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...In terms of speed, the 4S is quick enough...
The best feature of the car over the Tesla is the transmission. 0-60 the Model 3 is undoubtedly quicker, but not by much. 60-80 rolling highway passing power felt quicker to me in the Taycan 4S than Model 3 Performance -- or at least equal. The Taycan finished stronger at 80 MPH and felt like it had more in it...
Motor Trend just published the first instrument test results of the U.S. version of the 4S that I’ve seen and they appear to confirm your seat of the pants impression:
Model 3P quicker up to about 80mph, but the Taycan pulls harder thereafter. 1/4 mile time exactly the same at 11.6, but the Taycan is doing 121-ish vs. the Model 3 at 116...
Awesome and congrats!!! Your car looks almost exactly like ours, except you'll have factory black door handles and window trim and I had to get mine wrapped that color (much needed).
Sorry about the delay - I guess I'm 2 months into my Taycan 4S experience, although I haven't really driven a month's worth yet (hit a deer in my M4 convertible and been putting miles on the insurance rental - a much different story).
I know the model 3 was never amazing at fit and finish, but with the white "premium" interior, I thought I had remembered it being a little nicer. After driving the Taycan a lot and then getting back into the Tesla recently, I was surprised at how unpolished it really is - and the Tesla seats - just aren't as comfortable for me. The white looks great but I really have a greater appreciation for the level of precision and detail that goes into everything with Porsche. For example, I think the edges on my headlights and taillights on the Model 3 are both slightly off - (not flush with the adjacent panels) asked Tesla service about it they measured and said, "it's within our tolerances." Alternatively my Taycan has a faint rattle that sounds like it's within the driver's side door - I drove it with my dealership's Taycan specific tech and while I was worried he wouldn't hear it (it's persistent, but really faint) he immediately said he could hear it too, that it's not normal, and we've scheduled an upcoming appointment where they're going to address it, take apart the door and add dynamat if needed but hopefully just remove whatever's rattling. Actually come to think of it, when I first picked up the Tesla, it had dents in the trim of the A-pillar - and it took over a month to get them to fix it. Ok, so not that this is ground breaking, but fit / finish / comfort, Porsche wins in a landslide.
Tayan Pros: Besides amazing fit and finish, the Taycan feels 100% like a premium sports car, and amazingly so. Sits lower to the ground - handles like a go kart (in a good way). I don't have sport chrono so I can't tell you what sport plus would feel like, but driving in Sport still feels responsive enough. And although the Tesla will always be faster 0-60, I def agree with the above poster that said anything above that feels like the Taycan just pulls effortlessly - the 2 speed transmission makes an amazing difference. The Tesla by no means is slow at high speeds, but when you punch it doing 75-100, it def doesn't have that same take your breath away jolt of acceleration there like it does 0-50. Also I'm not sure why, but I seem to drive the Taycan faster - like 80 "feels" fast in the Tesla on the highway, whereas the Taycan is SO smooth at high speeds, you may glance down and realize you're in triple digits without meaning to be.
Range - the Taycan def underpromises and overdelivers; especially vs the Tesla. My Tesla claims 299 miles of range - we took a road trip up the east coast (NC to NY) and I think the most we squeezed out was maybe 218 miles - you def couldn't plan more than 200 miles between superchargers. The Taycan - I lent my car to an EV Youtuber who put it through his 70 mph range test and we got 278 miles (from 100% to 0%) - blew my mind - and that's with 21" wheels! I have a lot of highway miles back and forth to work (about 35 miles each way) but driving the Tesla and Taycan on back to back days last week in similar weather, I def had more range with the Taycan left after a round trip than with the Tesla.
