Porsche Taycan Archives - cars & life blog

Porsche have recently announced the latest addition to the Taycan family, the Cross Turismo. Prior to the Gran Turismo, Porsche did not have an all-roader vehicle like the Audi A6 Allroad, they either created a sports car or an SUV. However, it seems that Porsche were aiming to attempt a new segment with their electric car platform, with the Taycan Cross Turismo being the result of this decision. The Taycan Cross Turismo is based on the classic Taycan but has higher suspension settings. Off-road abilities, under bonnet protection, and a potential off-road setting are implemented to mimic a differential lock effect via torque vectoring systems on each axle. In addition, the calibre of the electric motors creates an off-road environment.

The downside of electric motors in an off-road environment is that they deliver all of their torque instantly. Meaning that if you are on a loose surface and you need as little as possible torque, good luck using the electric motors, you will be digging up the surface. The gravel driving mode in the Cross Turismo enables the vehicle to accelerate smoothly on loose surfaces. Certainly, the Cross Turismo is not an SUV and is not designed to face serious off-road environments. But then which SUV faces a serious off-road environment! It is also nice to have additional ground clearance and an off-road driving mode to use some shortcuts on your path.

Would I buy it? Honestly, yes! I do not like the idea of driving an SUV in the city, they are designed for the off-road environment. Yet, I like the practicality. Especially when the roads get a bit snowy and muddy. The Cross Turismo is a perfect vehicle, that will not compromise the off-roading’s performance driving experience, and will get you around that muddy road.

If I ever buy a Porsche 911, I will get the Cross Turismo.
The performance details are here;
• The Taycan 4 Cross Turismo with 280 kW (380 PS), overboost power for Launch Control 350 kW (476 PS), acceleration 0-62 mph in 5.1 seconds, top speed 137 mph, range (WLTP) 242 – 283 miles.

• The Taycan 4S Cross Turismo with 360 kW (490 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 420 kW (571 PS), acceleration 0-62 mph in 4.1 seconds, top speed 149 mph, range (WLTP) 241 – 281 miles.

• The Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo with 460 kW (625 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 500 kW (680 PS), acceleration 0-62 mph in 3.3 seconds, top speed 155 mph, range (WLTP) 245 – 281 miles.

• The Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo with 460 kW (625 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 560 kW (761 PS), acceleration 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds, top speed 155 mph, range (WLTP) 241 – 260 miles.

Photos // Porsche

The Porsche Taycan has recently been revealed to the public. If you haven’t heard about the Taycan, it is the pure electric sports car from Porsche. It looks like a coupe, but it is a four-door saloon like a Panamera. To be honest, I don’t like the front-end design that much. The rear-end of the car looks much better and cleaner. I must also admit that I haven’t seen this car in real life. Sometimes, photos can’t reveal the details of the vehicle, and they don’t look that good.

The key point is the technology behind the Taycan, which shakes the foundation of the Tesla vehicles. Until now, there were a couple of pure electric vehicles to compete with Tesla, but they were SUVs and small cars. I didn’t really see a pure competitor of the Tesla range until now.

Taycan is a real Porsche that runs on pure electric power. Let’s begin with the model range. There are two models, Taycan Turbo and Taycan Turbo S. Don’t be deceived by the Turbo branding, there are no turbos involved with this car. Porsche is using an existing branding structure to try and make this car as familiar as possible to existing customers so that the customers will not be alienated by the Taycan.

The Turbo has 680 PS, and the Turbo S has 761 PS. They are both all-wheel drive, and there are two electric motors sitting on each axle. They are powered by 800 volts instead of the traditional 400 volts. This means the Taycan is insanely fast! And, it can be charged to 80% in 22.5 minutes. I really love this very precise timing! The battery pack’s capacity is 93.4 kWh with Performance Battery Plus.

We need to get used to this terminology; electric cars have a totally unique terminology for their powertrain.

And there is a two-speed gearbox! Yes, the Taycan is the only electric car with a gearbox. It is very unusual as the electric motors produce insane amounts of torque, and it is a serious challenge for transmission to handle this power. Taycan’s electric motors produce 1050 Nm of torque. This is a lot of power! It can easily tear off any traditional transmission. The range is up to 412 km!

When you wish to design a transmission that can handle this amount of power, it becomes heavy, and electric motors are delivering this power all the time, unlike internal combustion engines.

The Porsche Taycan has a transmission for the rapid acceleration. The first gear is selected when the driver engages the Sport Plus mode and the Taycan accelerates extremely quickly and shifts to second gear. Transmission is attached to the rear engine. Furthermore, this transmission increases the range by 5%, as well as improving efficiency.

I can’t ignore that you will have a massive screen on the dashboard, 16.8 inches! It will be hard to clean it! Also, Porsche joined the crowd and added a voice recognition system called “Hey Porsche”. It probably won’t recognise when you want to use it and will work when you don’t intend to use it.

You will also have the usual Porsche toys, including 4D Chassis Control, PDCC Sport, Torque Vectoring Plus, and all-wheel steering.

I really like the Taycan, unlike the aging Tesla. The Taycan is created by a company that has a racing heritage. I am sure that the Taycan will be a great success for Porsche, like the Cayenne. Also, the Taycan is not something that is a complete contradiction with the Porsche DNA, like Cayenne and Macan. The Taycan is the future of mobility for sports cars.

Photo Credit // Porsche