Porsche Taycan First Drive | Quiet, Quick & Comforting

The first answer to the “Can an EV be a Porsche?” question that I get from the Taycan is complete silence. Not because the car doesn't make any sound, we’ll get to that later, but because it’s parked inside a perfectly light warehouse for our photo shoot. It has a gaggle of lenses pointed at it as it sits quietly. And in this still environment, gazing at that delicious frozen blue that really flatters its ever so gorgeous curves, the initial impression is that it's very much a Porsche.

Evocative to look at, delightful in every detail and oh so desirable. So a perfect start to two days of spending time with this new Porsche has started off on the right foot. More answers will be found, kilowatts spent and battery ions re-distributed, but for now even just looking at this new EV is very, very satisfying. 

Gorgeous

It’s long and low and for obvious reasons reminds one of a Panamera but something about the Taycan seems a little more proportionate in the way it sits on the road. You get the impression it’s sportier and would have to bend less to get around tight corners.

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Like most electrics today the Taycan's design is dictated by aero. So the front bumper and air curtains below the headlamps are all cool design elements that have a dual function. As do the flush auto extending door handles. The headlamps are simply beautiful with their four pointed aesthetics and matrix functions. 

My walk around the cars sees me stop in my tracks when the rear comes into view though. Smooth, curvy and that seamless brake light strip that runs across the whole boot lid is just…  painfully good looking. A little more subtle is the three dimensional Porsche lettering and a hidden detail is the active aero wing that deploys as speeds increase. No, I've changed my mind, it's spankingly good looking.

Enter the car and the view that greets you is equally impressive, familiar and a little overwhelming in the first instance. The four screens on the dash and console overpower your senses for a bit till you get used to the info on them. Then you notice the beautiful 16.8-inch driver's info display is curved.

Ooh nice! No, it's not touch but crisp, clear and customisable. The 10.9-inch central infotainment display is equally impressive, snappy to use and has a neat UI. But then there's another screen to the left of it, in front of the passenger, what? It can replicate the central touch screen but can show different info. So for example you could have navigation running on the centre screen and the media screen for your passenger. Also cool. There's still another 8.4-inch screen below the center screen that is the touch interface for the AC as well as a touch scratchpad/remote. And another fifth screen for rear passengers that also controls air con functions, in a similar roundabout fashion.

A lot of screens, but once you get used to them, they're both functional and befitting of the fancy gadgetry quotient we’ve come to expect from EVs without looking like it's from too far ahead in the future. But in terms of practicality I would still have preferred at least some buttons, at least for the air con settings. Clean and minimalist does look aesthetically pleasing but buttons are still much, much easier to use, especially on the move.

The rest of the Taycan is as luxurious as you would expect from the brand. The seats hug you nicely and all the materials feel plush and solid. And all the materials have eco-friendly options  with a choice of leather-free interiors and floor mats made from recycled fishing nets. Other highlights are a massive panoramic glass roof, ambient lighting, Bose surround sound system and cooled seats. 

Confusing?

So this is what happens when you decide you want to drive it. You look for the start button, find it behind the steering on the right (where it usually is for most cars) and it confirms that the car is on, something I still have to get used to with electrics. You then prod the throttle just a little to see if it will magically start moving forward intuitively, maybe the AI will have already figured that I want to drive now? No, tech hasn't reached that far yet and maybe that’s a good thing.

Then the search starts for the gear lever, or rather the drive selection knob, because it's not where it's supposed to be - on the central console. There’s just a single cup holder in its place. There has to be one because there's a drive, neutral, reverse display on the drivers screen and it’s showing that the car is in park mode. It's not on the centre console, it's not on the air con screen, not visible on the dash, not visible anywhere near the start button. Maybe on the steering wheel perhaps? Nope. Maybe on a steering stalk? No, not there either. Where can it be? 

After an age of looking I finally find it. Some Porsche engineer thought it would be a good idea to place the drive selector, the one thing that is responsible for turning a static piece of art into an automobile, behind the steering wheel. Hidden from view with the main R,N & D letters printed on top of the selector, facing upwards and away from the driver's eye line. Even if you were to peer around the steering and see it, it’s completely unreadable from the driver's seat. The only seat that should matter in a Porsche! It’s actually clearly visible from the passenger seat. How on earth is this clever engineering?

