Cajun Martyni

I'm a couple of weeks out from my Taycan Base order locking. I like my order and my price point- not looking for ways to spend more money. If I wanted to do that I'd get the 4S. But I also don't want to regret leaving something out. So:

Bose v. Burmester? Obviously a big cost jump for the Burm. And I've seen some say that the Bose is better in the Taycan. Thoughts?

Massaging Seats? I've never had them and not sure how much I'd use them. But it seems like I've seen a few people say that they're pretty nice. Thoughts?

I do have Premium Package, Sport Sound, Performance Battery Plus, Air Suspension, Sport Chrono, InnoDrive/ACC/ALK and the all-important Power Charge Port Covers.

Thanks.

George from MD

Burmeister. Absolutely no question. And BTW the massage seats are pretty awesome. I wouldn't have ordered them but am glad my car with them.

umwolverine

The Bose in the Taycan is the best Bose I've ever heard - I had it in my Panamera GTS and the Taycan is much better. The Burmester is simply astounding. If you get it, definitely get the insulated glass/noise reduction package - the car is one of the quietest I've ever driven.

As far as the seats go, you can't get the 18 way with massage, and they are incredibly comfortable. I never liked the massage feature because I always felt distracted while I was driving. However, the seats in the Taycan are very close to the floor, and this can cause some problems with your left knee/hip during very long trips. Otherwise its the most comfortable car I've ever driven on a long trip. I find it's ok if I stretch each time I recharge, and I make sure to drive with my knee bent at 90 deg a good portion of the trip, but it's a bit awkward because you need to rest you knee against the door. I'm not sure if the massage seats would solve this problem, and no way to 'test' them out in the Taycan over a long drive (unless you have a really good friend with a Taycan and massage seats...). If you are relatively young and/or don't have any knee/hip problems, I'd go for the 18 way and the Burmester.

Whoopsy

Bose inside the Taycan is the best Bose system Porsche had ever put inside a car, it rivals Burmeister systems in their other car offerings.

Burmeister system inside the Taycan is the best Burmeister system Porsche has ever put inside any car.

My Taycan 4S is the fifth Burmeister system I have from Porsche. First was the one in the 918. Then it was the Cayenne turbo S, Exclusive turbo S, Panamera turbo S. I am having the Burmeister system again in my incoming Taycan Cross Turismo.

As for the seats. 18 way has the added adjustable side bolsters for seat back and lower seat, 14 way trade that for massage function. Mostly personal preference. I never bothered with massage function in my other cars so no biggie for me. But I find the 14 way seat, which is on my current Taycan, too wide for my build. I slide around in them, so 18-way with side bolsters Is a must just so I can bring the side of the seat closer. Someone else could find the 14 way fit perfectly fine and would have no need for adjustable side bolsters.

Archimedes

Never once turned on the massaging seats in my M5. Seems like a pointless option but YMMV.

I’ve heard the Bose in the Taycan and it sounds fantastic.

itrsteve

The Bose in the Taycan is exceptionally good; admittedly, my bar for a Bose-equipped Porsche was pretty low. But after hearing it, I’d have a tough time with the 5700 uplift.

daveo4porsche

Bose is awesome - massage seats are awesome - thought they’d be a gimmick

3 stories:

1. after having them in the Taycan - wife demanded them on her ‘21 Cayenne order - this was a surprise to me and her
2. friends considering an eTron SUV - “nah massage seats are stupid” - sit in Taycan while driving - turn on Massage seats - now their eTron has massage seats
3. neighbor - cayenne on order, about to lock - saw wife’s cayenne -has many questions - sits in our Cayenne - experiences massage seats - calls dealer while sitting in the seat and changes order 2 days before lock - massage seats “added”

that’s been my personal experience

daveo4porsche

Bose had to engineer the sound system “from the ground up” for the Taycan - so they had to put actual work and measurements into the system design since the car was “all new” and “so quiet” - I believe Bose has been “phoning it in” on other Porsche’s for years now - not a lot of actual measurements and tweaks…couldn’t do that for the Taycan - even had to recraft the power draws to avoid impacting range too much - since sucking power off the 12V power system is no longer “free”

https://automotive.bose.com/vehicles/porsche/taycan

the system was designed from scratch using actual measurements and data - and it shows - the Bose’s in my ‘18 GT3 and ‘21 Cayenne are no where near as good as the Taycan - they are in fact just minimally acceptable solutions that I believe have to be better than standard but can’t prove it.

