Tom Voelk bought a 2021 Porsche Taycan 4S on Porsche's certified pre-owned program, paying $74,000 plus tax and license against an original MSRP of $163,000. The car was 4.5 years old at the time of this review and had 38,700 miles on it. Voelk took delivery in Ontario, California and drove it to his home in Seattle, Washington, relying on the built-in route planner for the whole trip. The Taycan's 800-volt architecture made the charging stops manageable, and since Porsche gained access to the Tesla Supercharger network after his purchase, he now has substantially more options on the road. The car is EPA-rated at 227 miles. For daily use in Seattle, he charges overnight at 9 cents per kilowatt hour, against local premium gas prices that exceeded six dollars a gallon at the time of filming. In 13 months, he has had one meaningful issue with the vehicle, and it resolved itself in five minutes.
Porsche's CPO program added two years to the remaining warranty at the time of purchase, giving Voelk 30 months of coverage beyond what was left. Before he took delivery, the dealership had already handled several recalls on this generation Taycan: front brake lines, the HVAC system, and a cable connected to the mobile charge cord. The one in-service issue was a red ring warning indicator that appeared after a visit to the University of Washington to see the cherry blossoms. He had read about the issue on Taycan forums, locked the car, walked away for five minutes, and it cleared on its own. A subsequent full software update at Porsche Seattle North has been the end of it. The high-voltage battery still had over four years of coverage remaining, which Voelk cited as a reason not to purchase an extended warranty. His next scheduled service was more than a year away at the time of filming.
On a winter trip to Whistler, British Columbia, with temperatures dropping to the low 20s Fahrenheit, sustained highway speeds, and a significant elevation gain, the estimated range fell to approximately 170 miles if charged to 100 percent. He stopped to charge at an Electrify America station in Bellingham, about 80 miles from the start, and arrived at Whistler with just over 40 miles remaining. The video also covers a pack rebalancing procedure, which involves running the battery below 1 percent, letting it sit for eight hours, then charging to 100 percent and letting it sit another eight hours so the modules can equalize. Before the rebalance, indicated range in cold conditions was around 200 miles. After it, the display showed 215 miles in high-30s to low-40s Fahrenheit, and Voelk expects the figure to return to roughly 260 miles in summer, which would put it above the car's 227-mile EPA rating. On resale, he found that a 2021 Taycan 4S and a comparable Panamera have tracked roughly parallel in depreciation after four years.
Bottom line: A used Taycan is one of the more credible value propositions in the EV market right now, specifically because the depreciation from new is steep and the ownership costs are low. Voelk bought this car to back up his own EV coverage with personal experience, and 13 months later he would make the same purchase again.