The Panamera’s First Oil Change

Today, H-san, our Porsche dealer contact, is coming to pick up the Panamera from our home for an oil change. Between this and the recent typhoon, the car’s exterior is looking pretty dirty.

Dark blue really shows the dirt, doesn’t it? Then again, the white one showed it pretty well, too. The Panamera has now covered 1,467 km since delivery.

My husband had mentioned in advance that he wanted to change the oil at around 1,000 km, so this seems like a good time. While the car is in, we’re also having the dealer check the PSM warning.

A few days ago, on the way home from Fuji Speedway, this warning suddenly appeared:

PSM failure. Service required. Drive with caution.

I’d taken over driving from my husband and had been on the highway for a while when the warning suddenly popped up on the instrument cluster. It really startled me. I was using ACC at the time, but it disengaged instantly, and the controls wouldn’t respond after that. We pulled into a nearby rest area, shut the engine off completely, and restarted it a little later. The warning had disappeared, and it hasn’t come back since. The dealer thinks it was probably a false alarm, but…

Does the Panamera Have It In for Me?

Whenever I drive the Panamera, something strange seems to happen. A deer suddenly appears, a cat climbs onto the hood, or the PSM warning comes on. Honestly, I’ve been getting nervous lately, and I hardly drive the Panamera at all.

Maybe the Panamera doesn’t like me…

I think I’ll wait until they’ve checked everything during this first service and I’ve had a chance to relax before driving it again. In the meantime, my husband has taken quite a liking to the Panamera Turbo and drives it to work every day. Whenever he gets home, he raves:

“Wow, this car is incredible!” “It really is such a great car!”

He says the Panamera runs beautifully, and nothing unusual ever happens when he’s behind the wheel. But he hasn’t driven his usual companion, the Boxster GTS, for several weeks now, and I’m starting to feel a little sorry for it. I wonder if it’s sulking.

I’d love to drive the Boxster myself, but it’s a manual, and I just can’t bring myself to do it. I even got the automatic-only restriction removed from my license so I could drive it, but after rolling backward on a hill start, pulling over on a public road with my hazard lights on, and seriously inconveniencing the drivers behind me, I’ve been too traumatized to get behind the wheel again.

The Boxster is also a two-seater, so unless someone can watch our two kids, I can’t go out to practice. To be honest, I’m so nervous that I don’t feel motivated enough to go to all that trouble right now.

So Much for This Year’s Resolution…

Come to think of it, at the start of the year I was determined: “This is the year I finally learn to drive a manual!” My husband even said, “It’d be funny to put a video on YouTube of a complete beginner driving the Boxster manual and freaking out.” But I’d probably pass out and die, so there’s no way I could do that.

…This post has ended up being a bit all over the place, but the main thing is that once the Panamera Turbo comes back from its oil change and first service with no issues, I’d love to go for a drive on a nice day. (Though it sounds like it’ll be raining again this weekend.)