So yesterday the 16th we drove from Oceanside to Las Vegas. No indications last week of any problems (e.g., going to/from the Sunday tech session at Hoehn). When I started the GTS at home in Oceanside is was just slightly hesitant but started right up. I was headed for the gas station. Upon getting gas, it definitely was slower cranking, but started. Drove back home, loaded up the car: same...started, but.... With a 300 mile trip to take I was worried, but all seemed well. Ran at full speed up the 15, making a convenience stop + gas at the top of the Grapevine. Didn't think before shutting off the car. This time it barely cranked, but started. Ran full speed another couple hundred miles; got to our son's in Vegas, fortunately very near the brand new Gaudin Porsche location. No start (but all dash lights and gauges working). Started the car with a Schumacher XP400W "Instant Power" unit (nifty!!) and rushed to Gaudin, arriving just at 5pm. "Failed battery" the service writer pronounced. "Happens all the time." Appointment made; returned early AM today (using the same starter unit...left the hood open overnight to avoid getting locked out of the trunk).
Several hundred dollars later, new Porsche battery fitted and all systems reset or reprogrammed. The car took off to Lake Tahoe; all seems perfectly OK.
So is this how our newer Porsches have battery failure? All of a sudden? Everything seems to be working electrically (radio, gauges, radio, nav) but in the space of less that a day the car simply stops cranking over? No warning messages from the car's sophisticated computer monitoring systems that the battery isn't taking a charge? Just: no-start...that's it?
???