[wwahl]

Grim you make good points. I guess this may mean that the Macan is a throwaway product of sorts then? A person buying a new 100K product probably can afford to replace an engine or a transmission but would he want too? People with money are usually smart. Some aren't lol but I think all get the point. Does it make sense to pay $25000 for a transmission on a car that has less than 70000 miles when the repair is a little more than one half the retail value? Heck no! People are not as passionate about Macans as they are the 911 etc. When you are passionate about something then that is different.
Ome of my points are repairs don't have to be as high as they are. There is really nothing mystical about our pdk transmission nor our engines. They can be fixed. But Porsche's stand is not to repair them but to replace them. Yes indy's can do it cheaper....but try to find the needed parts. For example...if you know the pdk is not working properly due to a bad solenoid in the mechtronic unit.....try to buy that solenoid. Porsche will not sell it to you. It should be a $50 part but no you have to buy the entire mechatronic unit with a retail price of over $3000. If you can find one. I am not sure but I think you can not obtain all the parts needed to rebuild our engines. Can we rebuild our turbo's?
I guess we could go around and around about this all day and really not get anywhere. I respect everyone's opinion, appreciate viewpoint sharing. I have learned much on this forum...most of it good...as a result of us all doing that. Let's not stop👍
It is a shame though. Porsche can do better. But then again the ice engined Macan will not be made much longer anyway.

What you present is the reason you don't want to own a Macan outside of a warranty. OK, this is a real make sense argument. I bought into this when I signed up for a five year extension. Why doesn't Porsche just take this under their wing and do it themselves and price it into the cost of the car?

 

[Beardy]

What you present is the reason you don't want to own a Macan outside of a warranty. OK, this is a real make sense argument. I bought into this when I signed up for a five year extension. Why doesn't Porsche just take this under their wing and do it themselves and price it into the cost of the car?

But if you roll your vehicles over every say 3 years you are paying extra up front to give some else an extended warranty. I think it works fine to just pay for it as you need it

 

[JerryP]

I bought a 2015 S with 36 k miles, no warranty. Gambled big time. $1500 to repair hydraulic tensioner for serpentine belt. Perfect last 40 k.
Cost of extended warranty and maintenance has gone into the car for mods, brakes, intakes, Pedal Commander. I DIY.
Still the best automotive experience, ever.
She blows up I’ll get another 95B.1

 

[.101354]

But does Porsche want the Macan to be known as so unreliable that you need a warrenty to own and drive the car? Provide the warrenty up front for the drivetrain.

 

[.101354]

I just did a quick search and it seems that all the German brands Audi, BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes had the worst power train warrenty of all. 4 years or 50000 miles is the bottom of the barrel. I suppose there is a reason for that. I need to be a fly on the wall somewhere lol.

 

[grim]

OT posts, that is complaining about Porsche "reliability" have been moved to this "Reliability" Thread

Grim you make good points. I guess this may mean that the Macan is a throwaway product of sorts then?

I've read your threads since joining and they are mostly complaints. The car "plows" on the track. Its a top heavy SUV meant to haul cargo and go softroading. Its not meant for tracking. SUVs are built that way to prevent regular people from oversteering. etc etc etc. Horses for courses.

Is the car throwaway? Two points, READ Baruth. He explains it. Many people buy them moving up from "Luxury" Japanese. Did you know that in the late 1990s, Toyota had to come to Stuttgart to teach Porsche JIT and how to modernize their production lines? What is the average income of a new Porsche buyer? These numbers are from 16 years ago. So yeah, for some people they are disposable. They just buy and dump them in 3 years, trade in, get another, won't keep the car out of warranty, etc. So first, you need to understand the marketplace. Its not a GM, Corvette buyer.

Second, disposable, first on Porsche, anecdotal but true.

In the early 80s I took my 911 to the dealer, under warranty to fix the radio. I thought they'd pull it out, find a bad circuit board, and replace. it. Oh NO, they just tossed it and put a new one in. At the time, the radio cost about $500, 35 years ago. About 10 years ago the PCM, "the radio" had a problem OUT of warranty, different car. Same idea, I thought they would fix it. NO, Toss it get a new PCM for $4,000. Ahh ... NO, not happening I'll live without that feature of the radio.

I brought up income on purpose so you can see what they expect. $4k? No problem, put a new one in. Trade car in every 3 or 4 years, you know the depreciation hit on that? KNOW the market. There are going to be a lot of people complaining as parts fail. They didn't do their due diligence.

Now IRL, not Porsche on disposables. We live in a disposable society. All these things happened.

