What is it?
This, allegedly, is the year of the electric car. “Wait, wasn’t that last year, or the year before?” I hear you cry. Well, this time, we’re inclined to believe it. Or rather we were, were it not for a certain global pandemic forcing mass factory shutdowns and sending car company shares plunging at an alarming rate.
This is the first year that new EU corporate fleet average emissions targets come into play, prompting certain manufacturers to flood the market with the lowest-CO2-emitting cars possible (namely, EVs and plug-in hybrids) to help avoid hefty fines.
Trying to do this in a slowdown economy, where most people aren’t allowed to go to work and dealers are almost entirely off limits, is a near-impossible task. Estimates for new car sales in the coming months are bleak at best, understandably so, and this could put some makers in precarious financial situations.
But, hey, there’s enough doom and gloom around these days. The new, all-electric Porsche Taycan is finally here, on British roads, and that’s something to celebrate, if our verdicts from launches abroad (remember going abroad?) are anything to go by.
Having most recently driven the current ‘base’ Porsche Taycan 4S – and with a Porsche Taycan Turbo S set to undergo Autocar’s full road test treatment in the coming weeks, we find ourselves sliding behind the wheel of the middling Turbo. Not that 671bhp and nearly £116,000 really justifies the use of the term ‘middling’.
Customers for a car in this price range – people who are unlikely to baulk at the £23,000 jump from Turbo to Turbo S – may see the 81bhp deficit between this and the S as substantial. But, actually, both cars reserve this maximum power rate for full-bore launch mode. In normal driving, both Turbo and Turbo S make an identical 617bhp.
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Panamera Now Obsolete?
Can't help but think the Taycan 4S makes the Panamera redundant? Only 16k difference in the USA and at the price point that difference is moot. How long before Porsche pulls the Panamera?
Er, I quite like it
4 1/2 stars.
I have to add though, it'll probably be it's mid-life facelift when we'll see a few upgrades that hopefully address the comments above. So a long wait then.
Range is No Problem
Range is no problem for most buyers at this price point. In my area, most Porsche Panamera buyers also have say a Slade and an SL, so no it matters not to most owners.