First Oil Change for the Panamera

The other day, I received a question from a reader who recently purchased a Panamera 4E Hybrid.

How do you all handle the timing for the Panamera’s oil changes? The dealer told me, “It’s fine to change the oil at 1 year or 10,000 km,” but it seems like many people replace it much earlier for the first change…

Indeed…

I hadn’t realized that for modern Porsches, dealers recommend “the first oil change at 1 year or 10,000 km.” I wonder if that’s because it’s a hybrid, or if it’s the same for regular Panameras as well…

By the way, for our own 971 Panamera Turbo and the previous 970 Panamera Edition, the dealer we trust recommended the first oil change at 1,000 km, so we did it once between 1,000 and 1,500 km. But I had thought, “I have no information at all about the hybrid version, so I’m not sure.”

I Asked a Reader!

Then it suddenly occurred to me: if I asked PoruPoru 4E, who kindly provided info for the Porsche Owners File before, maybe he knows about the first oil change timing for the Panamera 4E Hybrid! I contacted him right away, and he quickly replied with the following:

Regarding the requested timing for the Hybrid’s first oil change, I was told it’s “at 1 year or 10,000 km” (confirmed again today with a Tokyo dealer sales rep). When I asked, “For models like the 4E aside, don’t turbo models get their oil changed every 3-6 months?” I was told, “In the past, high-output engines ran hard and produced iron filings and dust, so oil changes were done earlier. But thanks to improvements in manufacturing technology, these have become less common, so for all Panamera models including turbos, the request is to change oil after 1 year.” (This policy has been in place for about 5-6 years; I haven’t asked about other models like the 911.) Apparently, this is the official stance.

Oh, that’s how it is! (Thank you very much, PoruPoru 4E!)

If that’s the case for the Panamera, I wonder if it’s the same for the 911, Boxster, and Cayman. Also, what about cars like the GT3? I’m very curious if they have a different view…

Also, PoruPoru 4E’s email continued:

The other day, while driving the Panamera 4E Hybrid, suddenly it started running as if it stalled with a rattling noise, and a yellow alert appeared saying “Engine power reduced, drivable, service required…” A few minutes later, no matter how much I pressed the accelerator, it could only go 3-4 km/h, and in the end, I had to call an emergency tow truck and took a taxi home. I’d like to summarize the cause of this alert, the dealer’s response, and the outcome as an archive.

That sounds serious (；ﾟДﾟ))!

Still, I definitely want to see that valuable archive and share the whole story about the cause and dealer’s response on the blog (laughs).

A Nationwide Reader Network

Lately, I’ve been getting more messages like “Do you know anything about XX?” or “I’d like to ask XX from the Porsche Owners File about XX”. My wife and I answer what we can, and sometimes we forward questions to owners featured in the Porsche Owners File and then relay their answers back to the questioners.

Through these exchanges, I’ve realized that among Porsche owners, there are quite a few who “find it difficult to interact on social media under their real names for work reasons, but want useful Porsche-related information and are happy to share their own knowledge if it helps others.”

The network of readers supporting this blog has quietly expanded to Kansai, the Tokyo metropolitan area, Kyushu, and even the U.S. So I’ve recently been thinking it would be really interesting if this blog could serve as a hub to receive questions from Porsche owners and prospective buyers, ask around nationwide, and share information to solve doubts.

So please, I’d be very happy if you could leave comments on this article about “the first oil change for Porsche cars.” Including the recent door ding incident, I plan to share the comments later. Thank you very much!