• Microwave dies. Major appliance guy comes, charged $100 to figure out whats wrong, takes two minutes and says get a new one. NO, just fix it. NO, it costs more to fix it than getting a new one.
• Disposal dies. Same thing, maybe it needs a new O-ring to stop leaking. Nope, it gets tossed, $800 for a new disposal installed.
• Washing machine. I know someone 3 year in, breaks, forget it. Not worth fixing, get a new one.

and on and on and on. TV repairman used to come to your house. Are you getting a TV repairman to fix your HD flat screen or just tossing it? DO TV repairman even make house visits anymore.

We live today in a disposable society. Its all around you. Ever eat in a restaurant and got the wrong order? What do you think they do with that food? Tossed.

The difference is you're used to a different world whereas this is more in line with world of the truly wealthy, the jet setters, the celebrities, etc. - not buying Macans but the other cars. The money means little. GM doesn't sell $1M cars. Porsche has. GM doesn't sell hypercars, Porsche does.

And that, I think, is why you're frustrated.... Due diligence. research before buying. Don't feel bad, you're not the first complaining, there are many, and won't be the last. We've all been there. But it is what it is and no amount of complaining about how parts or components are disposable is going to change how the world works.

And horses for courses. Want to track it, buy a GT3 or GT4, definitely NOT a top heavy, cumbersome, 4,000+ lb. utility vehicle. I know a handful that autocross but its very very few.

 

[oqjnLu@>@W]

(unfortunately) what it all boils down to is: DO NOT own a Porsche without a warranty!

Unless, as @grim notes above, it's a disposable vehicle for you.

As I observed around the turn of the century (yikes - that sounds scary!) when I owned my 993, buying a Porsche is just
paying the price of admission. After that comes the co$t of ownership!


Good luck!

 

[.101354]

Thank you Grim. I understand. I do get frustrated at times when I think that something doesn't make sense and then get a little perturbed when I feel taken advantage off. I get what you and others are saying about the cost of ownership. It just seemed to me that Porsche was entering a new market with the Macan and I guess I expected ( should learn to stop doing that lol) that meant it's was maybe trying to change it's image a little. Perhaps not. That's my bad. Porsche is Porsche. You can live in their world or choose not too. I apologize if I complained too much and I appreciate you bringing that impression to my attention. I will change my focus.

 

[Beardy]

Did you know that in the late 1990s, Toyota had to come to Stuttgart to teach Porsche JIT and how to modernize their production lines?

There is a book on Toyota and their business philosophy

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World…

"This book will give you an understanding of what has m…

www.goodreads.com

 

[THX_ZORA]

(unfortunately) what it all boils down to is: DO NOT own a Porsche without a warranty!

Unless, as @grim notes above, it's a disposable vehicle for you.

As I observed around the turn of the century (yikes - that sounds scary!) when I owned my 993, buying a Porsche is just
paying the price of admission. After that comes the co$t of ownership!


Good luck!

good words and so very true. we plan to keep our GTS for a very long time and we will most definitely get a VSP warranty before the original warranty expires-probably 10 years/100k miles.....

Its a real shame that something this expensive requires you to pay more money to ensure it can run as long as you want it to.

Until this car, it never occurred to me to purchase an extended warranty. We have had quite a few Toyotas and Hondas (most recently a Type R), and the thought of something serious breaking never crossed my mind.....and nothing serious ever broke....But, they also were not a Porsche, so it is what it is.....

 

[grim]

I want to temper this a bit.

First, BTW, I hope if you aren't driving it, you have it hooked to a tender. If not, you all better read all the thousands of posts of the cost of new batteries and read your warranty book that says you MUST hook it up if not driving for a couple of days. Now, lets temper this down a bit.

If you joined PCA you should get Panorama, a monthly magazine. You will read the stories of 1,000,000 miles 911s. People do keep them a long time. Go to a PCA event and look at the 356s, nm the air cooled 911s. And the 986s. Macan history is too short. Its gamble. There are truly wealthy people. They don't get loans. They OWN the bank. I've seen cars left on the showroom floor because the buyer didn't like the color. You'd be amazed at some stories. $100K cars as 16 year old bday presents.

Insurance is a gamble, one the insurer always wins. They don't sell policies to lose money. But it is wise to have the funds in hand, and if nothing happens, your that much richer.

Ask the price today of your dealer, with all this inflation, of a major service, 4 years. You will be shocked. Don't think about what was written here over the last 7 years. TODAY's prices are shocking.

