MAYBE THE BEST FOUR-DOOR LUXURY EV ON THE MARKET
Luxury style and solid performance join surprisingly affordable price
LOS ANGELES Forget the Cybertruck and the Mustang Mach-e — this is the EV news that matters. This is a car that is not only a fantastic electric vehicle, but more importantly, a good car.
I’m talking about the 2020 Porsche Taycan.
Yes, I know we’ve covered the Taycan before. But that was the all-singing, all-dancing — and incredibly expensive — Turbo and Turbo S. Instead, we’re talking the entry-level model called — and stealing yet another trim designation from the company’s 911 — the 4S. The big news is that the 4S costs only $119,400. Now, I realize to most of us,$120,000 is big money, but in Porsche-land, well, that’s just simply traditionally Teutonic pricing. Indeed, the parallels between the 911 and the Taycan are coming so clearly into focus now.
For one thing, the Taycan plainly looks very 911-like. I originally called it the four-door 911 the Panamera was always touted to be. For another, the pricing similarities are remarkable — take a quick look at Porsche Canada’s website and you’ll find the 911 Turbo S, Turbo, and Carrera 4S cost $217,200, $184,200, and $127,900.
That spread is remarkably similar to the Taycan models, at $213,900, $173,900 and $119,400, respectively.
And, the four-second-flat sprint Porsche claims for the all-electric Taycan 4S is also strikingly similar to the 911 Carrera 4S’s 4.2 seconds.
That striking similarity remains when one exits the realm of the theoretical, and starts strafing real-world California canyons.
The Turbo S is the “ludicrous” Taycan, all 750 horsepower of overboost silliness. Acceleration from a dead stop is gut-wrenching. I know this because, despite years of high-horsepower motoring — not to mention, a few “taxi rides” in mondo-powered race cars — my first ride in a Taycan Turbo S was in the passenger seat, and my stomach spent most of its time doing double backflips.
The problem with gut-wrenching acceleration is that said nausea may be entertaining behind the wheel, but it’s hardly the thing that’s going to endear you to family and friends. That — along with the price — is why the 4S would be my Taycan of choice. It feels like yet another quick German touring sedan, albeit (mostly) silent and emissions-free.
The same very much applies to the to-and-fro that is hustling a 2,295-kilogram, 4,963-millimetre four-door sedan around California hairpins. Exactly as one would expect from a Porsche, the Taycan 4S unwinds twisty roads with amazing efficiency. Indeed, if there’s a reason to switch from Tesla to Porsche, besides far superior build quality and an interior that doesn’t look like it was put together with duct tape, it’s that the Taycan holds a road as well as one expects from a Porsche, electrified or not.
Part of the reason is, thanks to all that lithium-ion placed low in its floor, the Taycan’s centre of gravity is admirably low. Still more is that, thanks to the immediacy of computer-controlling electric motors on both axles, the 4S’s torque vectoring — the modern answer to optimizing traction at all four wheels — is superior to internal combustion-powered cars. But really, the difference is Porsche and its 65 years of producing exemplary sports cars and supercars.
If you’re looking for an excuse to shop something other than a Model S, the Taycan’s handling is your justification. You could also cite quality and reliability; Porsche is always at or near the top of the luxury-performance segments in the eyes of J.D. Power and Consumer Reports.
Perhaps more importantly, the Taycan is stunning — indeed, the highest compliment I can pay to the Taycan is that, even were there no 911, it would still be alarmingly alluring. This is the best-looking four-door luxury sedan, this side of an Aston Martin Rapide.
As for what one gives up in saving some serious coin, the
4S is obviously less powerful. It also has two different batteries, the optimistically named Performance version and a Performance Plus model, rated at 79.2 and 93.4 kwh, respectively. There’s also less horsepower available: 429 (522 on temporary overboost) for the base version, and 482 (with 562 on overboost) for the Performance Plus edition, compared to the 616 hp for the Turbo and Turbo S — with 670 and 750, respectively, on overboost.
The Taycan 4S also rides on 19-inch wheels compared to the 20-inchers on the Turbo and the 21s the Turbo S wears. Oh, and the brakes are plain steel rather than Porsche’s Surface-coated affairs — perhaps important for bench-racing over foie gras and Chablis, but hardly noticeable even in my spirited drive up Angeles Crest.
The 4S version of the Porsche Taycan is the best four-door luxury EV on the market today.