Finally, how would I order a Taycan, after a two-day trip in the both models? Probably something like this, based on what I valued while driving the cars and spending time around them.

“Triple White”
PL9HY4C1
http://www.porsche-code.com/PL9HY4C1

Dolomite Silver with 20s and PCCB
PLFZ46T3
http://www.porsche-code.com/PLFZ46T3

Carmine Red (maybe even Guards if they offered it...)
PLE21IS6
http://www.porsche-code.com/PLE21IS6

Volcano Grey
PL7LJKD1
http://www.porsche-code.com/PL7LJKD1

Please note: I don't present these as right for you, but it's where my head is at right now after two days in/around the cars—and I'd definitely go loaded Turbo over Turbo S.

 

loving the pics! thank you - very detailed - the trunk pics are very very interesting.

 

Pete what do you find for the real world range of the Taycan? (For sporty driving, but not all out aggressive driving)

 

Read your entire review. But two things made me laugh out loud;

1) Never turn your head while a fast car accelerates.

2) After reading all those other people complain that BEVs are too quiet and they need the vibration, noise and gear shifting to feel they are driving a "real car" that you found the ride afterwards a ride in a ICE car too noisy.

I quote: "The van that took us to the airport sounded unnecessarily loud. Annoyingly loud, in fact. And, since getting home, I’ve had a change of heart about “normal” cars—whether I’m in them or see them driving by. All those workaday V6s and inline fours and mostly muffled V8s are kind of…not great. They’re loud, both inside and outside the car, and not particularly pleasant. When a new A7 turned the corner this morning, my first thought was “Why?”"

I think you are starting to see noise does not equal power.

Earl Colby Pottinger (Tesla, Taycan, Bollinger, Rivian and other BEVs fan)

 

I think 200-220+ miles at higher speeds (60-80+ mph) is very achievable without hypermiling—to include some sporty driving, some serious passes, some big grins, etc. here and there but mostly responsible driving. But I will be interested to see what real people get out there in the real world. It's just too early to call this—but there's something else to think about here: Many are focused on what the Taycan can do from 100% down to, say, 3%. That's understandable, but I don't think it's the way the cars will live or be used. I think the cars will really live between 5% and 85% charged most of the time, for the sake of the battery. While it's perfectly okay to charge the Taycan to 100% when merited for a long trip, you don't want to arrive at a Level 3 charger with a lot of juice on board if you want to optimize your charge time—so you have to think differently and target arrival at 5-15% depending on your appetite for risk (availability of charging stations along the route will mitigate this risk). It's a new game, one I got a glimpse of over two days and one I suspect would take time to adapt to...but one I no longer fear (assuming Electrify America comes up to speed as promised).

One thing I didn't like in Range mode was the 150 km/h limit (a non-issue in the U.S.) and the reduction in A/C (more of an issue in the U.S.).

 

Pete, thanks again for the detail. Especially all the pics. Super helpful.

As as I said above, and as Earl echoed, I’m glad you got a chance to see what us weirdo BEV fans have come to learn: a well engineered and high performance EV makes an amazing daily driver. Far from missing the noise, as you noted, the lack of noise is relaxing and soothing. Yet you never want for power, performance, accuracy or dynamics.

Ok, having gotten off my soapbox, it sounds like Porsche has done what they set out to do: made a Porsche that happens to be an EV. Aside from your like of the digital interfaces, I didn’t hear any buts. No disappointment in the handling, the performance, the steering, etc. Didn’t seem like the range was even much of an issue either.

Two questions I think you didn’t cover. The air suspension: how was the ride? Seems like the ride was pretty comfortable judging by the videos. Did the car you drove have PDCC? How were the variations between settings?

Second, the gearbox. Was it noticeable in daily driving? I think I recall in normal and range mode it’s pretty much locked in 2nd. When you’re in Sport plus....what does it actually feel like when it shifts? Is there a noticeable drop in acceleration?

Thanks again for the detailed thoughts.

