We're approaching 60k miles. The cost of Porsche genuine parts scare me too but the cost of non-OEM parts is scarier yet.

I see comparisons to Honda or Toyota as pointless. If you are indifferent to the performance and comfort of the Panny as compared to, say, a Camry, you're in the wrong car. If we wish a premium automotive experience, we should expect to pay a premium for it.

 

Did you mean you have kept Jaguars running past 300 miles, or 3k miles? Surely 300k must be a typo…

 

LOL.

Actually, while the series 3s were hopeless money pits. X308 series, the ones with MB transmission, keep on going and you can do most repairs at home

 

I dont.mind paying a premium for the parts that are actually premium or unique. Porsche charging $1,00 for a $200 12v battery or $300 for a $50 VW labeled switch is just gouging fools who think, "well, they do have an espresso machine in the waiting area so I it must be worth it".

 

Just bought a 2010 Panamera 4S. Has 89700 miles on it. Service records from previous owner show 2 trips to the dealer for air suspension repair/replacement, one recently, and ignition coil failure (also twice). The usual bushings/control arm maintenance items along with a few electrical things (minor). Camshaft bolt recall done, and not on the list for the AC relay recall. The car was always garaged, looks almost brand new inside. I searched around for as many of the options I could find in my budget, and got most all (PDCC...wow what difference! sport chrono +, sport exhaust, PCCB) that I wanted in GT silver. Plan a few small mods, and also plan to take pristine care of this car and put at least 100k on it and baby it for sure.

2010 Panamera 4S

I looked at a 2013 GTS with 147,000 miles, but that scared me, even scarier was the used dealer that had it, so I didn't touch it.

 

Mine is north of 80k miles, I don't have any warranty, just do maintenance as a routine rather than reactionary. Over in the UK, we don't have the same warranty environment as you guys in the US. I use a German website for alot of parts, however main dealer has proven to be way cheaper for the majority of parts recently.

 

Update on this. The car is currently sitting around 254,000 miles. Still running perfectly fine, only needing basic maintenance. He wants Porsche NA to take it and use it for scientific purposes or something. I wanna buy it, but it's impossible to find a similar mileage example to compare it to.

 

The science (engineering really) is in what failed rather than what didn't. I wish your buddy good luck in his sale back.

 

Unfortunately he probably needs to get up to like a million miles before PCNA will be interested in his car - and then it will be for publicity, not research.

I was this with some insight as an engineer for an OEM.

Each system or part on the vehicle has a target minimum durability when it is designed. As with all things, there will be a distribution of some units that fail early, and some that last abnormally long. The OEM monitors failures (generally warranty claims) and if a part/system is failing prematurely, they will investigate and (if deemed appropriate) will implement a countermeasure. But key point: if a part is NOT failing - nobody cares. Until that part is redesigned in the next product cycle, then maybe they make it a little cheaper because the data shows it was "overdesigned" - remember, anyone can build a bridge, only a good engineer can build a bridge that barely stands and doesn't cost too much.

There will be some engines on the left of the bell curve that blow up at 5k miles (or any mileage before the warranty period expires), and PCNA very much cares about them, because 1) that shouldn't happen, and 2) warranty costs $ and 3) poor reliability is bad PR (and bad PR costs $ in the long run). So they need to find out why it failed early, and make sure it doesn't keep happening. And on the right side of the bell curve there will be some engines that go 500k, but all that car will get is some comments from the guys at the dealership. Nobody at Porsche engineering really cares because in essence, it's only doing what it's "supposed to do" (which is "not break").

IF however you get to 1million miles, the engineering team still doesn't care much, but the Marketing team may. See the recent marketing campaign re: the Million-Mile Tundra. That's a good opportunity to run an ad campaign about your vehicle's "real world" reliability.

 

Bought my 2012 Turbo S about 4-5 months ago. It's my daily driver.

Current total mileage is 97k.

I've put 8k on it so far, including a 3200 mile road trip.

 

Hi
I am thinking about pulling the trigger on a 2012 GTS but getting cold feet . Concerned about reliability.Any advice for me

 

I have had many Porsche cars , Panamera is a very good vehicle I recently got into a 16 GTS , love the car , doing a wheel off brake service and under side clean up . Parts are more than many other cars but the car is also more than most . My car has 45 K at the moment so can't really call it a long hauler at the moment ? Mamba , if your afraid have a prepurchase done and see what comes out of it ?

 

I wonder if it's predictable. Many here report reliability. We don't. Ours, now at 60k is in for another laughably expensive bit of maintenance. Our water pump is making a noise so replacement is on the table necessitating thermostat replacement in a 'while we're in there' operation.

We're looking at U$4,000 for the parts and labor. We have a plain jane /4.

 

What I would say is if you have the time and ability to do some of your own work on the car, it could be a good option. If you can live with the car being down for a week waiting for reasonably priced parts or even remanufactured parts, and you can do it yourself, a lot of the high maintenance cost evaporates. I can do brakes, suspension, basic engine work, diagnose electrical issues, etc, so I'm ok with my 2012. I know something big might come up, but the chances of that are low enough that I can "self insure" that happening.

Another attitude is that you shouldn't be buying a car like this if you can't afford to pay the high repair bills, but I think that if you _can_ afford for a shop to take care of even small issues, then you can probably afford a newer car that will have fewer issues anyway. Someone looking at a 10yo car needs to be able to handle things on their own to an extent or be looking at a car with lower maintenance costs.

 

Reliability and low cost of ownership are not the first words anyone would use to describe their Panamera.

Even if you do your own work, parts can be shockingly expensive. Even a shock absorber can set you back thousands. Porsche has also made it difficult to do many home repairs. Even the 12v battery is electronically coded, requiring PWIS or high end scan tool.

I've owned Jaguar, Maserati, etc. All the brands people fear! I hate to admit it, but I have found the Porsche to be far more expensive to maintain than any of those. I am convinced that Porsche owners take a perverse pleasure in being gouged which is why you get so many replies along the lines of, "if you can't afford to get bent over, perhaps a fine motorcar like Porsche is not for you..."