Now the upside. Porsche runs a program called Porsche Classic I don't know of other marques that do this. I think once a vehicle generation is 10 years out of production, it enters Porsche Classic. OEM parts will be available. Example, here's a catalog

Porsche Classic

Original parts, new parts editions, and accessories for your classic Porsche vehicle. Extensive service offers and expertise on site. We take care of your dream.

www.porsche.com

Looks like it goes back to 1950. So the last one entered was the 955, that ran from 2003 to 2010. So 10 years would have been 2020. Before that the 986/996 cars were eligible. The 987/997 cars ended in 2012. I would suspect they would be eligible, come 2023.

Anyone know any other marque that does that for their old cars that are no longer produced?

Before anyone thinks the Macan will enter this program soon, no, its ONE generation, 95B. Although there have been one or two facelifts, they are still 95B. Normally a generation might run 8 years. This is year 9. So maybe they go to year 11. I doubt there will be a 96B.

There is an upside. You just got to keep the car. someone here just sold his car with 160,000 miles on it.

Remember, you only "hear" the whining, the complaining. What you do not hear is those who are very happy. They celebrate in silence.

 

[.101354]

That is a cool program. I never knew about it. I have been thinking about the 944...I have always admired that timeless design.

 

[$Bill]

I'm on my first Porsche so I can't say, but I am on my third BMW: one well over 200,000, one over 150,000k and my third is now at 120,000k. None of them had/have had any serious issues. One VW GTI over 100k (only one recurring suspension problem), and one Golf TDI had about 30k when I traded it in for dieselgate (still kick myself for doing that). No issues. My brother-in-law has had a series of Audis over the years and a Mercedes AMG for the last 7 years with no big problems. So I don't think it is a "German" car issue.

It's a Porsche issue ! They are not meant to be daily drivers !

 

[TeeJay]

It's a Porsche issue ! They are meant to be daily drivers !

I'll never be accused of treating a car with kid gloves. Drove a rear-wheel drive convertible year-round in Syracuse for about 14 years. The Macan is my new DD.

 

[CourtneyNYC]

I've already decided I will start trying to sell it about 6 months before the CPO expires.

Wise decision.

 

[$Bill]

In August of 2019, I had just beaten cancer and decided to go get a car that I had lusted over for 4 years: a Porsche Macan.

I picked up a single-owner 2015 Macan S with 49k mi from Carmax that they shipped in from Cali for me. It was the blue I wanted, the options I wanted and I was in heaven when I drove it. I only hand-washed it, invested in wheels and tires for the changing seasons, some interior upgrades, added conveniences like a tow hitch for my bike rack, maintained all the servicing, etc. Basically, I invested in the enjoyment.

View attachment 251819

During the 2.5 years I owned it, I put 13k miles on it. I also racked up $10k in repairs and servicing on the car. I was out of warranty when I bought the car and really should have explored options for a long extended warranty.

I took it to my local Euro indy for the scheduled services as they are 5 min away. I wasn't late for any of them. The closest Porsche dealer is 45 min away. A number of times, I would bring it into that dealer because my indy would diagnose an issue that shouldn't have happened and suggest I reach out to the dealer to see if they could help out at all. Like when my $1300 alternator went out, the dealer would say, "No way. Bring it in because I've never heard of that in my XX number of years here." Yeah. They confirmed the indy was right every time. And charged me a bit more to do the repair. My Macan has been towed 4 times since I have owned it due to random things going out making it undrivable. Another thing was a random coolant hose fitting snapped off. All on its own. Coolant sprayed everywhere and I pulled over and had it towed before the car overheated. Since then, I carried a container of coolant and emergency repair supplies in the car. Just in case.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. My best friend since high school lost his brother suddenly, so I pack up and jump in the Macan for a planned 9-hour road trip to attend the funeral. About 3 hours into the road trip, somewhere in eastern Nebraska, I get a burst of snow on the highway. I take this pic to show my wife the crazy visibility out. Note the readings on the right gauge. All seem normal. I drive with these up all the time since I just don't trust the car after the time I've owned it. I keep an eagle eye on them while I drive since I'm paranoid.

View attachment 251815

Within about 5 min the conditions are clear as day again. About 15 min or so later, I am still on the interstate behind a vehicle doing about 60 or so. I step on the accelerator when I have a moment to pass and right at that moment my vehicle brakes instantly. Almost like someone pulled the E-brake in traffic. A semi swerves to avoid railing right into me. Every warning light and screen pops up on the dash. So many screens cycle through within 2-3 seconds that I can't read them. The car is shaking incredibly hard like the entire car is locked up until I hear a crack and then the car starts coasting and the engine cuts immediately and smoke pours from the hood. Cars go around me as I am able to safely make it to the shoulder and finally push it off the road.

