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Wow, you’re around 28% E miles. Your mpg is impressive! Mine is not nearly as good and I’m around 31% E miles. Of course the rooftop cargo box really cut into the mileage on trips totaling around 1000 miles (approx. 22 Mpg hwy averaging 83 mph or so on those trips).
I'm curious if your car will run in E mode in eigth gear?
Has anyone tried using an Astell and Kern SR15, SR25 or similar Astell and Kern portable player with the Porsche Audio system? Increasingly I buy studio quality downloads for my purchased music, either 96 kHz/24 bit, 192kHz/24 bit or DSD 128. The 256 GB iPod Touch I currently use as my music source in the Panamera, cannot play these files unless if I load them downgraded to 44 kHz/16 bit but the Astell and Kern players can play them in full resolution. What I don't know is how well do the Astell and Kern players talk to the PCM and neither apparently do Astell and Kern. I don't want to pay out £650 only to find it does not display the contents on the PCM screen.
I have a good news/bad news story about driving our 2018 4E-Hybrid. We had driven it very little since the Covid-19 shutdown began, but yesterday was to be different.
We live in Atlanta and my wife’s brother and sister-in-law are both optometrists in Asheville NC, and they normally handle our eye exams and glasses. Since we were overdue for exams we decided, in spite of the virus, to do a one-day round-trip to Asheville. It’s something over three hours each way, we would not interact with other people except for brother/sister, and we’d be back home in Atlanta for dinner. We’ve done this in the past, so what could go wrong?
A pothole could go very wrong. About 2.5 hours into the trip we were half way between Greenville SC and Asheville on a nice, divided, uncrowded, well-maintained (so I thought) 4-lane highway. As we just crested a hill going maybe 60MPH I saw a very ugly pothole, but it was too late. Bang!
This was the bad news of my story: both tires blown on the right side (21” Pirelli P7 all seasons)—from 60 to immobile in about 8 seconds. Argh.
But lots of good news followed, and in many ways we were very lucky yesterday. For starters, the car handled beautifully, and it never felt out of control. I slowed down and just right there was a large paved lot and local fruit stand. We pulled in and called my brother-in-law to cancel our appointments, and within a short time he appeared on the scene. Because it was Friday before a holiday weekend in the US, I was wondering how hard it might be to get help. I called the Porsche dealership in Asheville to ask if they had the right tires in stock, which unsurprisingly they did not. I then called the dealership in Greenville, and, mirabile dictu, they did have P7 sizes for both front and rear. The service department was beautiful and said if we could get the car to them by mid-afternoon they would take care of us. So I called the Porsche roadside assistance number, they sent a web link, I filled out a form online, and within an hour a flatbed truck arrived (having already advised us that because of Covid no one could ride with them). So the car got loaded onto the flatbed and my brother-in-law drove us back down to Greenville. We checked in with the service department at Porsche of Greenville and went for lunch. By 4PM they had replaced the tires, done a four-wheel alignment and washed the car. We got home to Atlanta not much later than we should have done according to Plan A.
There were no eye exams and two tires were ruined, but we were exceedingly thankful for all that went well. We didn’t have a wreck, we were close to family, roadside assistance was prompt, matching tires were in stock, etc. Although we got some reparable wheel scratching, neither wheel was bent. Lots of things could have been difficult but weren’t. Certainly in the days before mobile phones all of this could have been a nightmare. I especially want to compliment Wayne and the service department at Porsche of Greenville for working us into the schedule on Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend. Well done and thanks.
Wow what a story!! I try to spot potholes but sometimes they just up and grab you and there isn't much you can do about it. I have the same set up as you; 21" wheels with the P7 tires. I did buy the wheel/tire insurance so if that ever happens to me they are supposed to pay for the new tires and any wheel damage but I think the alignment would be my responsibility. Thank goodness you were able to get everything taken care of and didn't wind up stranded for the holiday weekend.
Over the two and a half years I have had my Panamera, I have lost 4 tyres to potholes. The giant pothole always seems to appear, just as there is a huge white van, intent on breaking the world land speed record, hurtling towards you, negating any chance of swerving to avoid. The last one was this March, when taking my wife to the airport before sunrise so the pothole was invisible in the dark. She was not amused but luckily a taxi arrived very quickly. It was even more painful as the P Zero NCT 21" x 275mm front tyre lost, was only a week old. Nobody had the noise reduction NCT spec tyres in stock, so I had to wait three days for a replacement. I got Porsche recovery to drop me back at home, where I jacked the Panamera up and removed the wheel to take it to the tyre shop in my wife's Abarth.
