RS ROAD TEST
Thanks to improved technology and inspired design, electric cars are miles from where they were even just a few years ago. Here are five super-advanced, fun-to-drive models you can buy right now
2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S
The Porsche Taycan Turbo S is a great antidote for social distancing. During a Saturday drive just north of Los Angeles, pedestrians wave, motorcyclists flash thumbsups, and a surfer pulling on his wetsuit simply points and stares. It’s the most socializing I’ve done in months.
The Taycan is Porsche’s firstever allelectric vehicle, and the Turbo S is the most powerful version of the Taycan, so it makes sense that the car commands so much attention. The fourdoor sedan boasts unmistakable Porsche design elements even people who don’t care about cars recognize: bulging fenders, swooping roofline, allaround beauty. (It’s also got an unmistakable Porsche price: $185,000.) But the roads in and around L.A. are teeming with luxury automobiles. What’s so notable about the Turbo S?
The answer is the sound — or lack of it. When people see, say, a Tesla Model S — the
Taycan’s main competitor — they aren’t surprised by the absence of engine noise; that’s what you expect from a Tesla. But a silent Porsche? That doesn’t seem right.
It does, however, feel right. Mashing the “gas” pedal to launch onto the 405 freeway, the acceleration shellacs me to my seat as two electric motors, one in front and one in back, deliver 774 poundfeet of torque to all four wheels. Porsche quotes a zeroto60 mph time of 2.6 seconds, but it’s likely even quicker than that. Plus, the Turbo S has something other
EVs don’t — a second gear, which helps maintain acceleration up to the car’s 161mph top speed.
With an EPArated range of just 192 miles, the Turbo S might not be ideal for road trips.
But it offers a surprisingly comfortable ride while still handling like a Porsche. It carved up canyon roads in Malibu with Teutonic precision, despite weighing in at a whopping 5,121 pounds.
And truth be told, it doesn’t do it in actual silence. The Turbo S features a standard “Electric Sport Sound” system that broadcasts acceleration noise inside and outside the cabin, like a techno remix of a highrevving gas engine. “It sounds like being in a spaceship,” a passenger said. Considering the Turbo S is a feat of engineering that moves far quicker than humans have any business moving, that’s a pretty apt description. KY HENDERSON