Hi all, long time listener, first time caller.

I purchased my first Porsche this April (18' GTS, Black to the third power , 10k miles) from a newer dealer in SoCal (I know). Forget that I bought it remotely while working in the Midwest, and forget that it was delivered to my house while I was not there. For some reason my wife was on board and the car matched the spec we both wanted.

Anyway, this isn't so much a cautionary tale, but a story about an interesting purchase experience. First off, let me say, holy hell regarding the Macan GTS and I speculate P-Cars in general. I've guest lurked on these forums for years and after finally purchasing, everything I anticipated was accurate. The exhaust note, the shifts, the precision. The tactile, satisfying feel of simply opening and closing the driver door. Pure joy every time I drive!

The vehicle came off a lease from a nearby city known for wealth and celebrity, which sort of explained the low low miles for its age as a former lessee. The video walk around showed a super clean example and that was exactly what was delivered, but I could't help but notice there were just a few red flags along the way. The young salesman didn't respond to follow up questions, another salesman ultimately took over, and the car was listed on 3rd party sites with CPO, but not on the dealer site. After settling on price, I asked about CPO and the salesman stated it would be covered until 2023. Great!

The car was delivered and I was able to finally get home a week after. When I finally met it in person, I noticed the dealer only provided one key, after two keys having been listed on the window sticker. i enquired about it and was sent a new key two weeks later, which strangely had new part stickers on it, but was in fact programmed to the car. Whatever.

First drive in the car was awesome, until the low oil level indicator illuminated. My heart sank but I assured myself I had CPO, and this was likely an anomaly or due to atrophy. Mr. Brightside always. I promptly went to the dealer with thoughts that perhaps I made a mistake, perhaps this is due to temperature/moisture/atmospheric pressure/bad reading/bad karma as so many have discussed here before. The tech simply dumped a quart in and said, yeah they use oil, and I was on my way. Slightly nervous at this point, but remained optimistic.

Two weeks in and all was good, until one day, I rolled down the windows in traffic (to experience Sport mode + Sport Exhaust) and a noise presented itself, echoing off of cars on the passenger side. The noise was a loud squeak that occurred intermittently off the line but mostly cruising in town while in high gear at low rpm. The sound was reminiscent of a fan belt squeak so I thought it must be a pulley or perhaps something in the diaphragm department, as is purportedly common. The sound increased in decibel and frequency over the next few weeks so off I went to Mother Porsche in my hometown to try and resolve (not the selling dealer) after logging hours on youtube/forum research with no success finding a similar noise or thread complaining about it.

The tech asked me to drive while he listened for the noise, and gave me that look as if I was snooty jackass and probably wrong about what I claimed to be hearing, as so many jackasses before me likely had. Wouldn't you know it, 20 seconds in and the car squeaked away and the tech was beside himself. Interestingly, he pulled out his phone and recorded the noise via an app that he claimed read the frequency of the noise and could pinpoint the source based on that information. He went on to mention that he would need this reading to backup the warranty work that could potentially take place. The app registered the noise but had no indication of its origin. The tech mentioned he had never heard this before but we both agreed it was emanating from the rear of the vehicle. He speculated an exhaust leak of some kind or perhaps the fuel pump. It was so strange hearing what sounded to be pulley squeal from the rear of the car, or as if someone had installed one of those crappy, bolt on whistles that mimics turbo noise.

Smash cut to the car on the lift, and a few exhaust leaks were in fact found. The bracket behind the rear diff created a stress fracture in the passenger side pipe and over time had detached itself as well, which apparently creates a noise similar to a squeaky pulley. The tech said he had never encountered this before and had only seen exhaust brackets fail on higher mileage Cayennes from previous Gens, but never with a squeaky result. Cool, love being the canary in a Porsche coal mine.

Thankfully, not much drama related to the CPO. The rear exhaust section was replaced at no charge and the problem was resolved, but after reviewing the paperwork, it stated that my CPO expired in April of 2022, and not 2023 as was discussed during the sale. I also did not receive any guarantee of the CPO in writing from the dealer itself, but just this week, I did receive a package from Porsche outlining the details and confirmatiion of the CPO, so some relief on that note.

Point is, although this wasn't a CPO horror story, don't be like me and make sure to have your questions answered during the purchase process and be firm with expectations of deliverables. I blindly trusted a dealers word while experiencing a honeymoon phase of 1st time ownership. It didn't turn out badly, but indicates that things could easily go awry if one isn't so lucky. Low oil and an exhaust crack on the heels of a CPO goes to show that the vetting process may be cursory, so buyer beware. I don't think anything was omitted intentionally by any party during the sale, but you never know who may be incompetent or simply doesn't care.

Happy motoring!

 

Welcome to Porsche family. I am glad you got the issues addressed.

 

If your Macan is a 2018, the original 4/50 warranty would cover it til 2022. A CPO would add 2 more years and unlimited miles - whichever
arrives first.

It sounds to me as though you do not have CPO coverage. You should have received paperwork from the Porsche dealer you purchased
the Macan from explicitly describing the CPO coverage.


Good luck!

 

If that is the case, then the end date on the dealer paperwork must be the end of the factory warranty. I was not aware it had a 4 year/50k.

I received a silver credit card type thing in a box of goodies from Porsche last week indicating it is CPO'd but there is no mention anywhere of the terms. It has my name, the VIN, and CERTIFIED PRE OWNED written across it.

Just another quirk in this whole adventure!

 

Nothing, zero, none, etc. works better than a chassis ear to detect noises coming from under the hood. Who was the dealer???

 

Porsche of Palm Springs. Very happy with their service and team.

 

CPO is for 2 years after the expiration of the original 4 yr warranty and is additive. The 4 yr warranty starts on the original in-service date of the vehicle. On my 2018 the Warranty start date was 11-20-2017. So, my car is still covered under the original warranty until 11-20-21. Then the CPO kicks in and is good until 11-20-23. This information is in Porsche's computers system and is available to any dealer. This is my 3rd CPO'd Porsche. The ink pens that Porsche send in the CPO goody box are pretty nice!