 

Yup. You said it right, you hardly ever run the battery to the extremes. You don’t usually need to, nor is it good for the battery. You do tend to unlock it when you go on long trips, but once you get a feel for the range and the consumption, range anxiety essentially disappears. And as you saw, sometimes it’s quickerr overall to stop charging early, keep the power level low, and stop for an extra charge than it is t wait for the battery to top off.

 

OP was written as a quick take, without the usual time and editing—so my apologies for any typos, etc, above. And omissions! And questions can help ferret some of them out!

To your questions: The steering is, as noted, REALLY nice regardless of mode. Better than my 991.2? Hm, maybe? In any event, it's excellent. Super precise, nicely weighted, with great turn-in. RAS shrinks the car, and stabilizes it too. As in other Porsches. Wouldn't skip it here. Zero disappointments in the handling from what I was able to sample, but there's a huge caveat there—and that's the lack of properly twisty roads on our legs (a bummer, as it was the thing I was most interested in trying after the insane transitional response I experienced as a passenger in Atlanta). So I'll have to wait on final verdict re: handling. But I did push the thing into a few onramps and offramps here and there, and the odd corner or two when the opportunity presented itself. I held back more than I would have liked, as none of these offered that chance to work up to a rhythm or comfort level to dig into the chassis to, say, 7/10ths, but the steady state stuff I did was quite promising.

Ride quality is excellent. Credit the car's weight, wheelbase, and the years of refinement Porsche has added to PASM and other systems.

Gearbox is brilliant, in that it isn't something you think about. But I have no doubt it's at the heart of the way the Taycan pulls from 150-250 km/h in the video I posted—which is deeply impressive if you've ever driven a normally aspirated 911 on the autobahn, where it's ALL about 120-160-120-80-140-100-180 mph. Still think I'd like to try an experimental Porsche EV sports car with a 3-speed box, two of out of three straight-cut gears for a bit of Cup/RSR whine when you're on it, and a clutch pedal...though I can't even imagine how you'd build that to deal with the torque. Or any "need" for it. So maybe that's just a pipe dream from a driver (or is that dinosaur at just 45?) who cherishes that mechanical connection to the driveline.

 

Thanks for the write-up Pete. Really enjoyed it.

Personally, those white wheels are just an utter fail. Must be a "me problem"

 

Good work Stout, appreciate the time and effort.

Not sure about the white wheels either - for some reason they bring up images of white flared hipsters, satin shirts, white waist coast and heavy gold chains - basically you need to be Travolta aged thirty to pull them off.

I thought Matt Priors review (from Autocar) was good, considered and thoughtful.

 

Nah, not a "you problem"—they're sure to be "polarizing."

(Sorry, just couldn't resist.)

Maybe you had to be there, but I have to say—again—that I was surprised I liked them. But I did. Had you told me I would, I would've laughed. But there you go. One thing is for sure: They look awful in the configurator, but then the configurator isn't kind to a lot of things Taycan vs what the thing looks like out in the world. The good news is these wheels are easily avoided on the options list…

 

Thank you, Pete

 

Really great review! My opinion on the car definitely went up.

However, I also think this review only solidified my view that the next generation or even the refresh of this car will be the one to get in a couple years. By then they'll have hopefully fixed the bugs, built out the electrify America network and probably stopped building a lot of the fun ICE cars that this one would compete with.

Unlike the 992 I like the Taycan and can see myself getting the .2 version. This review single-handedly just turned me off to a M3P simply because the Taycan 4S will probably be so much nicer.

Porsche probably played it smart. They built a car that wouldn't steal too much from their existing product lines today and demonstrates what they're capable of until they transition to more EVs as regulations require them.

 

it's worth pointing out and/or noting that Regen also generates _NO_ brake dust

so between the nearly zero brake dust generated by the PSCB's and the fact that they won't be used 90% of the time (according to Porsche) PCCB's really really become wholly un-necessary IMHO.

@stout Pete - opinions on the "white" calipers? I'm think I'd pay the $900 for the gloss black - I'd love your thoughts if you actually saw some one way or the other.

 

WANT.