I get out, look under the hood and it's smoking pretty good. I notice the coolant empty and am instantly confused. Temps were normal. I just looked at the gauge. Did I blow a hose again? I grab some water and Porsche coolant out of the hatch, mix it 50/50, and attempt to top the car off. It instantly disappears and then I hear it pouring on the ground. I look under the car and see fluids pouring out from slots in the under panel. So I push the car forward 20 feet or so to get a better look at the fluids. All that coolant I just put in. And oil. Uh oh.

View attachment 251816

After a $1250 charge of my card and 2.5 hours of waiting in 30° weather in a car without heat, the tow truck picks me and the car up to take us back to Colorado. My wife and son pick me up halfway and the car is dropped off at my indy.

View attachment 251818

The next day, I get the bad news. #2 rod failed and the piston made a nice hole in the block. No external damage to the oil pan or anything. No flooding or anything. No idea why it could have failed. With 61k mi on the odo, they suggest I take it to Porsche. Again. Otherwise, I'm looking at $22k + tax to have a used motor with more miles installed.

I have it towed to the Porsche dealer the next day. "I've never seen this happen before." They quote me $5k to pull the motor and tear it down to find out what happened. "Porsche will need to know before they offer any help. They also will not cover this procedure to find the diagnosis." Uh, what? So $5k just to see if Porsche will help me out. And how much to have another motor put in?

$42,000.00 + tax.

OMG. And will Porsche help me out? "Highly unlikely." Why? Because I didn't buy the car new from Porsche. I didn't buy it used from a Porsche dealer. I needed to have purchased 2-3 cars from Porsche and all my servicing done at Porsche. The previous owner too. I only had $6k in repairs on file with Porsche and the rest from my indy. But, even if Porsche did help, it would be maybe 50% at best. That still left more than I owed on the car. My heart broke because I knew I would never drive the car again.

This week I sold it as is to car brain. Afterwards, I was still out about another $7k so I paid it off and have cut my losses.

That Porsche would have found lightning ! I have never heard so many horror stories that never buy a preowned Porsche without any warranty ! This is total Bullshit on a Premium brand !

 

[nevil]

It's a Porsche issue ! They are not meant to be daily drivers !

I hope you're being facetious. You can't make that assumption based on anecdotal evidence. Since the beginning, one of the greatest aspects of 91ls was that they were reliable enough to be daily drivers. Much more so than any of their sports car competition. I've had a couple of them that were my dds, and they lived up to that reputation. Granted, I don't know about the current mode lineups. I realize that they are much more technologically complicated, hardware and software.
That said, all manufactured products, automotive or whatever, may experience failures. To dismiss an entire manufacturer of cars because of a horrible experience is not logical.

 

[$Bill]

I hope you're being facetious. You can't make that assumption based on anecdotal evidence. Since the beginning, one of the greatest aspects of 91ls was that they were reliable enough to be daily drivers. Much more so than any of their sports car competition. I've had a couple of them that were my dds, and they lived up to that reputation. Granted, I don't know about the current mode lineups. I realize that they are much more technologically complicated, hardware and software.
That said, all manufactured products, automotive or whatever, may experience failures. To dismiss an entire manufacturer of cars because of a horrible experience is not logical.

If you look at all the posts for Macan's everyone is recommending you have a warranty if not walk/run away ! These things are unreliable !

 

[Beardy]

If you look at all the posts for Macan's everyone is recommending you have a warranty if not walk/run away ! These things are unreliable !

Everyone is really just some, for every bad experience how many thousand good ones are there? People don’t tell you when things are going good only when they are not. Porsche is consistently rated in the top 3 manufacturers with JD Power reliability surveys so how bad can they be?
The OP has unfortunately had a bad experience as no doubt others have too like any brand but don’t lose perspective of the facts.

 

[CourtneyNYC]

Based on my personal experience. . . . I love my Macan. . . . But, I’d never own one without the warranty.

It’s not the car . . . But, the ridiculously screwed up dealer network.

They act like it’s an expensive car. . . . Our well equipped Macan was less than our Audi, our Jeep Grand Cherokee, lots less than the Ford F-250 and $25k less than her F-350 “farm truck”.

But parts are insanely expensive, purchased through a dealer and lately someone did a comparison of an itemized bill some dealer stuck a female owner with.

It‘s just bad form.

I really enjoy the car, the handling and the people. But ownership is not a pleasant experience whenever it involves dealer interface.

I’ve found a dealer I feel pretty good about but the place I bought the car was right our of a cheap Jersey sitcom