Porsche Owners Thread - If you own one or just like or hate them! :)

Soldato
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England
Hi all,

Very likely to be buying a used Macan next month. Vehicle security question, keen to hear opinions.

I have a garage but it's not big enough, so it has to be parked on my drive. I'll put tracker on it, immediately (or I suspect just activate the in-built one if there is one factory fitted) I have a Ring doorbell and a Ring Spotlight Camera pointing where the car will sit.

I'm interested in what physical or further tech security I can add to just make taking the car hard work.

Thoughts on vehicle security posts?
Thoughts on wheel clamps?
How about a Disklok?

All of these involve faff and cost and hassle/inconvenience etc. I'm kinda steering towards a retractable vehicle security post.

Have I missed any other viable options?

Is the Disklock as cumbersome and annoying as it appears?

I've seen people talking about Autowatch2 on PH forums - seems popular - anyone here have any experience of this? Any other good alarm type systems worth looking at?

Thanks.
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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I was somewhat mocked on here for considering putting a post in. Having taken some time to reflect on my security concerns, I have come to the conclusion that if you have the kind of car which is actively targeted for theft, all you really need to do is look like a slightly harder target than average while also not so hard a target that you become a challenge. I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by someone demanding the keys to my cars and the retractable post, nor do I want the hassle of having to run outside at 1am in the pouring rain to put it up when I've forgotten due to leaving it down for coming/going during the day. It has to be up all the time your car might be targeted or there's no point - if you're lax with it they'll just wait for their opportunity and take it.

If you feel you must do something physical, a disklok is probably the best balance between real world practicality and security. It is a visible deterrent (unlike CCTV, which most of these crooks now just ignore).

Autowatch Ghost will seemingly invalidate your warranty with a few manufacturers now - I've seen reports of issues with BMW and Audi. Others will surely follow...
 
Man of Honour
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2 Jan 2009
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60,169
As above really, you don't want to make actually using the car an inconvenience for yourself. I would also rather my car was taken than be woken up in the night by a load of nutcases with weapons - who knows what could happen in that scenario.

Autowatch Ghost is highly likely to invalidate any warranties. You are completely reliant on goodwill that the manufacturer will overlook it - the vast majority won't, and they can blame it for everything.

Are you in a particularly high risk area?
 
Soldato
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Personally I wouldn't touch anything that integrates with the electronics. It doesn't "deter" a thief, it just stops them once they've made good progress. If you are seriously worried, a Disklock - whilst inconvenient, is probably one of the better deterrents.
 
Soldato
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England
As above really, you don't want to make actually using the car an inconvenience for yourself. I would also rather my car was taken than be woken up in the night by a load of nutcases with weapons - who knows what could happen in that scenario.

Autowatch Ghost is highly likely to invalidate any warranties. You are completely reliant on goodwill that the manufacturer will overlook it - the vast majority won't, and they can blame it for everything.

Are you in a particularly high risk area?

I'm in a pretty OK area, Stourbridge West Midlands.

I think it's more a case that I live on a busy-ish road so the car is going to be on display/prominent. In fairness, most of the neighbours have reasonably nice cars too and I've not heard of anyone having any trouble.

I'm prepared to live with the inconvenience of the Disklok, I think. Provided it won't damage the DSG paddles etc.
 
Soldato
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Cambridge(ish)
I'm really living the Porsche experience at the moment......

Went looking for the switch/key to turn off passenger airbag (so I could fit a rear facing child seat) and couldn't find it, after a bit of internet searching I discover that unlike every other car I've owned it's an optional extra on Porsche and only fitted when you get the optional ISOFIX kit for the passenger seat, a £350 option.

Frustrating but I probably should have expected Porsche to charge for something that everyone else just includes (the switch). So off I go to the dealer, yes sir we can retrofit that, £1000 please. After I apologise to my ancestors for such a stupid purchase I get the car booked in and get even better news, the top console doesn't have the right kind of light (or something) so that'll be another £500! £1500 total just so I can turn the passenger airbag off! Or not, sod that I'm off to buy yet another child seat to add to the collection, hopefully one that will fit in the back of a 911.
 
Caporegime
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It always amazes me what Porsche get away with charging as "extras" which are standard on other cars. I notices it the most comparing the VW Touareg/Audi Q7/Cayenne., Despite all three cars being the same chassis and engines and even though the Cayenne starts out as the most expensive car anyway, when you list out all the things the Toaureg comes with as standard, you then find Porsche wanted an extra £20k to fit all these things to bring it up to VW spec.
 
Soldato
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Cambridge(ish)
PtCxnnN.jpeg

Whilst parked up in Tesco last weekend some utter **** kicked the car when walking past. Captured on CCTV but the camera is 5m (at a guess) off the ground so footage about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

In 20 year of owning nice cars, I've never had a problem until now. £550 +VAT to get fixed at a bodyshop I trust.


Gutted :(
 
Soldato
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3 Aug 2015
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6,926
I was somewhat mocked on here for considering putting a post in. Having taken some time to reflect on my security concerns, I have come to the conclusion that if you have the kind of car which is actively targeted for theft, all you really need to do is look like a slightly harder target than average while also not so hard a target that you become a challenge. I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by someone demanding the keys to my cars and the retractable post, nor do I want the hassle of having to run outside at 1am in the pouring rain to put it up when I've forgotten due to leaving it down for coming/going during the day. It has to be up all the time your car might be targeted or there's no point - if you're lax with it they'll just wait for their opportunity and take it.

Aren’t those posts operated from a key fob? Stand at the window to activate (unless you have a mile line driveway or something).
 
Soldato
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PA, USA (Orig UK)
Ffs, absolute ***** about. Just randomly kicked the car? Wtf is wrong with some people?!
It's called jealousy. /Sadface

Had the pleasure of driving a GT3 RS around a racetrack today. Felt very neutral and easy to drive. Suddenly I want a 250k car lol. Not gonna lie... Approaching the corner at the end of the back straight was a little scary. I haven't been on a racetrack in a long time and I was trying extremely hard to listen and respond to the instructor.

Definitely like to try again but on a longer better track.

Certainly a target to aim for in life as I really enjoy driving.
 
OcUK Staff
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It's called jealousy. /Sadface

Had the pleasure of driving a GT3 RS around a racetrack today. Felt very neutral and easy to drive. Suddenly I want a 250k car lol. Not gonna lie... Approaching the corner at the end of the back straight was a little scary. I haven't been on a racetrack in a long time and I was trying extremely hard to listen and respond to the instructor.

Definitely like to try again but on a longer better track.

Certainly a target to aim for in life as I really enjoy driving.


They are a lot of fun, certainly on a circuit!

Had a lot of fun in Wales last weekend, did around 220 miles enjoying the roads.

7C0EBD0D-5AA0-41E5-9E4C-7623CA46DE60.jpeg
 
OcUK Staff
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Anyone's Porsche smoke when it's not been driven a few days? My 991.2 GTS smoked the street out earlier on

They can smoke yes and as long as it clears up within 30 seconds it’s normally nothing to worry about and only if it’s been parked for long ish periods.
 
Associate
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21 May 2008
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Lincs
No it's minutes unfortunately. Had the right side turbo replaced under warranty as it was full of oil and diagnosed as the cause of the smoking but it's still doing it.

It's a lot of dense white smoke but it doesn't do it every time, just when it's been left a good few days. Will get the garage that sold it to get it to porsche for a thorough look under warranty ☹️

I fear a pic would scare the crap out of everyone but as soon as I'm in front of my pc I'll upload ...
 
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