PORSCHE TAYCAN
THE WORLD'S BEST WRITERS IN THE NEW CARS THAT MATTER
How can the world’s best electric car get even better? In several ways, in turns out
The 300-mile test
NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD
We’re in Seville, so I want to see an orange tree. It’s what they do best around here. Well, oranges and some glorious architecture. And some brilliant roads, not in the city but in the nearby Andalusian mountains.
So, oranges please. But my passenger insists that what we really want to head for is a mine. Eh? It turns out the Rio Tinto mine is a bit more storied than your average hole in the ground. There’s been digging in this area for centuries, to the extent that back before the Romans had a go there’s a claim one King Solomon might have set up shop here. Which gives me an opportunity to make some kind of really spurious association between the Taycan and gold mines.
The Mk1 Taycan certainly didn’t do Porsche’s balance sheet any harm, although in cash-cow terms it’s no Cayenne. The tech’s expensive and EVs still don’t work in every market. But in just over four years – including a global pandemic – Porsche has sold nearly 150,000 Taycans, and in the process transitioned from a profligate producer of gas-guzzling SUVs and sports cars (in that order) to a shining beacon on the path towards full electrification. The Taycan blends style, performance and efficiency in a manner not even the most evangelical Teslarati can deny, and instantly proved to be an EV that CAR could comfortably get behind. If we must all pick up the plug, let Porsche lead the way – something it’s hoping to continue with the updated model, not to mention the new all-electric Macan.
Did the Taycan need updating? Probably. EV tech moves rapidly. The question might actually be whether this facelift goes far enough – there’s no tri- or quad-motor shenanigans here. It’s also visually tricky to spot, the most obvious exterior changes being the narrowing of the headlights (optional 32,000-pixel HD matrix items crowning this development) and the illuminated Porsche badge at the back. The interior gets some two-tone leather and other minor fiddling, including extended Apple Car-Play, which now allows you to control the climate-control without exiting to Porsche’s own software.
But the new Taycan does go further and faster than before – thanks to a lighter, more powerful rear motor, a new battery with up to 97kWh of usable energy, and speedier 320kW charging – while offering an optional new physics-wrestling Active Ride chassis and adding two-chamber air suspension as standar
