Some new points about the Taycan's performance were revealed in this first drive. The biggest takeaway overall is how well it wears multiple hats as a grippy performance sedan that gets impressive lap times, then flip the script by getting sideways with "plenty of Porsche verve" while being pushed by guys that know Taycan's best so far, Porsche test drivers.
In city/highway driving where 80% of its time will be spent, the Taycan "feels like a very quiet, superior handling Panamera" as it “sails” in the very tame default driving mode.
If this holds true with production versions over long-term test drives then the Taycan will be unrivaled for quite some time.
More important points from the AM review:
In city/highway driving where 80% of its time will be spent, the Taycan "feels like a very quiet, superior handling Panamera" as it “sails” in the very tame default driving mode.
If this holds true with production versions over long-term test drives then the Taycan will be unrivaled for quite some time.
More important points from the AM review:
- Mum’s the word on full suspension particulars, but the engineers on hand confirmed the top two trims ride on a three-chamber air suspension and pack dynamic anti-roll bars, all of which did an incredible job of managing the overall mass.
- At least one version, the top-spec model, also includes rear-wheel steering that greatly quickens the pace around the track. Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) needs to be on full alert at all times in the Taycan, too, thanks to near-instantaneous reaction from the electric motors. Freed from the oily grips of physical clutches and differentials, engineers cited two-millisecond task times for torque vectoring and the stability and traction control, a remarkable improvement from Porsche’s internal-combustion models’ 10-to-20-millisecond task times.
- Befitting the Taycan’s status as a performance-oriented EV, trying to describe the acceleration is an all-you-can-eat grab bag of cliché and hyperbole. Power was enigmatically quoted as “over 600 horsepower,” with the zero-to-60-mph sprint claimed to slide comfortably under the three-second mark. In keeping with Porsche’s tradition of underrating the official figures, the one we rode in feels much, much faster than even the sub-three second claim. In fact, it really seemed to be somewhere in the low-two-second range, if you can believe it.
- Of course, we were too busy holding onto whatever we could grab to fully appreciate the futuristic soundtrack. It wordlessly rips around a track at speeds not previously seen in any production EV—that ’Ring time, by the way, was just 7:42, the same as posted by a 997.1 911 GT3. After the grippy stuff, the test driver then proved EVs can still slide as he elegantly held the rear end out in a sensational drift. Clearly, it has plenty of Porsche verve.
- Porsche purposefully left the ultra-aggressive “one pedal driving” regen setting on the shelf, instead opting for a few distinct modes that offer a larger variance of driving styles to suit the situation. In the default mode, the car “sails,” with very little motor braking, while another mode adds moderate resistance for improved power regen. The ideal mode seemed to be the automatic regen setting, which uses the onboard sensors and radar cruise-control systems to adapt the aggressiveness of the regen to the environment. In other words, when the road is clear, it’s smooth sailing. Run into traffic, and the regen system kicks in, automatically slowing the car down as necessary—all without driver intervention. It’s highly intuitive, and we used this setting more than the others.