kort677

I am in a brand new macan loaner and the bose system in that car is nowhere as good as the one in the taycan

robininni

So it sounds like both the Bose and the Burmester in Taycans are just incredible. That's great. Does anyone know how these compare to the Bowers & Wilkins systems in the newer BMW X5 and X7? Also, how do the Taycan systems compare to Cayenne systems?

daveo4porsche

Taycan Bose is more gooder vs. Bose in my ‘21 Cayenne - the Cayenne Bose is “meh” not too bad - the Taycan is like “holy sh*t” where did that come from? it sounds soooo good.

nycebo

If you think the Bose sounds "incredible, you've clearly never compared it to the Burmester. Not even in the same class...frankly not even in the same school. And no, I didn't get the Burmester, just the Bose. I couldn't bring myself to splurge the further money. Man, Porsche kills me with all of their options.

Archimedes

Blanket statements like that are nonsensical. It depends on the car. I’m sure the Burmester sounds better than the Bose on the Taycan, but the Taycan Bose is better than either stereos in other Porsche cars. The purpose of the positive comments about Bose was simply to inform people not to assume about the Taycan Bose system based on their experience with Bose in other Porsche vehicles.

nycebo

@Archimedes ah no, it isn't. I had the Burmester in my Cayenne Turbo and it dominated. Extraordinary midrange balanced perfectly with tight bass. If I had one complaint, it was only that the treble could be a touch shrill on neutral and required dialing it back a bit. Furthermore, I have the Burmester in my Mercedes. It is lovely and completely balanced, requiring only a tad less bass this time round when listening to XM radio but never on my lossless SD card. Just a crystal blissful listening experience.

This contrasts with the Taycan Bose. Sure, it's fine. It's average. Good on you for being happy with the sound. However, and again, it doesn't compare to the Burmester. The Bose's bass is boomy and sloppy, clearly trying to trick the hard of hearing into thinking that they are getting an exciting experience. The midrange is all but nonexistent and requires quite a bit of gain in order to prevail against the cluttered bass. Worse still is the shrill treble. It's too persistent and reminds me of listening to music through Apple's crappy iPhone earphones. They just push the bass and treble all day long to compensate for compression.

Perhaps I'm not too satisfied with the Bose because of my prior comparisons, or maybe it's the acoustic glass option I went for over the Burmester (my mistake). But for a car this expensive, Porsche doesn't do anyone any favors with this system. It's just average. I can't even imagine how bad the stock system must sound...maybe like the old CDR-220 in my 996.

I'm not trying to diminish anyone's taste here. I'm just writing it like it is. Go and listen to the Burmester back to back with your car. and not this pop crap. Put on Dire Straits "So Far Away" or any song by Steely Dan. You will know right away!

As for the OP, I'm just saying to forget the massage seats (you'll never use them), forget the sport chrono (you don't race this car at track), and just get the Burmester. You will thank me EVERY DAY and TWICE ON SUNDAY.

EDIT: oh yeah, and those ridiculous electric charge covers. There, money saved on your build.

dgtarga

I have the Burmester in my Taycan, primarily because I was so unimpressed by the Bose systems in the three different Taycans I test drove. I've seen many rave about the Bose being so much better in the Taycan, but my experience was that it sounded nowhere near as good as the Bose in my Panamera Turbo. And the Bose I have in our Cayenne S is somewhere in between the Panamera the the Taycans I tested.