Porsche Taycan (2020): Test
It starts with acceleration. Every Taycan driver can experience it without skill or art: Simply press the drive pedal and the backrest will try to penetrate your back. When the Porsche Taycan gets going, it's better to do it without a smartwatch on the driver's wrist – it could misunderstand the pulse and sound the alarm. Don't worry: you can feel your heartbeat even without a measuring device.
The first electric Porsche of the modern era shines in the simplest of all car disciplines. It catapults itself out of static, pulls up to 120 km/h hellishly strong. Then the pull on the facial skin slowly subsides. He can do that again and again. If it gets too warm in other electric cars with throttled power, the Taycan continues to run cleverly cooled.
We already know the sprint. Since Tesla has called a driving mode "ridiculous" ("Ludicrous Mode", fastest driving mode), electric cars run faster than most combustion engines. The fact that the Porsche takes a few tenths of a second off the pioneer and manages more repetitions pleases the regulars. De facto, however, it is secondary. Because Porsche does not build a fast electric car. But a sports car that drives electrically. There's no difference? You bet!
The Taycan likes the race track
What Division Dragster likes to forget and the gentleman driver knows: sportiness begins in the curve. This is exactly where ambition and experience separate. Because the combination of electric car and sports car usually breaks down due to a conflict of goals. The car has to work against the heavy battery, heaving it around the corner and pulling it out of the momentum. At this point, at the latest, most electric cars feel like what they are: heavy vehicles with powerful engines.
The Taycan drives differently, although Porsche does not build it lightly. On the contrary, the sedan weighs as much as an Audi SQ7 TDI, i.e. almost 2.4 tons. The battery alone corresponds to half a VW Golf on the scales. In addition, there are two engines, a two-speed gearbox (rear) and one with a fixed ratio (front). And of course all the other chichi that you expect from a Porsche today – assistance, leather and surround sound, for example. Without a battery, the Taycan weighs about the same as a Porsche 911 with all-wheel drive.
Nevertheless, the Taycan circles around the track as manoeuvrably and precisely as if the track attendant had worked ahead with Patex. It moves like a compact, much lighter car. For this feat, Porsche puts all the chassis systems that fit into the car. Air suspension and roll compensation resist every rolling movement, a gentle steering angle on the rear axle pushes the Poppes around corners. And a limited-slip differential on the rear axle distributes power to the outside so that it can support itself on the wheel.
With a lot of technology and a low centre of gravity, the Taycan drives more agilely than sporty station wagons and saloons with combustion engines – including the lighter Panamera. On the race track, the Taycan feels right. It hooks into the racing line, just like Porsche, and does not allow itself to be pushed down again by any conventional inertia.
Porsche Taycan (2020): Braking characteristics |The Bremen fight
The Taycan's engines balance their power along the traction to the wheels in need. If you dare, you can still lure him out of stability. To do this, the ESP (in Porsche: PSM) has to be deactivated, at least a little. On "Sport", its rear slips a bit out of the lane when accelerating. Without protective intervention, it goes sideways from a standstill, presumably at full speed. Under software supervision, the car is safe. Only on the brakes does he venture into a diffuse area between contact and drift.
Speaking of brakes: Porsche succeeds particularly well in the Taycan because it feels quite ordinary. Behind the scenes, two braking systems alternate. As a rule, the electric motors tow the car towards a standstill and generate electricity in the process. Additional momentum is captured by a huge friction brake. You can hardly feel which brake is working. Pressure point, feel and leverage almost seem to be copied from the combustion engine.
However, you can feel on the brakes what the Taycan otherwise conceals so well: its mass makes it sluggish in deceleration, despite a ten-piston brake system with 42-centimetre ceramic discs on the front axle. It still stops at sports car level, but not as effortlessly as a 911 or a Cayman can.
Porsche Taycan (2020): Interior|Sparse interior
A small flaw that we forgive the Taycan. Because otherwise he doesn't make any mistakes. And because he appears without any world-savior-environmentalist-CO2-vacuum cleaner image. It's a great sports car because it drives electrically, not though. His framework of strength, suit, endurance, stability and fascination only works in exactly this constellation.
