Michael Meldrum
Houston, Texas @p911r
As a loud and enthusiastic advocate of air-cooled Porsche ownership, it must seem a bit odd to find out that the latest addition to my clan is a Frozen blue metallic Porsche Taycan Turbo. While the biggest divergence from my usual modus operandi is the switch to a fully electric vehicle, it’s not the only significant deviation. This is my first civilian (or practical) modern Porsche, everything else (modern) I’ve owned has been a 911 or a Boxster. I’m naturally curious, especially with new tech, so the opportunity to own the first iteration of Porsche’s journey into electric cars was an easy decision.
At the time of writing, I’ve only had the Taycan for four days, so I’d like to share my initial impression as a civilian owner.
Pulling out of the dealership, it was just like driving a very quiet car, all the other touchpoints are conventionally located and it was a peaceful drive home… until I dialled the knob on the steering wheel to Sports Plus Mode. The suspension lowered and some other fancy stuff happens and when you floor it, the acceleration feels like the fastest rollercoaster I’ve ever experienced; blink and you’ll be in triple digits.
Once back at home, the ownership experience is more like setting up a gigantic ipad. You set up a Porsche Connect user ID, download the app for your phone, connect
the car and charger to the Wi-fi etc, login to the Porsche servers and configure the car and charger to your preferences.
FYI, if you’re in the USA and you want to charge it promptly (at home), you will need to have a 240V outlet installed, my standard 110V outlet takes 2-3 days to charge the Taycan (vs 6-8 hours for 240V). I’m told the charging locations with superchargers will charge it in 20 mins.
200+ miles in I’m thoroughly impressed, it’s calm and poised through the corners, the acceleration is as fast as expected, the boots (front and back) are fairly spacious, and my family of four is comfortable and enjoy different aspects of the car.
The kids (10 and 11 years) love two things, the ‘Electronic Sport Sound’ option (they say it sounds like a spaceship) and the acceleration (they squeal like it’s a rollercoaster and have dubbed it “Hyperjump”). My wife is quite ‘Tay-can’ with the dedicated passenger screen where she can control all the non-driving settings (media, nav etc) or have a dedicated information display including speed (this helps her ‘affectionately direct’ me when I’m breaking the speed limit).
My practical option for the last 15 years has always been a new model Range Rover as it provides a winning combination of comfort, practically and Britishness (very important if you are an expat living in Texas). I bring this up because the Taycan top trumps the Range Rover for comfort,
and its ability to soak up the abysmal Houston TX roads is phenomenal. This was not expected (most reviews focused on the handling dynamics but did not highlight the quality of the ride for running around town on bumpy roads). If it had the boot space of a Range Rover, it would replace it for me.
It’s still early days for me thus far; the Taycan is overwhelmingly impressive, a great all-rounder but obviously not as fun as some of Porsche’s more focused performance options. I wonder what a lightweight, sports purpose version of the Taycan would be like? Better still, a sports purpose Porsche Taycan Estate/turismo/ Station Wagon/shooting Brake?