What is it?
If you’re interested in buying a Porsche Taycan, it is the one you should look at first. And then ask yourself a very serious question: what is the extra £32,000 or £55,000 required to upgrade this Taycan 4S to a Turbo or Turbo S actually buying you?
If the answer is a slug more power you may never use, a load of equipment you might never spec and a boot badge for which you give not two hoots, do yourself a favour and spare yourself the money. I would suggest that for most prospects, or at least those who can stomach the opprobrium of friends and colleagues when they see – oh the shame of it – that it’s not the top model, this Taycan 4S is for now the Taycan au choix. The one you should buy. And the only non-neg option should be the performance plus battery at £4613.
That buys you a 93.4kWh battery compared to a 79.2kWh unit, which not only provides additional range, but faster charging and better performance. So it’s a win, win, win.
And even this (for now) entry-level Taycan will still hit 62mph in four seconds flat, and because electric cars deliver their torque instantly, even that can be quite an uncomfortably rapid experience. It will do rest to 100mph in 8.5sec, for goodness sake, and I’m old enough to remember when that was a perfectly passable 0-60mph time.
Put it this way: in all remotely normal use, this poverty-spec Taycan will still accelerate you from any speed you’re at to any speed you could want at any rate you might choose.
Like the Turbo and Turbo S, it comes with an electric motor at either end of the car and four-wheel drive as a result. Unlike all other EVs, it shares their 800V electric infrastructure. It even sits on triple-chamber air springs at each corner and has Porsche’s PASM adaptive dampers as standard.
Such similarities might lead you to suspect that a Taycan 4S powertrain is, in reality, that of a Turbo or even a Turbo S with only a line of pesky software holding it back: crack the code and a 740bhp Taycan 4S can be yours. Sadly not: The 4S has a smaller rear motor than either of the Turbo twins, and before you start thinking you could still turn a Turbo into a Turbo S, think again: the Turbo has the same 300-amp front inverter as the 4S, while the Turbo S has a 600-amp inverter. So now you know.
Join the debate
Cersai Lannister
Relatively brilliant?
Andrew Frankel is a Porschephile of course, but he's also one of the most thoughtful writers Autocar has on staff. I've no doubt he's not kidding when he says he agonized before awarding five stars. It's certainly impossible to argue that it's the best Taycan derivative from his well-reasoned review. However, I wonder who Autocar, and/or Porsche think this apparent masterpiece is competing with? Is it going to cannibalize Panamera or make M5/AMGs old-hat? I don't have a clue but I'd like to know. What are its unicorn-like five-stars is relative to - unless maybe Taycan has created a whole new super-tech category unhabited by anyone other than Tesla.
scrap
He says in the article that
He says in the article that he's comparing it with other luxury EVs. That's a category issue but probably appropriate for the time being. It seems many current EV buyers make the decision to go electric first, and then decide which one.
scrap
He says in the article that
He says in the article that he's comparing it with other luxury EVs. That's a category issue but probably appropriate for the time being. It seems many current EV buyers make the decision to go electric first, and then decide which one.
Boris9119
All The Above and Some
Cersai, all I can tell you is my local Porsche dealership in Florida USA has an anticipated 2 yrs plus order bank for the Taycan, and bear in mind these are not $100 online refundable deposits from who knows who like Tesla. These are existing customers with a proven track record of purchasing from the dealership. Tesla develops the interest, Porsche delivers the experience! Work out for yourself who will prevail.
Boris9119
Porsche, 'There Is No Substitute'
As a Porsche fanboy let me be honest, Tesla led the way? Porsche, like many other European based manufacturers, would not be building cars like the e-tron or Taycan today were it not for the persuasion provided by Tesla. Yet the cream rises to the top, and Porsche, as always, is at the top!
scrap
Perfect car... if you live in
Perfect car... if you live in California. And presumably wealthy enough to run something else too, if you need space or a lot of miles to cover.
xxxx
It's save to presume...
Most people who run £90k Porsche's have access to another car, and why would it be perfect for California but not Surrey?
NoPasaran
scrap wrote:
California....where the power is turned off for days at a time.
abkq
This indubitably fine
I am thinking particularly of the VW iD3, a brilliant design which deserves equally brilliant engineering.
Just Saying
Front grill aside
Is it just me, or can everybody else spot the design cues of an electric car a mile away?
It's as though the brief was to design a new car (less the grill), but make sure it looks electric!?
It's reminiscent of seeing the new Ford Sierra for the very first time at the Birmingham Motor Show back in '82!
I think electric cars are going to date really quickly - Just Saying.
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