New Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo 2021 review

Verdict

The standard Porsche Taycan has already proved itself as the best performance EV on the market, and now pretty much the same experience is available with a little added day-to-day usability for not much extra cash in Cross Turismo form. This new version of the car is beautifully finished, incredibly fast yet comfortable, and rapid charging makes it easy to live with. Yes it’s expensive, but Porsche has emphatically proven that an electric future can certainly entertain keen drivers.

The Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo accelerates from 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds. While we’ve seen other rapid estate cars – the Mercedes-AMG E 63, for example – get close to that figure before, it’s even more mind-bending here.

Maybe it’s the disconnect between such amazing speed and the accompanying noise – little more than an augmented starship hum – or the fact that the instant response from the twin electric motors (which develop 671bhp in overboost mode) can whack your head back into the headrest in a way many supercars can’t. The Taycan’s acceleration is absolutely savage.

All of this is true in the standard Taycan of course, but this Cross Turismo introduces a few key differences in how you live with and drive Porsche’s electric flagship. The most obvious is the shooting brake body which, just as in the Panamera Sport Turismo, features an extended roofline to boost practicality. Porsche states that rear-seat passengers get an extra 47mm of headroom over the standard car, so anyone approaching six foot will appreciate the difference. Legroom hasn’t improved though, and despite the cute-sounding “foot garages” created by minimising the battery pack in this area of the car’s floor, it’s still tight if you’re long-legged.

Boot space increases, though. The Turbo Cross Turismo offers up 405 litres of storage to the standard Turbo’s 366 litres. The other benefit is that the rear seats can be folded flat, opening up a 1,171-litre load area.

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Rear end aside, Porsche’s designers have also differentiated the Cross Turismo with an optional Off-Road design package. This brings some extra plastic trim to clad the car’s wheelarches and sills, while silver panels mimic 4x4-style skidplates on the lower edges of the front and rear bumpers. The standard air suspension gives the Cross Turismo an extra 30mm ground clearance – or 20mm without the optional pack.

It may be taller than the standard Taycan, but the Cross Turismo retains a level of sharpness and driver involvement that no other EV can touch. Turn-in is almost hot-hatchback sharp, and even once the car is loaded up, its low centre of gravity (a benefit of its heavy battery pack being stored in the J1 platform’s floor) means that it remains amazingly level given the huge forces the 2.3-tonne kerbweight (the Cross Turismo weighs just 15kg more than the standard Taycan) puts through the suspension.

Grip and traction are sensational, yet there’s real finesse to the chassis. The steering is precise and well weighted, and the ride plays its part, too. Even in its firmest Sport Plus setting, at worst it would be described as busy, but not harsh; and it never crashes into bumps or throws your head from side to side even across difficult roads. Still, a British B-road is best suited to the most relaxed damper setting, allowing this Taycan to flow without a hint of wallow.

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Range isn’t noticeably affected by the changes, either. Officially the Turbo will eke out 245 miles from its 93.4kWh battery – and during our enthusiastic drive, which also included motorway miles, this test car was on course for a total of 221 miles.

Depending on the model, buyers will pay from £1,080 to £2,240 for the shooting brake body – hardly worth noting when the Turbo Cross Turismo starts from £116,950.