One Of The Worst Luxury Cars For Retirees Has Terrible Upkeep Costs

Retirement is the time in your life when you truly need as little stress as possible. There are many ways to achieve this, but some might prefer the comfort that buying a luxury car provides. The problem, however, is that a bad luxury car will have the opposite effect and cost you more than it should, emotionally and financially. 

Porsche, especially with its SUVs, is certainly among the brands worth considering when trying to get a high-quality luxury car. In fact, some Porsche models are in the list of luxury cars actually worth your money if you have the tens, or possibly hundreds, of thousands of dollars to spare. Also, unlike many luxury or sports car brands, Porsche owners have voted the brand durable in recent years, earning third position in the premium brand category of J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. 

That said, not all Porsches promise the same experience, and depending on the model, year of release, and its consequent age, you may end up paying ridiculously high upkeep just to keep it running. Among these not-so-great Porsches is the Panamera. By itself, it's not a bad car; the 2025 Porsche Panamera scored 4th position in Car and Driver's best premium sports sedan category. The problem is that it costs over $1,250 every year for maintenance, according to RepairPal, which is about $300 more than the average for luxury full-size cars and almost double regular vehicle models. This, among its other subtle but major reasons, makes it ill-advised for the average retiree.

The first-generation models (2010 to 2016) have earned a bad reputation for cooling system failures, water pump leaks, and problematic sensors — many of these problems costing over $1,000 — with the 2011 model having the highest recall and NHTSA complaints.  The later second-generation cars (2017 to 2023) improved somewhat, but some owners still report expensive issues with air suspension leaks (an about $4,000 fix, per RepairPal), glitches in the infotainment, and an inconsistent stop/start system. Even the newer hybrids add their own headaches, with complex high-pressure fuel systems and the long-term risk of $16,000 battery replacements. On top of this, major components like the PDK dual-clutch transmission and active suspension can't just be repaired by anyone; they need Porsche-certified service, where labor and parts costs could be 100% more expensive than a mainstream luxury brand like Lexus.

It's hard to justify a Panamera as a retiree on a fixed income — even if you managed to save a sizable nest egg. Over the course of 10 years, you're looking at over $12,000 in maintenance, an alarmingly high 75% depreciation, according to iSeeCars, and expensive repairs in possibly the tens of thousands. Despite being a luxury car, it's still built with performance in mind, which adds other drawbacks beyond just more expensive parts, such as low efficiency. A 2022 gas-powered Panamera, for instance, does about 20 miles per gallon, which means you'll be spending 20% to 25% more money on gas than the average 2022 car, going by the Environmental Protection Agency's average.

You should know though that, until relatively recently, Porsche has not been known to make reliable cars. Additionally, many surveys, such as Consumer Reports' used and brand new car reliability charts, don't generally rank German brands very high for reliability. However, when it comes to Porsche, there seems to be a disconnect with what the mechanics say and what the owners think, because it does well on J.D. Power surveys but has consistently ranked as one of the lowest according to the people fixing them at RepairPal. 

On RepairPal, it's at the bottom last as a brand for reliability, and over 20% of the problems that bring them to the shop are severe ones. RepairPal rates "severity" based on "if a repair costs three times the average annual repair cost for all models," and even adjusts severity costs for premium brands like Porsche. It's clear, however, that the Panamera isn't the model that has earned Porsche's top spots on any reliability lists, since it ranks as the worst model in the brand's lineup with the worst ratings according to RepairPal's dependability scoring criteria. The Porsche Panamera has a severity score of 25% and shows up for repairs almost three times more than the average luxury car, which is why many buyers who want peace of mind lean toward alternatives like the Lexus RX for far better long-term dependability. Even when it's bought as a used, this Lexus car is still a good investment for retirees.