nelson30

Hi there, new here from Colorado. I'm starting my search for a (ideally CPO) 2nd gen GTS or Turbo with a budget of $80-100 miles between 20-40K I'd guess.
I was originally going to buy an M3 or maybe an M340i but all the new BMWs I drove were really numb and cabin space was tighter than expected. A colleague suggested a gently used Panamera. I am driving a Turbo S Sport Turismo on Friday this week to validate that it feels "special" enough and primarily evaluating if I can put our baby seat behind my wife's seating position without going for the extended wheelbase option. Ideally, I love the look of the Sport Turismo but they are very hard to come by it seems.

Curious what I should be on the lookout for maintenance wise to enjoy many years of ownership ahead in terms of common issues and what things I should plan to do to prevent larger headaches down the road.

And then for looking at used models if there are certain options I should make sure I definitely have vs not. Example being I know I don't really want the carbon ceramics, but sport chrono is a must (which seems to be included in GTS by default). Any tips you have for me in this regard much appreciated.

Use case for the car, I might do an HPDE day with PCA once a year or something but that amount of free time is rare these days with the little one. It will not be a daily driver just for fun, going to church, errands, cruise down the highway, commute to the office once and a while etc. I doubt I'll put 5K miles a year on it.

Thanks so much in advance.

chaos2984

with that kind of budget you should easily be able to find a PSTT for that price. If you look for one that has close to 40k miles make sure that service has been done. That is the pricey service on the car. You should easily be able to fit a car seat behind the main seats without any issue unless you have a really tall wife. And with the way your going to drive it, even if its close you should able to be mostly comfortable overall if your wife is tall or if your tall and your wife is driving.

The Turbo engine really has no issues. The only thing you want to do is look at what options you want the car to have and look from there. I've had my PSTT for 6 months and love it.

nelson30

Thankfully while I am 6' 4" my wife is a whole 13" shorter than me so she mostly fits in anything. I'm not quite up to speed on the lingo you'll have to help me out with PSTT.

chaos2984

PSTT = Panamera Sports Turismo Turbo. The name of the car is a mouth full so people just shorten it to PSTT.

You should be fine. Since your test driving one you should test drive the seat as well for the baby seat. See if it fits well for you. Also I use the Porsche kit seat mat and it works very well to protect the seat.

911C2R

GTS or Turbo would be primo, IMO. The only hesitancy I’d have with the Turbo S is that it is a hybrid, and the electric motor life may be a concern if you keep the car for awhile - after expiration of any warranty you have/get.

Having driven a Turbo S, it is noticeably more powerful than the GTS. Straight line speed is not comparable, but the GTS mix of options better suited me. Personal opinion..

2022 GTS Sport Turismo, owner

Please follow up with your impressions of the Panamera test drive!

Norge911

Two big things to check for;
roof creaking, worse in hot weather. Most noticeable when going from street into storefront parking lot, ie some elevation change. There is a bulletin and around $1-1400 to fix. So if there, make sure you get discount for this.

vibration or harmonic oscillation. Typically occur around 57-59 mph. Also occurs around 21-32mph or 83 mph. Worse when cold so reach speed at 57-59 within 4min of test drive. Porsche have no fix for this as they don’t know cause. Not all cars have this.

cdh66

One fitting the bill for sale on C&B today, will go for much less than your budget & has 1yr left on CPO warranty.
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rNG...panamera-turbo

nelson30

Ah, thanks so much. As it turns out the model I'm testing is a Turbo not a Turbo S, but as mentioned by the other commenters, I've definitely ruled out the hybrid. Thanks for your suggestion.

Will do thanks so much for your notes.

Would that roof creaking be covered by CPO? I have read the thread about the vibration.. super odd.

Thanks for sending this. It hurts to see the 4 holes drilled in the front bumper

nelson30

Here's a question for you all. I have a few cars on a list I'm looking at between 30-40K miles and 4-6 years old. They're being offered as CPO but haven't had spark plugs done or the PDK oil change. I was kind of expecting a CPO car to be up to date on recommended maintenance. Is this expectation wrong? It seems like dealer pricing for the PDK oil change is around $1,400. Not sure on spark plugs. Just trying to determine what discount I should be asking for on these cars.

Duc Hunter

I am not sure I would trust the hybrids. I know a lot of the 1st gen of Cayenne hybrids (some Panamera's too) are needing a battery replacements around now. 2 clears near me had multiple batteries stacked up in there huge wood crates. $20k or so is the price to change that out. The newer generation 2 hybrids might be better, just something to be careful of.

Shuga

They don't have to do it. You'd be surprised what slips by as CPO.

nelson30

Interesting good to know.

Would anyone here have me cross shop the RS6 Avant? It seems like there might be some of those in my price range but not sure the primary merits between that and the Panamera

chaos2984

If these cars are at a Porsche dealer, try to work in a deal where they cover most or all of the 40K service if it wasn't done.
In my cars history the 40k was done by the dealer selling it as CPO. I've seen both ways where some dealers make sure all maintenance is completed before selling it as CPO.

The roof creaking should be covered but just depends on the dealer. Ive seen things like this covered on 911's under CPO.
I had 1 dealer tell me to F off and not cover my dash. I went to a dealer that Porsche America recommended and they covered my dash. This was due to the leather shrinkage issue. i don't know what they get off of denying people. It's free money for them.

The 1400 for the PDK service sounds about right.

djdonte

Typically no. CPO has exclusions, and only covers things that break. My car's roof pops when I go up and down my driveway. I called my dealer and they told me that they would have trouble getting it covered since there is no failed component, but since I just purchased from them he would see what he could do. Now he wont return my calls lol.. not a great sign.

BlueOx

Good morning. I have a 2018 Panamera turbo (not s). I was originally looking for the 971 Turbo S, but eventually leaned away from it because of my concern that the hybrid powertrain could be a reliability issue years down the road--a guy at the service center mentioned this. I eventually settled on the notion that the classic petrol powertrain was "tried and true." Anyway, I bought it about a year ago. the car had 36K miles on it and a 2 year CPO. I added a third year of warranty when I closed on the deal. As part of the CPO process, the dealer did all of the upcoming maintenance to 60K which included spark plugs, etc. I clarified this recently when I was at the dealer for some other service issues and it was indeed the case.

My suggestion would be to find a car with the CPO; esp with 30K or more miles on it. I searched the nation for one and was very lucky to find the car I was looking for at one of my local Porsche dealers. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was pretty darn close (didn't have sport exhaust or the Burmester audio). Thus far, I've brought the car in for all sorts of things; because I'm crazy and type A. They have been able to fix everything that has been wrong (or annoying to my type A personality) and everything has been covered by warranty: creaking to the frame, rattling rear sun shades, there was an eroded/frayed wire causing warning/error messages to come on spontaneously that they replaced, creaking to the suspension in the cold weather (that was a pricy one), etc. the only thing that I have paid for in the last year was the oil change and a new set of rear tires. Of course, there was my time spent dealing with the car, but honestly I have no problem popping by the dealer for a cup of coffee (and really enjoyable customer service) and a gander at the beautiful performance cars in the showroom!

I love the car and I'm willing to accept the quirks for the amazing drive. In my experience, the CPO has been worth it and the service at the dealer has been excellent; I would hope this is typical across the country, but may not be.