Porsche Taycan Review 2024

The Porsche Taycan is proof that the future of motoring doesn't have to be mind-numbingly dull. The brand's first ever electric car, the Taycan has enough space for all the family, can travel nearly 300 miles between charges, and it's arguably even more fun to drive than the legendary Porsche 911.

Looking for a second opinon? Why not read heycar's Porsche Taycan review. 

The best thing about the Taycan is it really feels like a Porsche. Sure, the Tesla Model S might have been ticking the 'long-distance electric GT car' box for a number of years now, but it just doesn't have the same feel-good factor.

The Taycan's interior quality is simply superb, with lots of plush materials and enough screens to give off a 'NASA control room' vibe. These are all easy to use, with clear graphics and plenty of customisation options. Apple CarPlay is standard across the range, while we can definitely recommend splashing out on the excellent uprated Burmester premium sound system.

There are four seats as standard, although you can spec an extra middle seat in the back if you wish. There's a reasonable amount of room, although adults might find the rear seats a little squished. There are two boots with more than enough space for the weekly shop between them, but you're still going to be better with a Panamera if you're planning regular cross-continental road trips with all the family in tow.

Depending on which model you go for (there's the standard Taycan, 4S, Turbo and Turbo S models to choose from), Porsche's EV can officially travel up to around 300 miles between charges. A full charge at home will only cost you around £12, so it's incredibly cheap to run for the performance on offer, while public rapid chargers will top the battery up in less than half an hour.

All Taycan models are pretty rapid, with even the standard car covering 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds. If you want supercar-like performance, look for one with a Turbo badge. The range-topping Turbo S can sprint to 62mph in less than three seconds, making it one of the fastest electric cars this side of a multi-million pound hypercar. 

It's not just straight-line performance that's impressive, either. It's perhaps the most agile electric car on sale, eager to change direction yet not intimidating to drive in the slightest. Most models come with four-wheel drive, yet all have a huge amount of grip on offer.

The biggest issue with the Taycan is the purchase price. Even the most affordable model is more than £70,000 – and that soon starts to increase as you work your way through the extensive options list. But factor in the low running costs and the monthly finance repayments start to look a little more manageable. And for your outlay, you certainly get a car that'll feel incredibly special. Simply put, it's probably the best electric car on sale. 

If there's one way that the Porsche Taycan differs from the droves of other electric cars on the market, it's the way it handles. It's simply the most agile electric vehicle on sale – keen to change direction without too much lean and with pinpoint accuracy to the steering. It's as if Porsche has form for this sort of thing.

Even though the Taycan weighs more than 2.2 tonnes, its batteries are positioned in the floor, contributing to a low centre of gravity and handling which is more akin to a Porsche 911 than a wafty saloon car.

Purists might be drawn to the entry-level car for its rear-wheel drive nature but, in truth, you could drive it back-to-back with a four-wheel-drive model and you'd still be hard pushed to notice a difference in everyday driving. All have reassuring amounts of grip on offer even in wintery conditions.

If you want to splash the cash, there are various options intended to improve the Taycan's handling. These range from adaptive air suspension (which even boasts a small increase in range thanks to an improved drag coefficient), to rear-axle steering. None of these are strictly necessary – a standard Taycan both handles and rides very well indeed, in our experience.

Around town, the Taycan's easy enough to drive, with front and rear parking sensors fitted as standard across the range. It's quite big – and feels it – so if you're expecting to negotiate a lot of city centre car parks, it's worth investing in the Surround View camera system (or, at the very least, the more affordable reversing camera).

The more you spend on a Taycan, the more power you get. That's just like conventional petrol-powered Porsches – and the range nomenclature follows the brand's standard practices, too. This means the entry-level car is simply called the Taycan, there's a slightly sportier Taycan 4S, while the properly quick models are badged the Turbo and Turbo S.

The standard Taycan is the odd one out, because it only sends power to the rear wheels (the rest of the range are four-wheel drive). With a single electric motor providing a fairly mild 330PS, it's doesn't exactly surge forward like you'd expect from a Porsche. Sure, it's nippy, like most electric cars, but it's not exciting.

An overboost function increases the output to 408PS for short periods, which is great when you need a rapid getaway or a burst of power to complete an overtake, while you can also opt for the entry-level car with the upgraded Performance Battery Plus. This increases power to 380PS (or 476PS with overboost) and costs in the region of £4000, which is quite a hefty sum, but it also adds an extra 30-odd miles of range.

Most buyers will go for the Taycan 4S, which provides a bit closer to the performance you'd expect from an electric Porsche. The Taycan 4S accelerates from a standstill to 62mph in 4.0 seconds – a significant 1.4 seconds quicker than the entry-level car. Top speed is limited to 155mph.

The range-topping Taycan Turbo and Turbo S models are rapid enough to compete with the supercars of the world. The former packs up to 680PS (with overboost), maxes out at 161mph and covers the 0-62mph sprint in 3.2 seconds. The latter produces a hilarious 761PS, is good for 162mph and reaches 62mph in 2.8 seconds. That's quicker than a Ferrari 488.

Despite the Taycan's impressive performance, it's a very safe car. Independent body Euro NCAP awarded it a maximum five stars when it was crash tested in 2019.

It comes with a host of airbags, of course, as well as Isofix points in the rear to help with fitting child seats. There are also numerous systems fitted as standard to help you avoid a collision in the first place – things like autonomous emergency braking (with cyclist and pedestrian detection) and a lane-assist system.

