diff --git a/blog/.gitignore b/blog/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1e2a2163 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +the-porsche-taycan-disaster.mdwn diff --git a/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure.mdwn b/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad03ef9f --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +[[!meta title="Nico's Porsche Taycan Experience - the suspension failure"]] + +## Introduction + +This article is part of the series of +[Nico's Porsche Taycan Experience](/blog/nico-porsche-taycan-experience/). + +## The Suspension Failure + +After the [very rocky +start](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover), it was +not long until there was another surprise: about 6'000 km after taking +over the car and 2 months in, the suspension started to fail. + +What does it mean the suspension starts to fail anyway? To answer +that, let's have a short look at what we are dealing with. + +## The Porsche Taycan Air Suspension + +The Porsche Taycan comes with a variable ride height air +suspension. It allows you to lift the car (which is often necessary +for road bumps) or lower the car (which is nifty for corners). + +And when you don't manually up or down it, the idea is that you get a +comfortable drive with it. So much for the regular cases... + +## Suspension failure = stuck + +If the car detects an error with the air suspension, it switches into +an "emergency mode" (I'm calling it like that, maybe there is a more +appropriate term for it). + +And that mode is very different from any of the normal modes. It is +unpleasantly hard and makes the car feel uncontrollable. It does not +react to the road anymore, but becomes totally stiff. Not in the +pleasant, hard sporty way, but in a bumpy hard way. + +So whenever this mode kicks in, you want to drive as little as +possible with it, because the car does not feel trustworthy anymore. + +## Failure 1: 2023-01-01 + +While being on the Swiss highway, this suspension failed and I brought +the car to the nearest Porsche Center, [Porsche +OZS](https://dealer.porsche.com/ch/obererzuerichsee/de-CH). +After checking the error the Porsche Center claimed on 2023-02-03 that +the problem has been solved. So far, so good, 2 days for fixing the +air suspension is quite ok. The Porsche Center told me that a control +unit has failed and was replaced. + +However, after driving less than 10 meters on the property of Porsche +OZS, the same error happened again. The technician onsite told me that +is probably just a leftover, as it is +[when you replace the key +battery](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-key-battery-replacement). + +It turned out it wasn't and it came back the day after. + + +## Failure 2: 2023-02-04 + +So three days after the first fault, one day after the first repair +the car was back in repair. This time the Porsche Center was saying it +would do a more thorough analysis. So 10 days later, on 2023-02-14 I +picked up the repaired car again. +Again a control unit, albeit a different one was replaced. +10 days or 13 days since the first +failure? Well, might still be acceptable for something as +sophisticated as a suspension. + +Only if this was already the ending, unfortunately it was not. + + +## Failure 3: 2023-02-15 + +One day after picking up the car, the same error happened again on the +highway. Maybe I am doing it wrong and Porsches are not made for +driving highway? + +So the car went back to the same Porsche Center, one day after being +repaired the 2nd time. + +At this point, one starts to question, what is going wrong here? Why +does it need more than 1, more than 2 repairs and how long is this +whole thing going to take? And how many hours does one have to spend +on bringing the car in and picking it up? + +Another 9 days in, on the 2023-02-24, the Porsche Center claimed again +that the suspension has been repaired. My thoughts were "really ...?" + +So what did they do this time? Can you guess it? YES, another control +unit was replaced. I had to ask: "how many of them does the car +have???" and the answer was "many" - uh-oh. + +But this time, this time, this time it is fixed, isn't it? + +## Failure 4: 2023-02-25 + +One day in, the suspension failed again. I'm not making this up, again +one day after I received the car back, the same issue happened again. +UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE - was what I was thinking, in CAPS. + +The good news is, this was the last needed repair. On 2023-03-08, +about 5 weeks after the initial failure, Porsche Center OZS found the +real issue: a partially broken cable harness. After fixing that, the +failure has not reappeared anymore. + +## Review + +Ok, so this is a tricky one. I'm in tech, I'm in IT and a *partially* +broken something is really tricky to debug. So wearing my IT head, I +can somewhat sympathise with them + +However as a customer, phew, I am so disappointed. 4 times coming in +and out for the same issue? Five really long demanding weeks? That is +really not acceptable, not for any car brand and especially not one +that wants to claim building quality cars and providing quality +service. + +So after the [handover +screwup](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover), this +was the second very dissapointing experience. + + +[[!tag porsche car]] diff --git a/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience.mdwn b/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience.mdwn index 468cf09f..58c8ae11 100644 --- a/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience.mdwn +++ b/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience.mdwn @@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ I settled on a Porsche Taycan, because it seemed to make most sense to me. But then when the day came for the handover, [I already had a rocky -start](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover). +start](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover). And +just 2 months later, the +[air suspension needed a 5 weeks repair](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure). More to come soon... @@ -37,8 +39,9 @@ More to come soon... For easier access: -* [Part 1 - The handover](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover). -* [The key battery replacement](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-key-battery-replacement) +* [Part 1 - The handover](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-1-handover) +* [Part 2 - The suspension failure](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure) +* [The key battery replacementg](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-key-battery-replacement)