2011 Porsche Panamera
This year drew an ordinary 41 complaints for a Porsche Panamera — the model's median is 14. What they were about is the unusual part: 63.4% of them mention engine, against 12.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Porsche Panamera, which began in 2010 and ran to 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 41 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 14 |
| Involving a crash | 1 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engine — 63.4% of this year's complaints, against 12.2% across the model's other years (5.2×).
- cam — 14.6% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (73.2×). Owners wrote it as: cam, car dealer, loose.
- china — 36.6% of this year's complaints, against 11.6% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: china, adjuster, cost, design.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
CAMSHAFT ADJUSTER BOLT PIN BROKE OFF AND CAMSHAFT CAME A PART. INCIDENT HAPPENED WHILE SITTING AT A TRAFFIC LIGHT. HAD THE CAR TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOOK A PART THE ENGINE AND FOUND A BUNCH OF METAL IN THE OIL PAN. THE ENTIRE ENGINE HAD TO BE REPLAC…
WHILE DRIVING 30 MPH, AN ABNORMAL NOISE WAS HEARD, THE SPEED REDUCED, THE VEHICLE SHOOK VIOLENTLY, AND THE ENGINE STALLED. THE FAILURE OCCURRED ONCE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE CAMSHAFT AND BOLTS FAILED AND…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V446000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 19V322000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V368000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 12V329000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V656000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Porsche Panamera was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Porsche Panamera? What happened to yours?
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