The options list opens up an array of even cleverer safety tech, too. You can spec Porsche's InnoDrive system with adapative cruise control, which predicts the road as far as two miles ahead. Night Vision Assist is another cool feature, using an infrared camera to identify pedestrians and wildlife, displaying them as thermal images.

The Porsche Taycan isn't rated to tow anything. Nada. Zilch.

If you need a tow car, we'd recommend a Porsche Cayenne instead. Or a Tesla Model X.

How spacious you'll find the Porsche Taycan depends a little on your expectations. It's certainly roomier than the 911 sports car but, if you want to carry all the family, the Panamera and Cayenne are both more practical. So is the Tesla Model S.

Still, those in the front won't find a lack of space an issue. There's loads of head and legroom, while there are plenty of handy little storage areas including two big cupholders in the centre console.

The back is big enough for two adults, but anyone taller than six-foot will feel fairly cramped. Children should be happy enough, though, and there are Isofix points to make fitting child seats easier. A third rear seat is available as an optional extra.

Without an engine up front, the Taycan has two luggage compartments. The 'frunk' is quite a small affair, capable of taking just 81 litres of luggage. Most of the time you'll stick to the conventional rear boot, which – at 407 litres on standard Taycan and 4S models – is big enough for a set of golf clubs or a big weekly shop. 

You can tell that some electric cars have had 99 per cent of their development budget spent on the technology, leaving pittance for designing the interior.

This isn't the case for the Taycan. It feels just as special as a petrol-powered Porsche with lots of high-quality materials used – even in areas you won't necessarily be touching every day.

The low-down driving position adds to the feel that the Taycan is something special. A lot of EVs position you high up to provide space for the batteries, but Porsche has managed to mount the driver's seat nice and low, like you'd expect in a sports car.

The seats are ultra supportive, too, which is a good thing whether you're chucking the Taycan around a track or using it for a long-distance motorway journey.

You'll find an array of media displays on the Taycan's dashboard. These look impressive but don't massively move the game on compared to the Panamera or 911.

The main infotainment display is a 10.9-inch infotainment screen positioned in the usual place on the dashboard. This widescreen system is intuitive to use, although a few more buttons would make it easier to navigate on the move.

The same could be said for the smaller 8.4-inch display underneath it. This is used to control things like the climate control or audio functions. A few physical buttons would probably do the job better, but that's not going to impress buyers in a market that includes the minimalist Tesla Model S.

Apple CarPlay is standard but Android users will be frustrated to find that there's no Android Auto. There's also a 'Hey Porsche' voice control system like all the others that you'll use once or twice before giving up and doing the job manually.

Behind the steering wheel is a beautifully slick 16.8-inch curved display in place of conventional dials. This is fully customisable to show as much or as little info as you want, ranging from your current speed (handy in a very quick yet near-silent electric car) to navigation data.

If that's not enough screens, you can even opt for an extra 10.9-inch display on the passenger side.

There's no denying, the Porsche Taycan is an expensive car. The most affordable model starts at a smidgen more than £70,000 – a figure that's inflated very quickly by the time you've worked your way through the options list. The Taycan 4S (that's the one you want) starts from nearly £84,000, while the rapid Turbo and Turbo S models retail at around £116,000 and £139,000 respectively. £139,000.

The figures aren't quite so shocking once you put them into context. This week, a new Tesla Model S starts from around £84,000, increasing to more than £130,000. You might also be considering the range of premium electric SUVs that are currently on offer – the £65,000 Jaguar I-Pace looks like great value, in comparison, but it's not a Porsche and a few option packs soon takes it up to Taycan money.

First, we'll deal with the question that everyone asks about electric cars: how far can the Taycan travel between charges? The entry-level car has an official range of 268 miles (300 miles with the bigger battery pack), while the Taycan S can cover up to 252 miles between charges (or 287 miles with the Performance Battery Plus). 

The Turbo and Turbo S models are fitted with the bigger battery pack as standard, resulting in a range of up to 256 and 279 miles respectively. Of course, these figures are dependent on – pardon the pun – a huge range of factors – everything from the weather to how you drive the car.

The affordability of electricity compared to petrol means that, once you've shelled out for the Taycan's high retail price (or signed up to a finance agreement), the Porsche Taycan ought to be relatively cheap to run.

You'll pay around £12 to charge the Taycan at home (depending on your electricity tariff) so – based on some rough calculations – you're looking at around 6p per mile in terms of 'fuel'. That's a figure that'd be more than acceptable for a family hatchback, never mind a performance car like the Porsche Taycan.

If you need to travel further afield, the high cost of public rapid charging will skew those figures somewhat. Unlike a Tesla, buying a Taycan doesn't get you access to an exclusive network of public rapid chargers. You'll have to use the same flakey charging network as any other EV driver and that, in our experience, can be both frustrating and expensive. Still, it'll be cheaper than refuelling a Panamera.

If you find a capable charger, you can charge Taycan models with the bigger battery at a rate of up to 270kW, which will top the batteries up from five per cent to 80 per cent in less than 23 minutes. That's impressive, but such chargers are currently hard to come by in the UK.

Electricity aside, there are a few other important cost considerations to be aware of. Insurance is notoriously expensive for electric vehicles, and the Taycan falls into group 50. That's the most expensive one.

You won't pay anything in VED (car tax), while company car drivers will find BIK tax rates to be minimal. The Porsche badge on the Taycan ought to reduce depreciation, which'll help lower the monthly finance payments.

Servicing is every two years or 20,000 miles, which is a decent interval, although expect Porsche servicing to be a bit more expensive than a Renault Zoe. The Taycan is covered by a three-year/unlimited-mileage warranty, but this is extended to eight years/100,000 miles for the battery.