Another daily task that received a frankly unnecessary addition of tech are the electronic air con vents. The physical vents themselves are completely fixed and the direction and dispersion of the vents is actually controlled via the touch screen. To work it you have to access the AC settings menu from the lower air con touch screen. This opens up an image of the dash and air con vents on the central infotainment screen above. Here you can move around touch points on the screen to adjust the direction and dispersion of the individual vents. Incredible technology for sure, but it literally solves a problem that didn't exist. It takes way more time than it would have taken to just use a toggle on the vent itself, manually. Again just unnecessary. OK, rant over.  

Sport Plus Selected. Finally…

The Taycan is not an atypical electric. The acceleration is brisk but strangely devoid of any drama at all. The single 408PS electric motor on the rear axle seems to be turned for smooth acceleration and that initial kick we so love in new electrics seems to be smoothed out, even in Sport Plus mode. There’s also so much grip that there’s practically zero wheel slip, even with traction control turned off. It's impressive for its sheer clinical acceleration precision and I believe it will hit its 5.4s to 100kmph claimed figure every single time. But somewhere between the lack of wheelspin, missing growl from an ICE and the Tron movie-like synthesized car sound, it’s missing out on some excitement. That’s easily fixable though with the fast Taycan Turbo which adds another electric motor, more horsepower and torque and is 3.3s 0-100kmph quick. And if that’s not enough there’s the Turbo S which is capable of an unbelievable 2.8s sprint to 100kmph! 

But this all changes when the straights end and corners begin. The Taycan turns in sharply, the steering weighs up beautifully and you get the feeling that you can place the nose of the car wherever you want. Despite being heavier than a gas powered sports sedan would, you never feel that heft.That chassis is beautifully balanced and the suspension is spot on. Supportive when you're pushing through a corner and yet you never feel that it’s too stiff that you have to baby the car over bad roads.

As you pick up the pace the artificial sound fades in the background, the electric drivetrain is forgotten and your focus shifts to just the HUD display hovering above the wheel - just the essentials. Yes, strip away the extras; screens, few ergo faux pas and the fake soundtrack and    this is very much a Porsche driving experience -  precise, predictable and involving. 

Practical too

With a four-door Porsche you do have to spend some time discussing its ability to please the family too and the Taycan certainly won't disappoint. There's plenty of boot space in the frunk as well as the conventional boot, as much as 446-litres. And this is expandable to 1212-litres with the rear seats folded down. It’s also plenty comfortable for 4 adults with good leg and knee room for adults in the rear. With that sloping roof line headroom is enough for anyone up to 6ft. 

With adaptive suspension, comfort is as the label says. Comfortable in the city, able to absorb most bumps and with the ability to adjust ride height, there’s no worries driving over speed bumps or through large potholes even. Just one point to note is that while the different drive modes settings are configurable and remember your setting changes, the range mode will default to the lowest ride height setting in interest of better aero efficiency and we suggest that each time you make the switch to range mode (in a 408PS electric this will be often) change the ride height back to the highest setting. 

This brings us to the mandatory range discussion. Porsche claims a range from 350 - 430 kilometers depending on your usage. In the real world you should be able to extract around 300 kilometers from the Taycan on a single charge when switching between sport, normal, comfort and range mode. You could probably eke out a bit more with range mode and regeneration set to maximum. But then this is Porsche and where’s the fun in that. Speaking of the regeneration it’s fairly mild and even in the most aggressive mode you will find yourself needing the brakes now and again.

Daily driving this from home to office should see it last almost a week with a few overnight top ups. But if you're looking to enjoy it like a Porsche should be enjoyed, taking it to a nice twisty road and soaking in the way grips, accelerates and feels, then expect just a few hours of fun before you have to switch to the least fun mode and play the range extending game back home. 

Safety & Pricing

In terms of safety equipment it’s as loaded as can be expected with multiple airbags, lane keeping assist,  traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, adaptive speed limiter, pedestrian protection and park assist as some of the highlights. 

This is the base Tycan which retails for a cool Rs 1.50 crore. Kitted out with synthesized sound, 20-inch rims, matrix headlamps, pano roof and HUD to name a few of the extras, it’s now sitting at Rs 1.78 crore. The range topping Turbo S with its warp mode speeds starts at Rs 2.29 crore.

So a true Porsche then?

It’s a Porsche with a focus on GT. It’s comfortable, handles great and gives you plenty of smiles from behind the wheel. More excitement is always available from the more sporty Taycan Turbo or the warp speed Turbo S.

Apart from the few oddities, the interiors are plush and filled with just the right amount of tech you could expect from a new electric. It has plenty of luggage space and enough seats for a quick family getaway weekend too. But if you want to drive it like it encourages you to, wherever the road opens up, then be prepared for a lot of range watching and overnight charging.