Porsche Taycan: a stunning family estate car

The German sports-car maker is branching out and the result is superlative. Jasper Spires reports.

The Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo is “an electric family car with a sporty, adventurous twist”, says Guilherme Marques for Portugal Resident, and boasts all the hallmarks you’d expect from the pedigree. Porsche may not be the brand most associated with practical family estate cars, but its new Taycan may change all that – if you have deep enough pockets. The all-wheel-drive car is a little hardier than its stablemates and is hungry for the miles – without being thirsty for the fossils. But the shift to electricity from petroleum won’t mean any compromise on the horses. The twin electric motors deliver 563bhp and the battery can take the driver a comfortable 277 miles between charges. 

Stopping off for a charge needn’t slow you down by much either: “if you can find a point fast enough, a 5% to 80% charge will take less than 23 minutes”, says Sean Carson in Auto Express. The futuristic cabin is a pleasant place to be, with digital dials and a state-of-the-art infotainment system. It’s also easy to use through “one of the industry’s less complicated touchscreens”, says Matt Prior in Autocar. The result is a “serious driving environment”. 

Porsche’s most important quality has also been retained: it goes fast. The 2,245kg estate car shoots to 62mph from rest in 4.1 seconds, goes on to a top speed of 149mph and delivers “seemingly limitless traction and masses of grip”, says Dan Prosser on Pistonheads. “If you want to spank a Cross Turismo along a rollicking B-road there’ll be the right setting for it, and there you’ll find the same control, precision and response that makes the regular Taycan so surprisingly athletic to drive.” 

Price: £88,270

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