GVA-SFO

Now 3'500 miles driven with our P4S ..and looking at oil level, ..level is still OK, at half way.
For sure, nothing added during these miles.

GVA-SFO

Back about the Panamera Wheels choices.
My favorites are (by far) these :



Here (a personal photo), the "car" #711, which I think, it was the spare frame, that Mr. Fredy Lienhard (Lista Office / maintained by Horag Racing) bought when he got his original car (#707).
Then, later, as not being (needed !!) used, this spare frame was fully equipped to become ..his 2nd cars, scoring 2 for the RS Spyder, more than pretty nice !
(Btw, many of his racing cars are in a very nice museum, see here : http://www.autobau.ch/)

Photo taken during the last Rennsport Reunion IV, driven and winning with a great driver: Mr. Didier Theys.

By the way, back to Panamera, "these" wheels do carry the Name, (of what is, in my opinion, the King of the Porsche) ..but, they do not carry the exact same look !!!
See:

GVA-SFO

Cpa4S was asking about “Tineo” some time ago and I promised photos.
So, here is how “Tineo on Black” looks like :

GVA-SFO

..Oups, ..double post, sorry for that. This one should be deleted.
OK, may be, coz I cannot delete a post, let's use this one for a "stupid question", as the sun is now starting to spend his good vacations time in California :

Why we cannot have a PANOroof on a PANAmera ???
OK, it makes kind of hurricane winds inside a Cayenne when driving on good freeways legal speed, but may be, with the rounded shapes of the Pan, it would be better !

GVA-SFO

About photos, a funny one : PanaShadow on the central wall of the Antioch Bridge (East San Francisco Bay).
..Trying to go faster than the shadow, ..but staying legal !

tonyep

This is one of the feature I wish I had on my PTT as well. I like panoroof for the amount of light the interior gets.

GVA-SFO

Approaching 4’000 miles, and oil level is still at ½.
No so bad at all ! (I’m looking at that with a critical eye, as, imo, this could be a “tough one” !



Sorry to have the "text from the car in French", but I'm sure, reading my posts, you all realized very quickly ..that English is not my "writing tongue"

Btw, do we have another way (i.e.: an old and dirty dip stick) if we do not trust the above electronic at 100% ?

I think, the oil consumption is effectively very worrying, ..particularly with a modern DFI engine.
The build-up on the valves, seems to have good chances to be produced by either :
a) The oil that may come out from the end of the valves guides
b) The oil from vent, ..that instead of going out to the free air, like in the good old time ! (I have no idea why the “Regulators” acted to make it “recycled” (I should really say burned), by forcing it to go in the air intake of the modern engines, as this “solution” do not seems to be really “clever” !
Frankly, oil vapors, being heavier than air, I do not think that it would help to dig the hole in the Ozone layer, but, instead, would have helped building the roads, by adding one more oil base layer on the asphalt !
Or, better: just been well filtrated before doing so !

Anyway, at this point, we may figure that one of the possible destination of the oil that “disappears” may go to “b)”, i.e.: burning when entering in contact with the back (& very hot) side of the valves ?
Then, questions could be :
. Are these oil vapors, be in more quantities in case of many small trips (i.e.: more differences of temperatures between the engine material and the oil itself) ? (This v.s. having the engine running at stable temps during long trips ?)
. Shall we think that the “stop/auto shut off” could have a negative effect ? (In my case, I disabled it for good.)
. Is the climate (outside temperature) has an effect on it ?
I would be VERY curious to know if the drivers that see oil consumption are located in rather cold (or hot climate area ??) and if they are doing long runs, ..or short hops ?)
. Does the build-up vary depending on oil quality ?

In my opinion, one thing seems to be pretty clear, (except in cases of “real” oil leaks), is that the oil that "disappear", has good chances to participate into valves build-up party, ..and this is not a nice thing, as the owner of the engine, (not P !) will have to pay, one day or another, ..for the clean-up of the place, and this should be not a cheap one !!
(I think even with a CPO, ..and with the 100’000 miles mark on the odometer to go, this clean-up will not go under any type of warranty, right ?)

MJBird993

Ah ha! That explains a lot. C'est tout bon, oiu?
No.
If I remember correctly, you've had several 911s before? Surely you are familiar with these high performance engines and their appettite for oil.

I changed the oil on my car at around 2000 miles and recently at 6600 miles the low oil reminder came on, so my car is burning a bit too. A quart in 4000 miles in well within the acceptable range. And I don't think I filled it to the very top, so it burned less than a quart in that period.

As for DFI and carbon buildup, I'm not sure what the solution is. Some say that an oil catch can will help, others say that the car needs to be driven harder more often. But it is very difficult to drive this car "hard" for more than a few seconds before you are traveling at dangerous speeds! Note that all manufacturers are having these issues, not just Porsche.

Wdenninger

I bought a 2012 Panamera 4S and absolutely love it. Gave my 2009 911S to my younger brother. I think I will be buried in the Panamera!

GVA-SFO

..Now about 3 months and over 5'000 miles of Panamera, what's up ?

On the technical side:
Well, beside the problem of the water coolant pipes : one quart of oil, and I'm still back at the "max", (at least, this car has no problem at all in the oil consumption side, everything looks very normal) and one quart of water (coolant), ..yes, a bit strange, I suppose that after the coolant pipes problem, may be some bubbles did remain down there, as I do not think the car has any (water) leaks.

In the usage :
Well, after this (good) use of this great car, the only thing that I still do not really like, is PDK. Clearly, the fact that the computer select and decide when to change a gear, ..it is may be very good for the specifications of the CO2 (politics), but, it is by far, not, my preferred way to drive a car. But the rest of the car is so fantastic, that I still like it very much.

May be I can mention "a small one", that is also a proof that this car is a real flying carpet : the "tick-tac" noise of the "sport chrono" watch is a pain.
As well as the light (in this thing) during the night, as it does reflect big time on the winshield.
It would be ***GREAT*** that if in the options list of the Sport Chrono menu, we would have a "turn chrono/watch off" option.
This would solve the noise and the light problem, and ..if an Engineer of the factory read these lines, ..it should not cost more than 10 minutes of work of the guy that wrote these original lines of code !

Sure, I also miss the "open roof".

So, my conclusion after these 5'000 miles is that a Panamera do replaces a good part of a 911, ..but not completely.
I'm now in a search of an old and good Boxster (S) with low miles, as now, I get convinced, that for my taste, the good replacement of a 911 should be a Panamera plus a Boxster !

Funny to mention, that in this case, (i.e.: ..thinking about track days), I would NOT be against PDK ! But anyway, I’m looking for an old one, so, ..PDK should not be a question !

Targa Tim

the only replacement of a 911 is another 911.

GVA-SFO

@Targa Tim : For 30 years, I was thinking this way.
Now, having in mind to keep the Panamera, my need for back seats space is gone.
In my opinion, the ONLY reason to have the engine in that (*!&??) position (911 way), is to have "back seats space".
For me, max fun for track days means a car with the engine at the right place !

MJBird993

+1

The Boxster is a nice car, but it ain't no 911.

I bought my Panamera S in July, and by January I had purchased a very nice slightly pre-owned 911 (997) to keep it company.

As for the comments on the PDK - have you tried driving in sport mode? It delays the shifts quite a bit, you might like that more.

Cpa4S

that last shot is great - i really like that wood

GVA-SFO

Yes, me too, ..it makes me think about that :