Porsche’s Taycan in highest specifications remains one of the most exhilarating supercars I have ever experienced and will always be the car that shifted my perception of battery-electric (BEV) from Geekdom to legitimate high-performance. Unlike most other battery-electric vehicles, Taycans are not only blindingly quick sprinters, but agile and therein lies the difference, the edge, the unique experience, the reason to buy. The Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo I drove last week reaffirmed conclusions from a Taycan Turbo S test drive more than a year ago.
In spite of its considerable weight, Taycan changes direction almost on brain waves, its dynamic capabilities giving testament to the Porsche development drivers who invested man-years pounding Taycan development hacks around proving grounds, the Nürburgring, and on exotic highways around the globe. Combination of speed, agility and the high-pitched humming soundtrack of electric motors front and rear turns an urban foray into the chase scene from Star Wars “Attack of the Clones,” Obi-Wan and Anakin slashing through nighttime traffic.
At 5200 pounds, roughly comparable to a gasoline-powered Panamera Turbo S e-Hybrid Turismo, Taycan should not achieve the unbearable lightness of being that extremist track cars deliver. Compared to purist sports cars, Taycan is toting around an extra 2000+ pounds.
Yet somehow Porsche tricked this vehicle, the sensation of weight transfers felt in the driver’s gut only in the most aggressive cornering. In big steady state 80- and 90-mph corners, the car tracks perfectly. It’s almost too easy, too tempting. In hairpin turns with big elevation changes there’s no need for steering corrections or compensation. Weight of the taller Turismo roofline and panoramic glass is rarely sensed tugging at your ear. If a corner tightens up, just subtly curl the wrist and squeeze evenly on the wheel to modify the arc. This sportwagen was designed for mountain work.
Because the electric power is quite literally seamless—how many times was I directed to use the word “seamless” writing performance-car brochure copy years ago?—Taycan connects the driver to the sensation of speed in new ways. Only under all-out acceleration is the entire well of electric torque used up. You steer, brake and apply the throttle, but beyond human reaction times, there’s little hard work to access all but the furthest reaches of the performance envelope. Even with no-lag turbos that have wide, flat and tall 100-percent torque “curves” stretching over several thousand revs, gas engines still have power curves that rise and fall with revs. Miss a downshift or two and a turbo gasoline car can be caught flat-footed. Even the finest dual-clutch gearbox cannot match the unbroken flow of instant torque from two big electric motors, a unique trait of a high-performance BEV.
Taycan Turbo Turismo can hit 60 in just over 3 seconds and will likely cover a quarter mile in the high 10-second or low 11-second range, the heart of Supercar Country. Acceleration for classic highway passing, from 50 to 75 or 80, is stunning. Dawdling cars are simply dispatched. Of course, pay the extra bounty to move up to the top-spec Turbo S and hypercar owners live in fear of a head-to-head street-racing sprint, with times in the mid 2-second range. One wonders if there will ever be a Taycan RSR, stripped of luxury, a state-of-the-art BEV track car.
Battery range of the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo is serviceable if not astounding, a smidge over 200 miles. It’s enough for a Los Angeles professional like my Lovely Attorney to schedule meetings from downtown LA to Lido Island in Newport, and do it all on one overnight complete charge, though a quick “fill-up” in a safe Newport rapid charging station might be wise before the slog home. Enough range, if just barely so.
Pull out a smartphone and search for gas stations and as many as 70 or 80 will appear in any given two-city search—they’re everywhere and topping off takes six or seven minutes. Perform the same map search for rapid chargers and it’s slim pickings, even here in the Big Bang Theory, though the City of Pasadena has recently built out a charging center just south of Colorado Boulevard, midway between Old Town and the always struggling Old Town adjacent Paseo. Just like Han Solo and Chewbacca prepping a course in light speed, Porsche software will plot out charging stations for a long-distance journey. Breadcrumbs.
Perhaps of greatest interest, Porsche will soon be announcing 19kWh home charging equipment—that’s an Easter egg for Porsche dealers. It requires the Porsche charger itself (hard-wired to the dedicated circuit), and the optional on-board charger that my Turbo Cross Turismo had.
Gasoline super-wagens and super-CUVs with coupé rooflines exist and cost much less. They exhilarate, but not in the same way, a different experience entirely. Taycan Turbo and Turbo S demand a dollar premium compared to similar German gasoline vehicles, but last year Porsche sales in North America proved there’s a healthy segment of the population more than willing to spend. Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo will never disappoint, starting conversations wherever it goes.
While visiting a colleague twenty-five years ago, I admired the grandfather clock he had purchased with a bonus awarded for securing several electric powertrain patents. GM had created the surprisingly advanced EV1, which had between 50 and 100 miles of range, but electric cars seemed wishful thinking—alien, bizarre, unnecessary. It never crossed my mind that in 2021 I’d scorch a mountain road on dawn patrol in a battery-electric super-wagen that can leave most speed assassins speechless. I never imagined a world in which electric high-performance cars might bear legitimate comparison with gasoline cars. Back then, the debate was between laggy turbochargers with a light-off catalyst and a 100-pound supercharger that put weight high in the nose, right where you don’t want it.
Taycan Turbo and Turbo S will leave any driver in awe at the wonders of human invention. Taycan is the battery-electric dynamic breakthrough that only Porsche’s highly skilled development drivers could have delivered. No electric car can steer, brake and corner on a mountain road like Taycan Turbo or Turbo S. I never thought I’d write such words.