Cons: did I mention the tech sucks? So, I bought a dash cam (because you know, people suck). Forget the point that the Tesla already has the ability to use it's cameras for both driving and parked surveillance. The dash cam I got has wifi and can join to a car's hotspot and automatically upload footage to the cloud in the event of an incident. Taycan has a hotspot - and although the car clearly has an LTE data connection (it streams Apple Music, internet radio, gets traffic, weather and news / RSS feeds) but for the life of me, will not allow me to access the LTE data when connected to the car's hotspot. Also this week, one day randomly the car told me the light sensor wasn't working, and then I couldn't turn off the lights while driving during the day. It reset after I parked it briefly, but really, the lights don't work? Then today it told me I couldn't select my profile and had to drive as a guest. Turned the car off and on numerous times - could see my name greyed out as an option - was told that Porsche Connect was having "issues" this week - but it resolved itself by the end of the day and so we're back to normal now. The Garage door opener too - it allows you to save the location - assumedly so that it can activate or pull up on the screen when you arrive (the Tesla can be set to auto open and close per gps). While I've saved and resaved the location numerous times, nothing changes. And there's no physical button on the mirror or console to activate it - so you have to navigate through the menu screens or save a shortcut button for it. Oh, and there hasn't been any software OTA updates since I've had it (2 months). It could be worse though - while I was at my dealership this week, saw another Taycan there who's Porsche connect module just isn't working at all.
So, sorry for the ramble, but what's the bottom line? The Taycan is the better of the two at being a car - an amazing car - that I love to drive. But if you love the latest tech - like you want an iPhone 12 Pro that's gonna run the beta, with new features every month that makes the car feel new all over again - that also happens to put a **** eating grin on your face every time you take off at a green light - it's still the Tesla.
Awesome and congrats!!! Your car looks almost exactly like ours, except you'll have factory black door handles and window trim and I had to get mine wrapped that color (much needed).
Sorry about the delay - I guess I'm 2 months into my Taycan 4S experience, although I haven't really driven a month's worth yet (hit a deer in my M4 convertible and been putting miles on the insurance rental - a much different story).
I know the model 3 was never amazing at fit and finish, but with the white "premium" interior, I thought I had remembered it being a little nicer. After driving the Taycan a lot and then getting back into the Tesla recently, I was surprised at how unpolished it really is - and the Tesla seats - just aren't as comfortable for me. The white looks great but I really have a greater appreciation for the level of precision and detail that goes into everything with Porsche. For example, I think the edges on my headlights and taillights on the Model 3 are both slightly off - (not flush with the adjacent panels) asked Tesla service about it they measured and said, "it's within our tolerances." Alternatively my Taycan has a faint rattle that sounds like it's within the driver's side door - I drove it with my dealership's Taycan specific tech and while I was worried he wouldn't hear it (it's persistent, but really faint) he immediately said he could hear it too, that it's not normal, and we've scheduled an upcoming appointment where they're going to address it, take apart the door and add dynamat if needed but hopefully just remove whatever's rattling. Actually come to think of it, when I first picked up the Tesla, it had dents in the trim of the A-pillar - and it took over a month to get them to fix it. Ok, so not that this is ground breaking, but fit / finish / comfort, Porsche wins in a landslide.
Tayan Pros: Besides amazing fit and finish, the Taycan feels 100% like a premium sports car, and amazingly so. Sits lower to the ground - handles like a go kart (in a good way). I don't have sport chrono so I can't tell you what sport plus would feel like, but driving in Sport still feels responsive enough. And although the Tesla will always be faster 0-60, I def agree with the above poster that said anything above that feels like the Taycan just pulls effortlessly - the 2 speed transmission makes an amazing difference. The Tesla by no means is slow at high speeds, but when you punch it doing 75-100, it def doesn't have that same take your breath away jolt of acceleration there like it does 0-50. Also I'm not sure why, but I seem to drive the Taycan faster - like 80 "feels" fast in the Tesla on the highway, whereas the Taycan is SO smooth at high speeds, you may glance down and realize you're in triple digits without meaning to be.
Range - the Taycan def underpromises and overdelivers; especially vs the Tesla. My Tesla claims 299 miles of range - we took a road trip up the east coast (NC to NY) and I think the most we squeezed out was maybe 218 miles - you def couldn't plan more than 200 miles between superchargers. The Taycan - I lent my car to an EV Youtuber who put it through his 70 mph range test and we got 278 miles (from 100% to 0%) - blew my mind - and that's with 21" wheels! I have a lot of highway miles back and forth to work (about 35 miles each way) but driving the Tesla and Taycan on back to back days last week in similar weather, I def had more range with the Taycan left after a round trip than with the Tesla.
