Pole Position
Prepared to be blown away by the all-electric Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. It drives like a dream, oozes style and is super sleek, writes Paul Agnew. Photography: Peter Austin
Electric cars are unquestionably a force for good. The benefits are crystal clear, particularly with regards to the environment and the significant improvement in air quality. They help make our villages, towns and cities healthier places in which to live and breathe.
They also make sound sense economically, requiring less maintenance and lower (much lower) running costs.
In short, they are very much the good guys of the motoring world, quietly going about their business with minimum fuss and maximum efficiency.
Obviously all of that is positively super-duper, but my question is this:
Can an electric car be fun?
I got my answer the other day in the shape – and a stunning shape it is too – of the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. To be specific the 4S model in one of the special Porsche colours, Crayon, with a black leather interior complemented with Crayon stitching. Lovely.
And let me tell you that within a matter of minutes it became obvious why the Taycan Sport Turismo is currently hailed by the battle-hardened, hard-to-please motoring critics as the ‘best high-end electric vehicle available’.
Praise indeed, so what makes it the stand-out option?
Well, it certainly looks the part. Every inch a Porsche and oozing kerb appeal with a sumptuous interior all about comfort, style and ease of use. Every function is at your fingertips.
Oh, and by the way – it drives like a dream.
Super sporty (as you would expect from any car featuring the iconic Porsche badge) it also manages to craftily combine high performance thrills with solid family practicality.
The overall design is ultra sleek and it sits lower down to the road than usual for an estate and with some stylish alloy wheel choices. Very cool.
Inside, you’ll find just about everything you could ever need. The displays, cockpit, console, dashboard, call it what you will, is little short of magnificent – one for the instrument binnacle and the other for the central infotainment system and the 4S offers an additional screen for your front passenger too so they have some control over entertainment. I’ve been to cinemas with smaller screens!
Space inside is better than okay and the estate-style offers plenty of room for luggage.
But for all the practicality, Porsche has built its name on performance and power and you can be assured of both with the Taycan Sport Turismo, whichever model you go for.
At the top end is the GTS with 598hp, a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. Yes, just to confirm, this is an all-electric car.
Talking of which, one of the main considerations is the ‘range’ and once again it scores well. If you were to select a Performance Plus Battery, you can expect 306 miles on one charge. However, in the normal scheme of things that figure hovers around 250 miles.
If you ever need a rapid getaway the Launch Control function produces maximum acceleration from a standing start.
To list the car’s attractive features, inside and out, would see me far exceed my word count for this review. Safe to say you will want for absolutely nothing and be suitably impressed at every turn. Impressed? More like blown away.
There are all the usual Porsche refinements, including the famous clock, and you can opt for things like a very sleeky SportDesign Package, LED door courtesy lights, adaptive air suspension, power steering plus, tinted LED matrix main headlights, fixed panoramic roof, privacy glass, Porsche crests here there and everywhere and electric sport sound.
You never lose the sense of sophistication when you sit in a Porsche. There is just something special going on, presenting a real tingle of excitement and this car certainly follows that trend.
So, accepting that going forward electric cars are the future, the superb Porsche Taycan Sports Turismo sits proudly in pole position.
Porsche Centre Preston
Watery Lane, Preston PR2 1QJ
01772 911911
porschepreston.co.uk
