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Car Magazine's European editor Georg Kacher reviewed the Taycan Turbo by getting a ride with Porsche’s chief engineer Stefan Weckbach.
Based on the article the Taycan Turbo comes with:
As for what it's like in the Taycan Turbo, here are some great lines from the review.
Based on the article the Taycan Turbo comes with:
- 96 kWh lithium-ion battery that weighs 650kg.
- 212 bhp/221 lb-ft motor on the front axle.
- 402 bhp/406 lb-ft motor on the rear axle.
- It has 649 lb-ft of peak torque, or 738 lb-ft in the 10 second overboost window.
- 0-60 in just over 3 seconds and to 124 mph in less than 10 seconds.
- It can cruise to 162 mph for miles without the battery overheating.
- Standard air suspension (not on base car) and regenerative braking system that can be controlled on the steering wheel.
- 275/40 ZR20 tires
- All-wheel drive (rear drive for base car)
As for what it's like in the Taycan Turbo, here are some great lines from the review.
We leave Porsche’s Weissach test centre, strike out onto the road, and the very first g-force attack feels like a cocaine bomb that hits the brain before the nose.
In launch-control mode, it’s as though your eyeballs are being squeezed to the back of your skull. Porsche claims just over three seconds from take-off to 62mph, and to 124mph in sub-10 seconds. Acceleration is brutal enough to shred the driveline if it weren’t for the protective torque limiter, the two-speed transmission that can block first gear to prevent mechanical disintegration, and the electronic rear diff lock.
Genetically, this DNA is more closely related to the 992-generation 911 than the Panamera. In fact, the Taycan actually sports an even lower centre of gravity than its rear-engined brother, in large part because more than half a tonne of batteries are mounted low down and cooled by a liquid circuit integrated into the floorpan.
The chassis’ one de-merit is a lumpy ride, despite the potentially calming effect of the generous 2910mm wheelbase (shorter than a Panamera, longer than a Macan, much longer than a 911) and substantial kerbweight (estimated at just under 2100kg, which is in the Cayenne’s ball park). In so far as you can tell anything from the passenger seat, this ride leaves no doubt that the Taycan will handle like a true Porsche.
So what is the provisional verdict from this shaken and stirred front passenger? Well, the Taycan is good looking and solid as a rock even at ludicrous speeds, a remarkable high-performance GT that can’t wait to set the seat of your pants on fire but leaves behind a virtually invisible CO2 footprint.
The car’s motions are subtly coherent and nicely fluent, following the driver’s instructions with aplomb, and the expertly tuned electronic back-up brigade acts in a subtle and sensitive fashion. The one asset that sticks in the memory more than any other dynamic virtue is the amazing tarmac-hugging flatness. For all the Taycan’s deviations from Porsche tradition, that single, crucial quality shows that the same high standards are being followed. From a brand that left behind air-cooled flat-sixes only two decades ago, the Taycan looks like a highly convincing leap to a fully electrified future.