It took a lot of fiddling around to get the TPMS to reset and recognise that there was not a flat tyre on my LH Front. I had to have the new and inflated tyre/wheel mounted, with engine running, change from summer to winter tyre on the PCM, save it then back again to summer and save, let the tyre down by 10 psi and then inflate to the correct pressure. It then reset after about a mile of driving. Luckily I have a large 14cfm compressor in my barn, so did not have to use the micro compressor supplied with the car.
I did buy the wheel/tire insurance so if that ever happens to me they are supposed to pay for the new tires and any wheel damage but I think the alignment would be my responsibility.
Yes, I bought the wheel/tire insurance too. As you say, it covered the tires but I paid for the alignment. The wheels have some rash, so I hope the insurance will take care of that as well when we get it fixed. Another helpful thing Wayne in service department did was to call back to my home dealership to get insurance details and he then worked things out with the insurance company.
Over the two and a half years I have had my Panamera, I have lost 4 tyres to potholes...
It took a lot of fiddling around to get the TPMS to reset and recognise that there was not a flat tyre on my LH Front.
Wilson
Wilson, I was pleased and relieved at the stable handling. In all my years of driving I never had had a blowout before, and I always understood that a blowout on the front at speed could be dangerous. What were your experiences in handling?
As far as TPMS, I checked the dash display several times on the trip back home, where all pressures appeared normal. However, now my Car Connect app (iPhone) shows four blanks where the pressures should be, so I haven't figured that out yet. Has anyone else seen this?
Yes, I bought the wheel/tire insurance too. As you say, it covered the tires but I paid for the alignment. The wheels have some rash, so I hope the insurance will take care of that as well when we get it fixed. Another helpful thing Wayne in service department did was to call back to my home dealership to get insurance details and he then worked things out with the insurance company.
Okay, that's good to hear! Glad it was all covered (except for the alignment).
Wilson, I was pleased and relieved at the stable handling. In all my years of driving I never had had a blowout before, and I always understood that a blowout on the front at speed could be dangerous. What were your experiences in handling?
As far as TPMS, I checked the dash display several times on the trip back home, where all pressures appeared normal. However, now my Car Connect app (iPhone) shows four blanks where the pressures should be, so I haven't figured that out yet. Has anyone else seen this?
I had the same thing, blank tyre pressures display after replacing a tyre. This is when I found the procedure about switching the tyre selection in the settings menu on the PCM from summer to winter, save it, drive for a couple of miles, then reset to summer, save. Then let the new tyre down 10 psi and pump it up again to correct pressure, all with the ignition on. You should then find that the TPMS readings will return after a couple of miles or so. I am sure there must be an easier way but I have not found it.
All of my post pothole Panamera tyre failures have been at low speeds on country lanes, so no real test of stability. I did have a sudden de-lamination and total rear tyre failure some 17 years ago on my 996 Turbo S, at high speed on an Autobahn. It was less alarming than you might expect and at least that had a space saver tyre. However the supplied connector on the mini-compressor did not seal onto the tyre valve (I hope Zuffenhausen's ears were burning at my comments). Luckily a very kind UK truck driver stopped to ask me if I was OK, as there were some very evident black skid marks leading to my stopped car. We used his onboard compressor to inflate the space saver. I discovered later that the staff of the first owner of the 996 had regularly pressure washed the car including the tyres and I suspect the de-lamination was due to water in the structure of the tyre turning to steam. When I take my cars to the local Polish car washers, I always tell them not to pressure wash the tyres. https://www.tyresafe.org/media-centr...ge-your-tyres/
So I only did the deplete and immediately recharge on that first long 400 mile drive. Since then if I'm driving less than 25 miles total I just leave it in E mode and usually I make it the entire way without the ICE coming on, and that includes about 14 miles on the freeway at 75 mph (in 7th gear LOL).
If I'm driving a longer distance then I start out in Hybrid mode and just leave it there for the entire trip. With just over 11,500 miles on the car thus far, my mpg is currently at 44 mpg.
If its a long trip i tend to start in e mode until about 15miles range, then switch to auto.
If I am heading for home I will switch it back to E to deplete as I arrive home.
Your average is more or less same as mine. In my first one i covered 36k miles and was 44mpg
Currently in this car on 9509miles I have 53.3mpg
That said since the end of March and the lockdown I have only done urban driving nearly always on electric (with an occasional blast) so my average is somewhat skewed at the moment. As you can see from the picture taken a week or so ago.
I will check my gears again on the motorway, but I am 99.9% certain i would have spotted it staying in 7th.
05-23-2020, 12:27 AM
