2019 Porsche Taycan 4S review

With the exception of the skimpy 19-inch wheels, the entry-level Porsche Taycan looks every bit as sexy as a fully loaded Turbo S.

Plus, all it takes to makes the interim base model more stimulating to drive is the optional Performance Battery Plus which has a capacity of 93.4kWh and a maximum output of 426kW/650Nm, up from 79.2kWh and 395kW/640Nm.

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Although adding $100K worth of extras is the easiest trick in the book, you really only need a handful of essentials such as adaptive LED headlights, a couple of assistance systems and heated seats.

Comparatively equipped and priced to a Panamera V6 hybrid, the Plus version of the Taycan 4S beats its sibling in terms of outright performance, emotional driving experience and absolute environmental consciousness.

We drove the Taycan 4S over a 270km loop from the bottom of the Los Angeles Crest Highway through the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Coast Highway north of Malibu. Beginning and end are popular with tourists, but the hinterland is owned by local hippies, bikers in show-off leather, hardcore sports car aficionados and crazy dudes like Domingo who had dropped an LT1 engine into his black MX-5 and was waiting by the side of the road for fresh meat.

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We declined the proposed race against the Nippovette, but with the available Electric Sport Sound generator and the recuperation program deactivated, our duck-egg blue Taycan would have snatched the clean-air trophy, the noise pollution award and the instant torque medal in one clean sweep. After all, this car is a truly talented tarmac-peeler and apex-whisperer.

It coasts with a subdued duo-tone chant, plays a brief solo on the drums when shifting from first into second at around 100km/h, and fuses regenerative deceleration and hydraulic braking to a polyphonic hum that spirals up and down the bottom end of the decibel ladder. Beyond 160km/h, though, wind noise, road rumble and tyre resonance take centre stage.

With all fast-forward systems armed, the Taycan 4S can sprint to 100km/h in 4.0sec and reach 250 no matter which battery pack is feeding the motors, but that sort of driving slashes the driving range from 465 to 265km.

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Find the most powerful fast charger and replenishing the batteries to 80 per cent takes little more than 20 minutes. The cost to fill up depends on your energy provider, but the cheapest and greenest way is of course by tiling the roof of your house and garage with solar panels.

In any other Porsche, Sport Plus only works on the track. In the Taycan, however, the no-holds-barred setting is perfect for winding country roads and even busy freeways. Better still, hit Individual and lock the air suspension in Comfort, which is reasonably compliant but not overly soft.

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Stabbing the throttle at low speed may coax the two-speed transmission to shift briefly back into first, but second is usually happy to do all the work, with a clear rear bias in Sport and Sport Plus. In Range mode, the maximum speed can be set between 90 and 140km/h.

When the car is running on empty, only the front wheels are driven and top gear is locked in. Although there is no mechanical connection between the axles, 4WD feels at all times very much like a subtle concerted effort.

Since it can recuperate up to 265kW by momentarily turning its motors into power generators, the hydraulic disc brakes must typically handle only about 10 per cent of the total deceleration action, which explains the generous six-year interval for pad replacement.

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Our test car was equipped with the usual bunch of go-faster, feel-better acronyms like PTV, PCCB, PDCC and PCCM. While these goodies are nice, they’re not must-haves like the active aero pack, comprehensive thermal management system and predicative charging planner.

The more ambitious the chosen drive mode, the more energy needs to be kept in reserve, and the system has learned to cope with over 300 different dynamic eventualities like launch control, extra-fast charging and discharging, repeated acceleration runs and continuous highway speeds.

As far as the protective redundancies of its DNA are concerned, the 4S matches the Turbo. But you don’t need the Turbo. The 4S is not that much slower and it’s the smarter buy, by about 100 grand.

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PORSCHE TAYCAN 4S SPECS
Motor: 2 x permanent magnet synchronous, Performance Battery Plus
Power: 420kW
Torque: 650Nm
Weight: 2220kg
0-100km/h: 4.0sec (claimed)
Price: $200,000 (est)

Likes: Smooth, quiet and quick; less grunt than Turbo S, but you can access it all the time
Dislikes: High-speed wind, road and tyre noise; no extended range pack available

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars