The Porsche Taycan is as fast around a track as a Koenigsegg from 2006
If you want to find the limits of a car’s suspension, brakes, and powertrain in under one minute and twenty seconds, the Top Gear test track is a suitable venue for the task. So, what can we learn from a hot lap of the 750-horsepower Porsche Taycan Turbo S? We knew from the start that despite weighing 5059 pounds, Porsche’s first production EV wouldn’t disappoint under track conditions. After all, the Taycan was designed to do rounds around even the quickest of Teslas. Porsche’s engineers had to deliver that.
As a result, the combination of 750 horsepower and 774 pound-feet of instant torque, four-wheel drive with Torque Vectoring Plus, the air suspension featuring Porsche Active Suspension Management, and the electronically-controlled shocks with Dynamic Chassis Control Sport for roll stabilization grants you a 124-mph run in 9.8 seconds—and a lap by the Stig as quick as a 2006 Koenigsegg CCX with the big wing, or the Acura NSX with its hybrid V-6.
Is it impressive that a four-door EV can be as quick now as an 800-hp twin-supercharged V-8 supercar was in 2007? Certainly, because a fourteen-year-old Koenigsegg is still much faster than most things on four wheels. Is it exciting that it makes sci-fi spaceship noises instead of the twin-turbo V-8 rumble of a Panamera Turbo? You tell us!
However, as Top Gear’s Chris Harris points out, it’s also worth weighing how much the Taycan Turbo S costs, how compromised it is in terms of storage space, and how accessible is a charging network in your neck of the woods. Besides, packed full of heavy metals as it is, just how green is the Taycan really when compared to an economical gasoline car, let alone a hybrid?
Also, will it drift as eagerly as a massively powerful sports car should?
For early adopters, it’s always a mixed bag.
