Easy rider

As the Porsche Taycan departs, we’ll miss the bewitching way it combines ease of use with brilliant handling. By Piers Ward

While I’ll miss the Taycan – it is a Porsche, after all – it’s what it represents that I’ll miss more. The ease of use over many guiltfree miles will be my abiding memory. Because while every non-EV owner obsesses about range and charging and cold weather and weight and cost, the reality is that a good EV is brilliant at making your life easier. As an item of personal mobility, that gets you from A to B with no fuss, it’s great.

I’m lucky in that I have a charger at home and at the office. The car has to fit your lifestyle, but then that’s no different if you need a diesel – what the Taycan offered me personally was a superb car that covered 99 per cent of my journeys with zero fuss. And when it didn’t, like on a round-trip to Reading or Castle Combe, I just spent five minutes before I left planning a charge and timed it to work around my day.

The Stuttgart element is the icing on the cake – it’s what transforms the Taycan from white good to much, much more, elevating it above the mundanity that a†icts a lot of EVs. The fundamentals of the recipe are spot-on – electric propulsion, quick charging speed, low-slung estate shape – and then that’s sprinkled with a dash of Porsche specialness.

Four years on, it’s still our favourite electric car. It’s the way it gives enough feedback and has su‰cient handling nuance that makes it feel different to others out there.

The BMW i3 had it as well. That sense of being special to sit in, and of having approached the problem from a novel angle, led by engineers. The Taycan’s 800-volt charging tech was a rare thing back in 2019, likewise the two-speed transmission.

Criticisms? We had the odd glitch on the infotainment screen, where everything went black. And, minor point, if you ever need to change the battery on your keyfob, allow 20 minutes and make sure you’ve got nimble fingers. The rear legroom could also be better. A test with a similar sized Audi SQ8 made the Porsche feel cramped.

Sport Turismo or Cross Turismo? The ST is marginally better tuned into the tarmac, the CT rides with a bit more forgiveness. Either way, you’ll get one of the defining cars of the early EV era.

Count the cost

Cost new £126,486 Partexchange £77,750 Cost per mile 10.0p Cost per mile including depreciation £2.94

The story so far

Still the benchmark electric car ★ Few cars age as well as the Taycan

- The odd infotainment glitch, but little else

Logbook

Price £111,200 (£126,486 as tested) Performance 83.7kWh battery, e-motor, 510bhp, 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph E ciency

2.93 miles per kWh (o„cial), 2.97 miles per kWh (tested)

Range 301 miles (o„cial), 248 miles (tested) Energy cost 10.0p per mile Miles this month 240 Total miles 17,127

Mk2 is on the horizon: how can it be better?

Porsche Taycan GTS Month 5