iamvan

Hi guys,
A current BMW owner (640i Gran Coupe) looking to get into a Porsche ownership.

Looking at a 2020 4 with 50k miles on it and a 2018 4s with 20k miles. The 4s is better equipped and am leaning towards it, but wondering about the reliability. I think I've read somewhere that the 4S' 2.9 V6 is the least reliable engine in the Panamera engine line-up. Is that accurate?
Do these cars come with a heated steering wheel? What is the best way of figuring that out from the pictures?

Thanks a bunch!

chassis

2.9TTV6 is proven reliable from 2019 onward. 2018 and earlier is susceptible to cam roller follower bearing failure. The production fix was larger roller bearings in the 2018 time frame.

Buying a 2018 2.9TTV6 is risky.

djdonte

The button for the heated wheel is on the back of the bottom spoke so it's pretty tough to tell just from pictures. Try running the vin thru a vin decoder to see the build sheet. If you are buying from a dealer they should be able to provide that as well. You should be buying CPO either way from a dealer or at least get a quality third party warranty. Neither of those cars will be cheap to fix. You should drive them though; the base engine was a little lackluster for me. The 4S was a little peppier.

Porsche Build Sheets and Window Stickers by VIN | VIN Analytics

Torxuvin

This is the first I'm seeing anything on this. I just picked up at 2018 Pana 4S ST. I'll probably end up getting a warranty anyway but do you have any more info? I found nothing searching rennlist

djdonte

I have a 2018 as well and hadn't heard much either tbh. I always thought these 2.9TTs were pretty solid. Way better than the 4.0TT in the older S6/7s. I googled it and mostly found stuff about this issue on the Audi forums for the RS5.

chassis

Audi RS5 forum has threads on this and there is a vitriolic YouTuber who documents the problem. The YouTuber is presenting the facts using hyperbole. Take it with a grain of salt.

Bottom line if you have small roller bearings the risk is high they will grenade. I think you can visually confirm roller bearings size through the oil fill hole on the left cam carrier. Remove the plastic fill tube to look with a powerful flashlight into the cam carrier.

djdonte

Is there specific build date where this was updated?

chassis

The EA839 2.9TTV6 is solid 2019 and beyond. The fundamental engine design uses many common elements as the EA825 4.0TTV8 but with improvements. The 2.9 is an improved and evolved design from the 4.0.

But the cam roller follower issue is real in the 2016-2018 time frame. I haven’t seen a definitive date or engine number cutoff for old small vs new large cam roller follower bearings.

iamvan

Thank you, peeps!

I may need to postpone my Porsche adventure as I am looking to get another BMW.
Carfax's 4S with 20k revealed 6 owners which for such low mileage (but clean title) was enough of a red flag for me.
The 4 was riddled with various tech issues on 2 test drives - CarPlay connected only after re-starting the card for the 3rd time, cruise control worked intermittently, etc.

Panamera definitely drove better than any BMW I've ever owned, but I think BMW's tech is better. One day!

chassis

No specific build date or engine numbers that I have seen to confirm new, larger cam roller follower bearings. "2018" or so is the changeover. I have seen no roller bearing failures reports for 2019 models on audiworld or RL.