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@Vintage12 beautiful car. Congrats . Do you mind telling us what the msrp was on it and then also what you got it for. (Trying to figure out where prices and depreciation are)
Thanks for the compliment doctj. I don't mind sharing MSRP was $150K, sold for $83K. Obviously mileage, condition, CPO and more has a bearing on resale but I would expect depreciation to be higher on these heavily optioned cars - great for the next custodian assuming the options are close to your wants. I think you did pretty well on your purchase.
Just completed a 1760 mile road trip. This E-Hybrid is an impressive vehicle, will share a more detailed review shortly.
Thanks so much stealthpilot. Yes, those 911s are impressive vehicles, however, they belong to a good friend - I wish he would drive them more, the Exclusive only has 49 miles on it!
I have the docking station for the charger and working on that conundrum right now, my location has a number of wall sockets type L14-30P for lifts and EV vehicles. Is it as simple as using an adapter L14-30P to 6-50R (provided by dealer) to give me a 30A supply for USA market? Has anybody done that? The charger claims to be self sensing on current/voltage.
Thanks so much stealthpilot. Yes, those 911s are impressive vehicles, however, they belong to a good friend - I wish he would drive them more, the Exclusive only has 49 miles on it!
I have the docking station for the charger and working on that conundrum right now, my location has a number of wall sockets type L14-30P for lifts and EV vehicles. Is it as simple as using an adapter L14-30P to 6-50R (provided by dealer) to give me a 30A supply for USA market? Has anybody done that? The charger claims to be self sensing on current/voltage.
I think the charger can accept a range of voltages. not sure about adapters. I didn't have an EV port so had an electrician come over and install it. Was about $500.
DMS in the UK offered me a rather larger power bump than this to 660BHP and I think 830Nm of torque. I decided given the size of the vehicle and the narrow roads around where I live in both UK and France plus very strict speed policing in France, the standard car was quick enough. I have just driven down from the UK to the south of France and the highest speed I got to was 150kph and that only for a few seconds. Most of the way was on the cruise control at 135 kph. A few years ago and those figures would have been in MPH but not nowadays. Anything over 180 KPH and it is an unlimited fine and possible confiscation of vehicle.
When the mode switch on my previous CTEK charger started playing up, I spoke to CTEK about this. it is a weak point on these chargers, which I am slightly surprised they have not cured. For the family fleet of classic and competition cars we have lots of these CTEK chargers and we must have had 6 or 7 of them fail over the last 20 years, nearly all from an inoperative mode button. CTEK were very helpful and even though it might just have been out of its 5 year warranty, they replaced it FOC on an ex-gratia basis. I also queried about the difference between regular lead acid batteries and AGM ones and how the charging differed. The very informative and helpful person I spoke to explained that AGM batteries have better life if they are regularly cycled through the top 10 to 20% of their capacity and the final part of the charge on the CTEK, is at a higher voltage of 14.7V. For cars with starter motors, the cycling happens automatically but for those who don't use a traditional starter motor like the Panamera, the built in charging system probably mimics the effect of the starter motor and lets the battery discharge a bit before it tops it off. I am therefore not sure keeping the service battery full with a daily external charge is either necessary or a good idea.
Wilson
Here is the response I just received from CTEK US representative after I explained I am hooking the car up immediately upon return to my garage and doing this on an ongoing basis:
"All CTEK chargers, including the Porsche branded charger which is manufactured by CTEK, can be left connected to a battery to maintain it for as long as necessary whether the battery is a standard lead-acid or an AGM. They produce a float and pulse maintenance charge that is not harmful to the battery."
Anyone driven a base turbo (not hybrid) and how did they think it compares to the 4 e hybrid?
Yep.
Base Panamera 4 - slow, not appealing to me, might suit others
4S - decent performance, some lag, performance specs higher than E-Hybrid but felt slower
Hybrid - heavy but low center of gravity gives supple handling, great tech (my choice - see review following)
Turbo - noticeably better performance than E-Hybrid, doesn't have the supple feel though, much better brakes (no regeneration)
As promised, thought I would share my thoughts on the Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid. As noted previously, we just picked up a nicely optioned 2018 model and drove it 1760 miles over 2 days.
Love the car. It’s a mile/km eater and great cross country GT.
The integration of the ICE and Electric motor works very well, smooth and mostly seamless. E-Power electric only mode has acceptable performance (not a Taycan Turbo or Tesla) with ability to keep up with the traffic, noted that it switched ICE on at 87mph. Best range after full charge showed 27 miles, a bit short of spec. E-Charge seemed pretty effective at charging on the go.
