Porsche Taycan review - Electric motor, drive and performance

The Taycan has been built from the ground up to be a high-performance electric car. This means it’s brilliant to drive, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that this is a four-door coupe weighing 2.2 tonnes.

You sit low in the Taycan, which gives the impression that you’re at the wheel of a Porsche 911, and it feels incredibly agile thanks to its low centre of gravity. The optional rear-wheel steering certainly helps, as do the precise and well-weighted controls.

At around £2,300, the optional Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) active anti-roll bars are expensive, but they make the Taycan feel even more communicative and playful. Meanwhile, the standard-fit air suspension does a brilliant job of soaking up the worst pockmarked roads.

The 4S model is arguably the most convincing Taycan you can buy. The 79.2kWh model packs up to 523bhp and 640Nm of torque, but the real star is the 93.4kWh Performance Battery Plus model. This is the same battery you’ll find in the Turbo and Turbo S, and it delivers 536bhp and 650Nm of torque.

Predictably, the more powerful version is the most fun, but both versions jink neatly into tight corners and scythe through sweeping bends. Make no mistake, the Taycan feels every inch a proper Porsche sports car.

The Turbo and Turbo S develop 617bhp during normal driving, but with launch control engaged the power is increased to 671bhp in the Turbo and a neck-straining 751bhp in the Turbo S.

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Yet for all the performance and straight-line speed, it’s the ride and handling that elevates the Taycan to another level. Thanks to two electric motors (one on each axle) and two gears on the rear motor, the Taycan has a deftness that a large, heavy and four-wheel-drive car has no right to. It’s playful when you want it to be, yet docile and comfortable when you don’t. Above all else, it’s so communicative that you never feel anything less than ‘at one’ with the Taycan.

You even get four driving models: Normal, Sport, Sport+ and Range. If anything, Sport+ is a little too hardcore for the road, but Sport mode feels more natural and enjoyable. In Range mode, everything is tuned for efficiency – the car will even move off in second gear.

0-62mph acceleration and top speed

The entry Taycan hits 62mph from a standstill in an impressive 5.4 seconds, although the performance of the 4S model is a little bit feistier: with launch control, it’ll sprint to 62mph in 4.0 seconds before hitting a top speed of 155mph. 

The Taycan Turbo completes the zero to 62mph time in 3.2 seconds before going on to reach a top speed of 161mph. The Taycan Turbo S goes just 1mph better, but will hit 62mph in a frankly ridiculous 2.8 seconds.