See them, in the rearview mirror: those sad, watery eyes? If you don’t stop at the side of the road now and if the wiedeweerga lets your dog out of the luggage compartment, you will have to steam clean the trunk floor later. The new Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo is as wild as a fairground attraction. And dog stomachs don’t like that…
What is striking about the Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo (2021)?
The Porsche Taycan GTS is the first Taycan to be available as a Sport Turismo (the other versions will follow in early 2022). Don’t imagine too much of that. The Sport Turismo is simply a Cross Turismo, stripped of off-road finery. He is therefore not the ‘tough’ off-road vehicle, with plastic edges around the wheel arches, and has air suspension that can be set less high. In addition, the Cross Turismo can only be ordered with 4WD. The Sport Turismo also comes in a rear-wheel drive version.
What’s good about the Taycan Sport Turismo?
A lifestyle combination, that’s what we would have called the model a few years ago. The sill of the luggage compartment is on the high side and it doesn’t look overly spacious behind it either. The load volume of the Sport Turismo is only 39 liters larger than that of the regular Taycan: 446 compared to 407 liters. Fortunately, you can fold down the rear seat in the first, so that you can eventually give 1212 liters of bags, boxes, suitcases and / or pets a place.
The other advantage of the Sport Turismo and Cross Turismo is the space in the rear. In the sedan you sit through the sloping roofline with the chin on the chest. In the station you can marvel at the special panoramic roof with LCD technology with your head held high. Sunshine Control, Porsche calls the new option for the Taycan, which can be darkened in nine parts with a swipe over the center console.
In the past two years we have been introduced to a Porsche Taycan several times, but this time we were blown away again. In a normal world a 2300 kilo car should sweep over the asphalt like a mop, but the developers of Porsche do not live in a normal world. They are wizards, who have made hundreds of kilograms of wagon weight disappear with some mumbling and waving of hands.
Because without exaggeration, we can say that the Taycan GTS feels like a 1400 kilo Cayman GT4 at the cutting edge. He responds almost telepathically to your input and changes direction with the urgency of a politician in a media storm. The Taycan’s battery is located low in the platform, resulting in a favorable center of gravity. The feeling of being on rails is strong. As if the GTS has been secretly riveted to the ideal line.
His grip and balance deserve a monument. In the Sport Plus driving mode, the stability control allows some sliding here and there, but even if you silence the electronic watchdog, you can easily catch the rear if it wants to pass the front. Porsche has made its latest plug-in sports car as predictable as a romantic comedy. And you want that: on the race track and on the street.
But the GTS isn’t just a rolling roller coaster, of course, in which children and dogs should keep a paper bag handy just in case. It is also a quiet, comfortable, beautifully finished touring car, with the best fast charging power on the market (270 kW). On paper, the GTS even has the largest range of all Taycans, with a WLTP range of 504 kilometers for the sedan. Which is strange, because it is stronger than both the Taycan and the Taycan 4S and should therefore drain its Performance Battery Plus (net: 87.3 kWh) faster.
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The secret lies in the more efficient powertrain software debuting in the Taycan GTS. Porsche also rolls out the software over the rest of the Taycan range, but chooses not to homologate those models again. Their current WLTP score therefore remains, while they can actually progress further. So count on the entry-level Taycan and Taycan 4S actually having a longer breath than the GTS, even though the specs still mention a range of 485 and 464 kilometers respectively.
What could be done better with the Porsche?
In a way, the GTS feels like a fill-in exercise. Porsche saw a gap in the Taycan price list and decided to put in a new version with sophisticated precision. The four-wheel drive GTS has the same electric motors as the Turbo, but reduced by 82 hp (598 hp). The torque of the two corresponds: 850 Nm.
When will the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo come and what will it cost?
The Taycan GTS is available from 136,300 euros for the sedan and 137,300 euros for the Sport Turismo. This makes the sedan about 26,000 euros more expensive than the Taycan 4S and 20,000 ‘cheaper’ than the Taycan Turbo. There are no other versions of the Sport Turismo yet. These will follow in early 2022.
What do I think of the Taycan Sport Turismo?
The Taycan GTS is fantastic. But let’s be honest: in the Netherlands you are stuck in a traffic jam with your electric Porsche or you commute to work at a speed of 100 km/h. Then a 4S or even basic Taycan is more than enough. That the GTS holds its own at Circuit Zandvoort is nice to tell at the drinks table, otherwise it is of little use. What you do need is the new Sport Turismo, which is just as practical as the Cross Turismo, but without the off-road pretensions.