would consider trying other brands, especially ones that might offer more for your dollar on the surface.

From the first time I laid eyes on the Taycan, I deemed it the best looking sedan on the road. Period. However, in my mid seventies I did find ingress and egress a bit uncomfortable, but perhaps bearable in light of its beauty and drivability. What really concerns me living in SoCal and driving on one freeway or another every day, is the reported power outages and other software glitches. Try coasting to the shoulder of I-5 (11 total lanes at one point) after a software failure or while crossing the border at San Ysidro (too many lanes to count). My 911 and Cayenne are, and always have been, flawless. Query why Porsche would produce a half-baked EV?
I can abide Porsche's arrogance and excessive service charges, but until the Taycan gets a bit more perfected, I'm having to consider the i4M50 as the replacement for my M3P. Not as beautiful, not as sporty, but impressive in many respects, and very good value.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

This is certainly true, though the Taycan is a “real” Porsche and the Cayenne was a Porsche tuned VW Touareg

I have seen this remark in several of your posts, and I thought someone with your background might be inclined to learn the facts. The short answer is "nope". The Cayenne was a Porsche project through and through; VW got the Touareg and an early start in consideration for their resources. Longer answer follows.

Porsche is no stranger to all-terrain vehicles; forget the WWII history, when they designed the Kuebelwagen and even had a proposal for a tank; throughout the more recent history (80s-90s), they were driving all-in on all-wheel drive, in an attempt to make the 911 an all-year ..erm, drive. (You may recall the 953 Dakar winner, and the subsequent road-going 959 and 964.) Throughout the same period, it was clear the company had to diversify its lineup away from "just sport", as not only are those the first discretionary purchases to be cut during downtimes, but also they are the attributes of rich markets. Having been through dire straits, Porsche needed to expand into developing markets, with uneven quality of roads.

There have been attempts at sedans (989), and studies for off-road sports cars, but what Ferry really wanted was to offer a sporty alternative to the Range Rover. These market studies were done in several market segments in the early 90s, and a decision was taken to pursue the then-inexistent "sporty utility" market. (Ferry died shortly after the project was approved.)

Porsche also needed a production partner - as they had done before, they'd do the design and engineering, but could not afford the tooling for production. The first partner was Mercedes, where Porsche was going to reuse the G-Wagen platform with a sporty body and Porsche power. MB demanded a stake in the company in exchange, and the (advanced) talks ended abruptly. This is where VW came in, as an unplanned-for but familiar partner. The rest is Piech's cunning (and possibly a bit of payback) - in exchange for their support, VAG secured the rights to go to market first with the Touareg. This was deemed "safe", as the Touareg was shipped with V6 and V10 TDI motorization, leaving room for Porsche to claim the "fastest" status with the V8/turbo models. (You will remember that, at the time, the Touareg was significantly upmarket from the rest of the VW lineup.)(And further on the "rest is history" section, MB went on to develop their own ML, and BMW acquired LR and unveiled the X5.)

Source: Karl Ludvigsen's "Excellence was Expected" (vol. 4/The Comeback; I'd include a link but the publisher's website isn't sporting a certificate. Easily discoverable on Amazon.)

 

[f1eng]

I have seen this remark in several of your posts, and I thought someone with your background might be inclined to learn the facts. The short answer is "nope". The Cayenne was a Porsche project through and through; VW got the Touareg and an early start in consideration for their resources. Longer answer follows.

Porsche is no stranger to all-terrain vehicles; forget the WWII history, when they designed the Kuebelwagen and even had a proposal for a tank; throughout the more recent history (80s-90s), they were driving all-in on all-wheel drive, in an attempt to make the 911 an all-year ..erm, drive. (You may recall the 953 Dakar winner, and the subsequent road-going 959 and 964.) Throughout the same period, it was clear the company had to diversify its lineup away from "just sport", as not only are those the first discretionary purchases to be cut during downtimes, but also they are the attributes of rich markets. Having been through dire straits, Porsche needed to expand into developing markets, with uneven quality of roads.

There have been attempts at sedans (989), and studies for off-road sports cars, but what Ferry really wanted was to offer a sporty alternative to the Range Rover. These market studies were done in several market segments in the early 90s, and a decision was taken to pursue the then-inexistent "sporty utility" market. (Ferry died shortly after the project was approved.)

Porsche also needed a production partner - as they had done before, they'd do the design and engineering, but could not afford the tooling for production. The first partner was Mercedes, where Porsche was going to reuse the G-Wagen platform with a sporty body and Porsche power. MB demanded a stake in the company in exchange, and the (advanced) talks ended abruptly. This is where VW came in, as an unplanned-for but familiar partner. The rest is Piech's cunning (and possibly a bit of payback) - in exchange for their support, VAG secured the rights to go to market first with the Touareg. This was deemed "safe", as the Touareg was shipped with V6 and V10 TDI motorization, leaving room for Porsche to claim the "fastest" status with the V8/turbo models. (You will remember that, at the time, the Touareg was significantly upmarket from the rest of the VW lineup.)(And further on the "rest is history" section, MB went on to develop their own ML, and BMW acquired LR and unveiled the X5.)

Source: Karl Ludvigsen's "Excellence was Expected" (vol. 4/The Comeback; I'd include a link but the publisher's website isn't sporting a certificate. Easily discoverable on Amazon.)

So you are saying the Cayenne was not Touareg based whilst explaining a joint development and shared tooling? So was the Touareg Cayenne based? and is it still?
If you say so. I have very little interest in off road vehicles since I left the farm in 1968. I learned to drive in a Land Rover which was fine for farm work but not a good road car, even in the 1960s, it was a bit better value for money the a G-wagen though - that was mildly disappointing.

Anyway I still contest that of the 6 models offered by Porsche only 3 are what I consider to be real Porsches

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Anyway I still contest that of the 6 models offered by Porsche only 3 are what I consider to be real Porsches

I'll refrain from further comments, as it's readily apparent we have different definitions for relative adverbs such as "based" or "real".