Try it, Porsche Taycan GTS: electric station wagon you don't expect

Try it, Porsche Taycan GTS

Our first test of the Porsche Taycan convinced us, but not completely. The choice of the absence of regenerative braking (if not braking) and perhaps the slightly too direct comparison with Tesla sedans had left us with a mix of sensations, lights and shadows that were amplified by the price differences. We have now spent a week with the Taycan Sport Turismo GTS and our assessment is now clearer and decidedly more positive. Although the writer is a Tesla owner, I wouldn't think twice about making a switch with this Taycan. However, everything has a price.

The car we tested, in the beautiful "Gesso" color with black contrasts, was in the GTS version; then, with two electric motors generating a total of 517 horsepower (380 kW), which becomes 598 horsepower when using Launch Control - a whopping 850 Nm of torque. 0-100 acceleration in 3.7 seconds (with Launch Control) and top speed of 250 km / h.

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Compared to the first Taycan we tested, Porsche has introduced a regenerative braking mode that also works during normal driving and not just when braking. Each driving mode has its own pre-setting, which you can change, even directly from the special button on the steering wheel that allows you to always activate the braking, deactivate it or leave it in automatic mode, a setting that will use sensor and travel data to adjust the intervention. If you are traveling on a clear road or if the car in front of you is at a certain distance, then the braking will be deactivated so as to favor gliding, but if you are in worse traffic situations it will be activated. It is not possible to say how much this braking affects energy recovery in real life, but it does add some driving comfort in certain situations.




The technological solutions and the interiors are no different to those of a classic station wagon. already seen on the Taycan 4S, here is an excerpt from the previous review:

"Once on board, you find yourself in an environment with the distinctive features of Porsche, such as the seats, the central gully, the package" Chrono ”with the central clock and the steering wheel driving mode selector and, in general, the driving position. But everything else makes us understand that we are in a different car, and "everything else" is represented by the OLED screens that surround us. The first, in front of us, 16.8 "inches, curved, houses the instrument panel. A second 10.9 "screen is the center of the infotainment and also becomes the screen for CarPlay. Another identical screen is located in front of the passenger position and an additional screen, this time 8.4 "placed vertically, allows you to adjust the climate and also offers itself as a touchpad to interact with the infotainment screen. All the controls are touch-sensitive, and while this choice will lead you to have the car dashboard full of fingerprints, the controls are very intuitive.

Note the choice of positioning the driving mode selector in the front, next to the curved screen of the instrument panel. We have already seen imaginative solutions in the world of electric cars, including the total elimination of a lever by Tesla (for the Model S), which places the gear selector directly on the central touchscreen. We are not particularly happy with these solutions, and the choice of Porsche does not prove particularly successful, especially when you have to maneuver.

The infotainment system is generally fluid and intuitive, just like Porsche has always accustomed us; we very much appreciated the choice of integrating tactile feedback on the climate control screen in order to have confirmation of the command's success even while not looking at the screen itself. "





Finally, speaking of price, the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo starts from a list price of 138 thousand euros, while the tested model reached a price of around 170 thousand euros (168 thousand). Among the most important cost items we find the interior package of about 4 thousand euros, the rear steering axle (about 2500 euros), the driving assistance accessories, including automatic parking, even remotely (about 4 thousand euros) and the strips custom-made sill in carbon (about 3 thousand euros). By inserting only the infotainment accessories that we consider advisable, the ADAS systems and the technical and chassis solutions that make the Taycan GTS driving of the highest level, we can consider an expense beyond the list price of about 15 thousand euros.