Everything else seems incidental in the Taycan. Interior? He did. Walter Röhrl (1.96 meters) can sit well in the front, his wife Monika (one head shorter) has space behind him. But no one sits there in the Taycan, despite shoe-sized recesses in the floor. In Porsche sports cars, row two means: storage. In the special case of Taycan: generous storage. The trunk doesn't give much more, but the golf bag should fit.
It looks digital in the car. That obviously has to be the case, because electricity goes to the screen like whispering to the race track. Analogue, only the clock in the cockpit measures analogously. A bit of tradition in a car that doesn't really need exactly that: a reference to the past.
Nevertheless, it exists in other places. For example, in the lettering. The fastest Taycan is called Turbo S, because that's just the way it is at Porsche. You don't have to understand, but you can accept it. Because that's how hierarchy works without misunderstandings: Taycan Turbo S (brutally fast) > Taycan Turbo (hardly slower) > Taycan 4S (still damn fast). Between the very top and the very bottom are around 80,000 euros, 170 kW (old currency: 231 hp), 10 km/h top speed and a ridiculous 50 kilometers range.
Porsche Taycan (2020): Range and charging power|This is how fast the Taycan charges
Oh yes, the range. Important topic for electric cars. Here, the Taycan lags behind, because Porsche does not build it for the hypermil (get as far as possible without filling it up). There are two batteries to choose from, both of which have something to do with "performance". One stores just under 80 kWh, the other a good 93 kWh. Realistically, the Taycan packs about 400 kilometers with the big one, much less in fun mode.
To do this, it charges quickly: the charging power of the Taycan corresponds to the engine output of a Porsche Cayman GTS, namely 270 kW. This is only possible if the temperature, power supply, battery level, wind direction and zodiac sign including ascendant are right. On our journey, no, during our break, two more cars draw electricity at the same time. Our Taycan therefore charges with a maximum of 150 kW. After all: the performance of the first Porsche Boxster.
The first time, it's exciting to watch the chart refresh. After ten minutes, we still don't feel like it anymore and pull off with an additional 100 kilometers of range. First economical, because we want to know what is possible at a constant 130 km/h (approx. 20 kWh per 100 km). Then again with a lot of juice, because that's why Porsche is building it, the first electric sports car.
By the way: Turbo S doesn't have to be on the Taycan. The 4S drives without the very heavy voltage peaks, but is almost as much fun.
Porsche Taycan: Technical data
| Model | Porsche Taycan 4S with Performance Battery Plus | Porsche Taycan Turbo S |
|---|---|---|
| Engines | Two permanent-magnet synchronous machines, one per axis | Two permanent-magnet synchronous machines, one per axis |
| Achievement | 420 kW (571 hp) peak; 350 kW (490 hp) | 560 kW (761 hp) peak; 460 kW (625 hp) |
| Torque | 650 Nm | 1,050 Nm |
| 0-100 km/h | 4.0 s | 2.8 s |
| 0-200 km/h | 13.3 s | 9.8 s |
| Velocity | 250 km/h | 260 km/h |
| Transmission | fixed ratio (front axle), two-speed automatic (rear axle) | fixed ratio (front axle), two-speed automatic (rear axle) |
| Battery | 93.4 kWh (gross); 83.7 kWh (net) | 93.4 kWh (gross); 83.7 kWh (net) |
| Power consumption (NEDC) | 25.6 kWh per 100 km | 26.9 kWh per 100 km |
| Charging power | 11 kW (AC) up to 270 kW (DC) | 11 kW (AC) up to 270 kW (DC) |
| Range (WLTP) | 389 - 464 km | 390 - 416 km |
| Weight | 2,295 kg (EU standard, incl. driver) | 2,370 kg (EU standard, incl. driver) |
| Length | 4,963 mm | 4,963 mm |
| Width | 1,966 mm | 1,966 mm |
| Height | 1,379 mm | 1,379 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,900 mm | 2,900 mm |
| Trunk volume | 366 litres (rear), 81 litres (front) | 366 litres (rear), 81 litres (front) |
| Base price | 103,802 euros | 181,638 euros |
| Market launch | January 2020 | January 2020 |