Porsche Taycan review

Quick verdict

The Porsche Taycan is one of our favourite electric cars. If you can afford one, its combination of exciting handling, incredible performance and superb long-distance comfort means it’s a fantastic choice. It keeps up with Tesla’s tech offering and straight-line speed while offering hugely better interior quality and driving enjoyment than the Model S.

In 2024 Porsche introduced a facelifted model with even more range, better efficiency and faster acceleration. There’s no bad model in the range, as even the entry-level Taycan is as fast, efficient and comfortable as you could ever want.

Porsche Taycan: price, specs and rivals

The Porsche Taycan arrived in 2019 and proved that an electric car can offer almost everything a sports car can. It’s as sharp to drive as you’d want from a car made by Porsche, yet it’s also comfortable, relaxing and easy to drive. It’s fast, has loads of range and charges rapidly, too. If you can afford it, it’s one of the best EVs.

There’s a hugely varied range: the four-door saloon is what we’ll cover here, but there’s also a five-door hatchback (or estate, depending how you look at it) called the Porsche Taycan Sport Tursimo and a high-riding Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo variant as well. Each has various models including the 4S, Turbo, Turbo S and Turbo GT with different power outputs.

There are battery options as well - on the Taycan and Taycan 4S you pick between the Performance Battery and the Performance Battery Plus, the latter offering slightly more range and power output and costing about £4,500 more.

You’ll pay around £86,500 for an entry-level Taycan, although we reckon this model is so good there’s no need to choose a more expensive model. If you want more, the Taycan 4S costs from about £96,000. Upgrading to the Turbo model means the price surges to just over £134,000, while the Turbo S costs nearly £161,500. At the top of the range, the flagship Turbo GT is almost £186,500 - with or without the Weissach Package.

If you go for the base model, you get a range of up to 367 miles and a 0-60mph time of 4.5 seconds, which is more than fast enough for us. The Performance Battery Plus improves the range figure to 421 miles, which might be worthwhile for those wanting to cover long distances. As you go up the performance figures get more and more silly, topping out at 0-60mph in 2.2 seconds in the flagship Turbo GT model.

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To drive, the Porsche Taycan hides its bulk remarkably well, tackling B-road corners with supreme control and composure, yet still feels as refined and comfortable as the brilliant Panamera over long distances. Acceleration is beyond anything you could ever need on the road in all versions. Read more about the Porsche Taycan's electric motors, performance and drive here…

Ultra rapid charging (270kW for the regular battery and 320kW for the larger Performance Plus pack) means you can top-up from 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 20 minutes at a compatible rapid charger. That’s incredibly impressive when the battery is this large, because you’ll add a huge amount of range. The larger battery option provides up to around 421 miles of range when fully charged. Read more about the Porsche Taycan's range, charging and running costs…

The Taycan’s interior is high-quality and packed with tech. The 2024 update saw some slight improvements to the infotainment set-up, but it (thankfully) remained just as impressive as before. The drive mode switch on the steering wheel is present in all versions of the Taycan now, too. Read more about the Porsche Taycan's interior, design and technology

The Porsche Taycan isn’t the most practical because it’s more of a four-seater rather than a roomy five-seat family car. However, comfort is a strong point, as the seats are perfectly positioned and supportive over long trips. There’s always the more spacious Sport Turismo model if you need more interior space, though. Read more about the Porsche Taycan's boot space, comfort and practicality…

There’s no reason to think the Taycan will be unreliable, especially as electric cars have fewer moving parts to go wrong than petrol and diesel cars. Porsche topped the list of manufacturers in our 2023 Driver Power poll, with owners' ownership highlights being the build quality, performance, and driving experience. Read more about the Porsche Taycan's reliability and safety…

Should you buy a Porsche Taycan?

The Porsche Taycan remains one of our favourite electric cars. It’s not the most affordable electric car out there, but the entry-level Taycan has such a breadth of abilities that help justify its price. The updates that have brought better efficiency, faster charging, and even more rapid acceleration only improve an already brilliant package. 

If you are looking for a sporty EV with ultimate performance, there’s also a version for you: the Turbo versions offer sub-3-second 0-60mph times and impressive handling to match. For the ultimate electric car, you can’t go far wrong with any version of the Taycan.