The GTS I ordered came in last week and I wanted to break it in properly, so I went for a road trip. San Francisco to Las Vegas and back in 2 days over varied terrain. I made sure to vary the RPMs while on the freeway and the trip back was through Death Valley (200' below sea level) and around an extremely winding Yosemite mountain pass (9000' above sea level) so the car got a good workout.

I'm extremely impressed with the car. Not one glitch, no wind noise (even at 150mph), no rattles, absolutely no drama of any kind. And no oil comsumption, which I fully expected to encounter and was a big reason for my wanting to break the car in properly. I kept the RPMs under 4500 RPM except for a couple very short instances while passing other cars.

Death Valley was up to 121 degrees and I left the car in the sun during a lunch break. After close to an hour the interior still wasn't so hot that I needed to open the windows when I got back in it. The thermally-insulated glass really works great (cue thermal window film ad). The car cooled down within a few minutes even at those extreme temps.

All in all, I can't imagine another car that would have made the trip as well and in such comfort! It really appears to be a close to perfect family car.

The car now has 1400 miles. Any tips for what I should do to continue the break in? Should I change the oil soon? The salesman told me not to bother doing that after the break in, just do it once a year.

 

With 1400 miles in, just throttle at will!

Congrats.

 

Thanks, that's good to know! I've been wanting to test out its acceleration.

 

Congrats on the purchase that's an amazing car. I would vary RPM's and vehicle speed as much as possible, and drive hard near redline multiple times to help ensure the rings seat. Otherwise, you may end up with an oil consumption issue that won't go away. I would also advise getting a luggage compartment liner that is made of rubber for your trunk, this will protect it against the elements. For more information Click Here

 

Sorry, after looking at the owners manual I take my words back, it says 2000 miles (just a little, as I think this is overkill):

Break in hints for the first
2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers)
The following tips will be helpful in obtaining
optimum performance from your new Porsche.
Despite the most modern, high-precision manufacturing
methods, the moving parts must still wear
in with each other. This wearing-in occurs mainly in
the first 2,000 miles (3,000 km).
Therefore:
f Preferably take longer trips.
f Avoid frequent cold starts with short-distance
driving whenever possible.
f Avoid full throttle starts and abrupt stops.
f Do not exceed maximum engine speed of
4,200 rpm (revolutions per minute).
f Do not run a cold engine at high rpm either in
Neutral or in gear.
f Do not let the engine labor, especially when
driving uphill. Shift to the next lower gear in
time (use the most favorable rpm range).
f Never lug the engine in high gear at low
speeds. This rule applies at all times, not just
during the break-in period.
f Do not participate in motor racing events,
sports driving schools, etc. during the first
2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers).
There may be a slight stiffness in the steering or
other controls during the break-in

 

I have that Porsche luggage compartment liner, and it rocks! It does have a large drawback though...when you lay the rear seats down it's totally in the way. Same thing with the ski pass-through. I've been tempted to cut mine, but it's so awesome I'm just dealing with the negatives...

 

The liner may be interesting to some, but I'm more interested in the proper break in of the car.

I'm sure there are other threads advertising accessories that would be a better place for liner discussions. When I'm looking for products that advertisers here can supply I'll definitely ask.

 

Hi NiceCar,

Congrats on your purchase! I'm hoping to get into a GTS soon myself.

Question: does your car exhibit the high pitched whining noise at speed through the vents that's been documented on this forum and others? Apparently it only applies to 4wd panameras.

 

good for you fellow - a man after my own "attitude"

 

I had the car at high speed for as much as the trip as possible. The average speed for the trip was 64, and that included hours through extremely winding mountain passes. Open road was usually 80-100.

I never heard any high pitched whining noise. The AC was on max for some of the trip, but also very low after the car cooled down. The vents were all full open and pointed different directions at times. The only sounds from the car were the tires on the pavement and the exhaust. It was amazing how even way over 100 mph you could talk with the passenger in the same volume as you used at 40.

This car was a July build. Maybe they fixed the problem?

 

^Happy to hear you're not experiencing the problem... Hope you're not just a lucky "one-off" but maybe indeed it has been fixed?

Doubt it, though, since P techs at dealerships are unaware of how to resolve yet? You would think Porsche would issue a statement/fix if that was the case, no?

Anyway, congrats again!

 

Oh yeah... and pics please!!! Inside and out.

 

Good news on the wind/drivetrain noise. Mine will be built next week, so I'm anxious to see if they have a fix n place for this.

Congrats on the car! Would love to see pictures.

 

Well, I am glad I am not the only one. Mine is a June build as well. I definitely have a high pitched whining noise. At first I thought it might be where my K40 was hard wired. However, seems like more and more people have the issue.

Wonder if they know where the issue is coming from.

J

 

I may have heard the noise. Today my wife (it's her car) pointed out an intermittent high-pitched sound that's very hard to notice. It occurs very infrequently so it's hard to tell if it's related to the volume of the air coming out of the vents, but it seems like it might be.