LIKES
- Beautiful design
- Brutal, nuanced performance
- Confidence in all conditions
- Staggering array of tech
DISLIKES
- Simple interior design, highly pixelated
- Range deficiencies
- Cramped rear seat
- Everything costs extra
BUYING TIP
The 2022 Porsche Taycan sets a benchmark for electric sedan handling, while ultimate range takes a back seat.
What kind of vehicle is the 2022 Porsche Taycan? What does it compare to?
Porsche’s first electric car brims with personality, from its sleek shape to its sub-three-second acceleration. Rivals include the Tesla Model S and Lucid Air.
Is the 2022 Porsche Taycan a good car?
It’s a spectacular first effort, with important cues for the future of all Porsches. We give it a TCC Rating of 8.8 out of 10.
What's new for the 2022 Porsche Taycan?
The GTS edition joins the lineup, and all Taycans get Android Auto and upgraded infotainment with better voice recognition and Spotify.
The Taycan family has an entry-level model with rear-wheel drive and a 79.2-kwh battery pack, a combo that’s good for a 0-60 mph time of 5.1 seconds. It only gets faster as the battery grows to 93.4 kwh and as it gains another motor in front. At the top end, the 750-hp Taycan Turbo S can catapult to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds for brutal acceleration accomplished in near-silence. Porsche sets the high-water mark in electric-car handling in the Taycan, even without the adaptive dampers and air springs of the most expensive versions; it’s wonderfully coordinated, and can carve deep pavement corners as well as it can drift nearly endlessly on ice and snow.
Front passengers won’t notice from their supportive power-adjustable and heated bucket seats, but the Taycan has plus-two accommodations in back. The low roofline and slim leg room don’t exactly welcome those passengers, and with about 12 cubic feet for luggage, it’s not a cargo-hauler, either.
There’s no crash-test data yet, but the Taycan has automatic emergency braking. The driver-assist features found on other cars are options here, including adaptive cruise control. The Taycan’s highest EPA-rated range is 227 miles, less than half that of its Lucid and Tesla rivals.
How much does the 2022 Porsche Taycan cost?
It’s $84,050 for a Taycan with a 10.9-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 19-inch wheels, leather upholstery, and a 9.6-kw onboard AC charger. The $105,150 Taycan 4S has a bigger battery; we’d take it with the 19.2-kw AC and 150-kw/400V DC chargers, and a mobile charge connector, just to make sure you can make the most out of all the options you might encounter. A loaded Taycan Turbo S easily flies by $200,000.
Where is the 2022 Porsche Taycan made?
In Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany.
Styling
Porsche’s first electric car has breathtaking appeal.
Is the Porsche Taycan a good-looking car?
Survey says yes, undoubtedly. We differ on some of the details, but the classic Panamera-style exterior and subtle 911 influence on the cabin earn two points each, for a 9 here.
The Taycan fits neatly into the Porsche family, with the hoodline of a 911, hints of the abbreviated rear end of a 718 Cayman, to the 3/4-angle stance shared with the Panamera. We’re not convinced by the fang-like LED headlights that write a new signature across the front end, but the side scalloping and the uncluttered rear end give away its family roots without the need for badges and lettering.
Performance
Near-perfect handling meets unreal acceleration in the Taycan.
Porsche may fall behind electric range leaders from Lucid and Tesla, but in handling it’s tops. It’s a 10 here, thanks to unreal acceleration and exquisite handling.
Is the Taycan 4WD?
The base Taycan has a single motor and a 2-speed transmission in back that provide rear-wheel drive; other versions add a separate motor and single-speed transmission to power the front wheels, providing all-wheel drive.
How fast is the Porsche Taycan?
The Taycan’s electric power comes from one of two under-floor battery packs. The “Performance Battery” clocks in at 79.2 kwh, while the “Plus” pack moves up to 93.4 kwh. With the lower-capacity battery and rear-wheel drive, the Taycan leaps to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds, on toward a top speed of 143 mph—impressive for a 4,568-lb Panamera-sized vehicle.
But that’s just for starters. The Taycan 4, 4S, GTS, Turbo, and Turbo S all have the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive layout. The 4S makes 482 hp (or 562 hp in an “overboost” mode) for a 3.8-second run up to 60 mph.
With the larger pack, in overboost mode, Taycan Turbo sedans can force a brutal 670 hp into the driveline for a 0-60 mph run in near-total driveline silence, in just 3.0 seconds. The Turbo S does it in 2.6 seconds, with 750 hp pushing it to a 162-mph top speed.
Comfort & Quality
Is it a four-seater, or a 2+2?
The Taycan cabin seats four, but not with the spread-out space of a Benz E-Class or BMW 5er. It’s very snug in the back, accommodating in front, and has slim cargo space. With very good front seats and excellent interior quality, it’s a 7 here.
No problems here with the Taycan’s supportive front buckets. We’ve spent hours cruising in them on perfect-weather road trips and performing sub-zero figure-8s in Finnish snow, and they fit us all. Those with broad shoulders and tall torsos can find a good driving position with 14-way adjustment, which ratchets to 18 ways at the sky-high end of the Taycan budget.
It’s less happy in the rear seats. Not only does the Taycan take some finagling to get into the back seats, they’re light on leg room and on head room. Six-footers will feel the pinch, and the idea of putting a third person in back doesn’t hold any appeal. Think of the Taycan as a two-seat tourer with occasional rear seats, and you’re on to something.
Safety
The Taycan hasn’t been crash-tested.
How safe is the Porsche Taycan?
Neither the IIHS nor the NHTSA have crash-tested one, so we abstain from a score here.
The Taycan does have standard automatic emergency braking, parking sensors, and active lane control, but Porsche charges extra for adaptive cruise control, night-vision cameras, a surround-view camera system, and driver-assist features. We recommend them, since the Taycan’s narrow rear window and steeply sloping roof limit rearward vision.
Features
The Taycan can be equipped as a luxury car, as a performance car, or as both.
We give the Taycan an 8 for features. It’s well-equipped in base trim, offers a dazzling array of options—too many individual ones, maybe—and has good infotainment, which now includes Spotify, Android Auto, and Apple CarPlay.
The base $84,050 Taycan comes with a 10.9-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 8.4-inch climate-control touchscreen, and a 16.8-inch digital gauge cluster. It also has 19-inch wheels, leather upholstery, power heated front seats, LED headlights, and a 9.6-kw onboard AC charger.
Which Porsche Taycan should I buy?
How much is a fully loaded Porsche Taycan?
The $186,350 Porsche Taycan 4S can easily be configured to cost more than $180,000. With custom-order paint ($11,430), aeroblade wheels, a truffle-brown leather interior, a panoramic glass roof, and cooled front seats, we’ve spun the configurator past $200,000 without really trying.
Fuel Economy
It’s all-electric perfection, if not the pinnacle of efficiency.
We give the Taycan a 10 for efficiency, for its electric driving range of between 199 and 227 miles. That said, it’s not the leader in range or efficiency, not by a long shot.
At its top 227-mile range, the 4S Performance Battery Plus exceeds the 199-mile 4S Performance Battery edition, but pales in comparison to the 400-plus miles promised by a Tesla Model S, or the 512 miles generated by a Lucid Air.
With available 19.2-kwh charging, the Taycan does refuel quickly—especially on 800-volt-compatible CCS fast chargers like those at some Electrify America stations. There it can charge its battery from 0 to 80 percent in about 20 minutes. On a home-grade Level 2 charger it takes more like 9 hours. Off the latest-and-greatest 800-volt fast-charge hardware, it can be faster to charge if your Taycan has the 400V/150-kw onboard auxiliary charger.
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