Most of the journey was in E-Hybrid Auto, although not yet convinced all of it’s switching between ICE and Electric was efficient – often less than a second in Electric for example. We also used Sport and Sport Plus modes as well as the push to pass feature – very effective and can be operated directly from E-Hybrid Auto. The Sports exhaust has a nice rumble to it but did not seem to make much of a difference whether on or off during regular driving.
Overall performance was better than expected with ICE and Electric combined. If anything, it seems faster than published specs. Not sure I believe the Motor Trend test numbers though, then again I did not test Launch Control.
The low center of gravity really gives this car a great ride even on the 21” tires. Of course there is a downside to dragging that weight around, but it gives a supple feel compared to say the Turbo or 4S. Turn in and handling through sweeps seemed excellent with the rear wheel steering. The turning circle was also a great surprise for such a long car, we needed to make a U-turn to reach an exit and did not think we would make it but ended up having room to spare. Glad we have the rear wheel steering option.
Interior quality is fantastic. With club leather and carbon package it feels very luxurious inside, I didn’t even mind wiping down the haptic switches and displays after learning not to do it while the car is running.
Apple Car Play seemed a little glitchy if you pull the phone and reconnect. Found you need to use the official Apple cable to improve stability.
The 18-way seats are ok but seem a little challenging to dial in for best comfort. I think we got there but it may require a few more tweaks. Probably wouldn’t go for these on spec’ing a new vehicle.
Brakes are probably the car’s biggest weakness. Spongy and inconsistent. There is some modulation during the regenerative period that takes some getting used to and even after that the brakes just don’t feel solid. Honestly, I’d sacrifice regen for effective brakes. Maybe Porsche can give us some brake selection modes to go along with power modes in the future.
Headlights and PDLS+ are fantastic. Burmester Audio is excellent especially when streaming Hi Res 24/96 Audio via Qobuz. We were rocking our way down the road.
Love the design changes Porsche made on the 971 model, can’t stop looking at the exterior and interior. Had been considering a 970 GTS but glad we chose the 971 E-Hybrid. Wonderful car.
I now have a number of friends with Panamera e-Hybrids, after my going on about what a great car it is, now that the teething troubles are sorted. However, they all complained about odd feeling brakes. I suggested to them that they try left foot braking, which admittedly takes a bit of getting used to. I first tried this and bought a car to learn it on in 1992, a Jaguar V12 Sovereign, as I knew I was going to be changing my speed hill climb car from a 3 pedal Ralt F2 car to a Lola B50/92 F3000 car with hand clutch, sequential box and two pedals, in separate tunnels, so you have to use your left foot for braking. Once learnt, you will never want to go back to right foot braking in two pedal cars. The folks who did change to left foot braking on the E-Hybrid, said that it seemed to sort out the odd feeling brakes. I can happily change backwards and forwards between right foot and left foot braking, for when I drive either my 1977 911RSR or my wife's Abarth. My brain seems to sort it out all by itself, without much in the way of conscious effort.
I really haven't had any significant problems with the braking. There was a "recall" early on which supposedly improved the braking and gave it some built in "learning" capability. My driving style is whenever possible I prefer to just slightly engage the brakes so that most or all of the braking is controlled by regeneration and downshifting depending if I'm actually coming to a full stop. In the case of a full stop I just gradually apply additional pressure and plan to stop shorter than I might actually need to do so as to handle the last minute transition to actual disc braking. Does take a little bit of learning but in the case of "panic" stops the braking is very good (and I don't have the ceramic brakes).
Great tips on the braking, thank you. It didn't even occur to me to try left foot, I'm used to driving manuals and to use your clutch foot would normally have you kissing the windshield. It's a good idea so I will try that Wilson. Also, I happen to drive this morning in Sport Plus and concur on Johnny5Alive's findings so feeling bit better now.
With some miles on this car, I had hoped teething issues would be over with. Unfortunately a teaspoon or two of pink fluid on the floor had me taking the car to the dealer today. I guess coolant, could be simple hose or overspill but could be water pump so not taking any chances. Thank you for CPO.
Quick update. Leak confirmed by Porsche as coolant from a hose / connector, both will be replaced under warranty but parts are backordered. Research on this forum tells me I'm not the only one, I've seen reference to a coolant hose recall but not sure if it is the same thing. Maybe I am old school, but hopefully Porsche has eliminated the use of "glued" coolant hoses to connectors on the 971. Anyway, at least it will be fixed.
Days car in my possession = 6
Days car driven by me = 2
Days car at dealership for coolant leak = 8 (so far)
Days car estimated to have engine removed = 4
Yep, you read that correctly. The engine now has to be taken out to replace the leaking coolant line. Here's hoping you never find pink fluid under your E-Hybrid. Think I will start a different thread so as not to consume this one. Turning in to a saga.
07-07-2020, 07:33 AM