Cons: did I mention the tech sucks? So, I bought a dash cam (because you know, people suck). Forget the point that the Tesla already has the ability to use it's cameras for both driving and parked surveillance. The dash cam I got has wifi and can join to a car's hotspot and automatically upload footage to the cloud in the event of an incident. Taycan has a hotspot - and although the car clearly has an LTE data connection (it streams Apple Music, internet radio, gets traffic, weather and news / RSS feeds) but for the life of me, will not allow me to access the LTE data when connected to the car's hotspot. Also this week, one day randomly the car told me the light sensor wasn't working, and then I couldn't turn off the lights while driving during the day. It reset after I parked it briefly, but really, the lights don't work? Then today it told me I couldn't select my profile and had to drive as a guest. Turned the car off and on numerous times - could see my name greyed out as an option - was told that Porsche Connect was having "issues" this week - but it resolved itself by the end of the day and so we're back to normal now. The Garage door opener too - it allows you to save the location - assumedly so that it can activate or pull up on the screen when you arrive (the Tesla can be set to auto open and close per gps). While I've saved and resaved the location numerous times, nothing changes. And there's no physical button on the mirror or console to activate it - so you have to navigate through the menu screens or save a shortcut button for it. Oh, and there hasn't been any software OTA updates since I've had it (2 months). It could be worse though - while I was at my dealership this week, saw another Taycan there who's Porsche connect module just isn't working at all.
So, sorry for the ramble, but what's the bottom line? The Taycan is the better of the two at being a car - an amazing car - that I love to drive. But if you love the latest tech - like you want an iPhone 12 Pro that's gonna run the beta, with new features every month that makes the car feel new all over again - that also happens to put a **** eating grin on your face every time you take off at a green light - it's still the Tesla.
For a second car, I put a deposit on a Polestar 2 with the optional performance pack and tan nappa leather with ventilated seats. It's exactly $70k loaded and gets all of the tax credits. Has the autopilot functions and better components like rear facing radar. The optional brakes are 375x35mm Brembo 4 pistons, 20" forged wheels, and Ohlins DFV manually adjustable 22 position dampers. It's a better car than a stock Model 3 Performance, IMO.
Delivery should be in December. Oddly, it comes from Wuhan China. Battery pouches are from LG Chem. Weighs the same as Model Y. Technically, it's a crossover 5 door that sits a bit higher than Model 3.
I've been watching the Polestar 2 closely, also. I'll be interested to test-drive one first, though. I'm not so keen on its tablet-glued-to-dashboard interior; Porsche's built-in screens are much nicer to look at and not so "in the way" and obnoxious. The new XC40 BEV has a better screen, from what I can see, with the Google OS powering it.
I've test-driven a couple of Taycan Turbos and love the drive, but that center screen is really frustrating and not very user-friendly or practical to me. I'm surprised that more people don't complain about how crappy the Taycan's center screen and lower center control panels are. The Taycan's center computer screen is nowhere near as nice as the current Panamera's, in my opinion. But the Taycan's curved instrument panel behind the steering wheel is out-of-this-world fabulous in design. I also don't like the bad rear view out the rear of the Taycan; having owned both a sedan Panamera with crappy rear view and a Sport Turismo with better rear view, I'm eagerly waiting for the Cross Turismo to come out -- can't wait to test-drive that.
I've been watching the Polestar 2 closely, also. I'll be interested to test-drive one first, though. I'm not so keen on its tablet-glued-to-dashboard interior; Porsche's built-in screens are much nicer to look at and not so "in the way" and obnoxious. The new XC40 BEV has a better screen, from what I can see, with the Google OS powering it.
I've test-driven a couple of Taycan Turbos and love the drive, but that center screen is really frustrating and not very user-friendly or practical to me. I'm surprised that more people don't complain about how crappy the Taycan's center screen and lower center control panels are. The Taycan's center computer screen is nowhere near as nice as the current Panamera's, in my opinion. But the Taycan's curved instrument panel behind the steering wheel is out-of-this-world fabulous in design. I also don't like the bad rear view out the rear of the Taycan; having owned both a sedan Panamera with crappy rear view and a Sport Turismo with better rear view, I'm eagerly waiting for the Cross Turismo to come out -- can't wait to test-drive that.
Funny, having spent about 1,500 miles in various Cayenne and Panameras with the current infotainment setup, I find it very frustrating to use, and found on just a short test drive, I liked the Taycan's better.
11-20-2020 | 10:14 AM
