4S to Turbo - is it worth it?

[Draman]

I get 240-250 miles on a full charge with my Turbo and I drive, let's just say, very fast. No idea how a prior poster was getting 180, I got more than that doing 90+ for hours

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[Gubbjaevel]

I made the switch form 4S to Turbo in Sept'20 (got my 4S in April'20).

I couldn't help but feel like there was power missing. My foot was constantly wanting more, but always at full throttle. With the Turbo, as some have mentioned - it's almost too fast. Rarely I push all the way. But know that I can when I want.

"Is it worth it?" - Probably no.
"Would you make the switch again?" - Every day of the week.

End of the line - Only you can decide.

BTW Just tracked mine. Fan-fucking-tastic!

 

[Mus]

I have a Turbo S. I think it has way too much power for my needs. But I love it to death, and wouldn’t change my choice. I drove a loaner 4S for a couple days, and It felt underwhelming - i dunno.

I have put 12.5k miles on it in about a year. Pulled over twice by the police in that time frame. Ticketed once with mandatory court appearance (first speeding ticket in 20 years, I was 25+ over speed limit), second time let go with a warning (local police officer who knew me).

My daily driver was 911 4s prior to my TTS. I think the 4S has plenty of power, but if you are accustomed to the power of turbo/s, I think it will be tough choice. Cheers

 

[RingoDingo]

I test drove the Turbo S, Turbo, and 4S before purchasing the 4S.

The Turbo S and Turbo are too fast (if you want to track a Porsche get a GT3).

I am getting a predicted 250 miles of range at 85% charge with the 4S and 0 to 60 is faster than any rational person can manage (3.4 to 3.8 seconds as measured by various reviewers).

The 4S is all I need. Less money, more range, extraordinary yet rational level of street performance, and amazing to drive every day.

Count me in this category, selfishly. The 4S properly optioned was at the very high end of acceptable range for me as I'm in my mid-40s, have 3 kids headed to college someday and want to retire while I still have some useful days ahead of me. I had a Model 3 performance before this and that was noticeably faster than the 4S, but most of that acceleration was nauseating and/or dangerous on public roads. I might feel differently if I tracked this car, but if I wanted to track a Porsche I'd get a GT3, GT4 or a Deman Cayman and also see above re retirement.

 

[smoothound]

FWIW....

I am going for a Turbo having originally specced a 4s and basically the decision all came down to finance.....

The lease cost for a 4s specced to my wishes was within £150 (ish) PM of a Turbo with the same spec

But much of my 4S options are standard on Turbo. In a lease, standard equipment counts towards residual - whereas options are paid off fully within the lease period. Hence the relatively small delta in lease cost.

Then I looked at the higher grade standard kit on the Turbo (like Bose and Vectoring etc) that I would not have specced on the 4S and asked myself - would I spec these for £150(ish) extra PM? .............and the Turbo selected itself.

I don't need the added performance and will rarely use it fully..... but it will be nice to have as a by-product

cheers

 

[RAHRCR]

I think most on this thread will find a way to justify their choice. I have yet to see anyone in a Taycan (of any model) driving at W.O.T. on the roads where I live. In the end, Porsche always wins…LOL

 

[Archimedes]

Actually @Archimedes the Turbo S has Standard Rear Axel Steering the Porsche Torque Vectoring. I know the former is a option on the 4S (I believe only 2022) and the later is not an option. Both make draumatic difference in driving/handling. I put 9000 miles on my 4S with 20 inch turbo Wheels and the performance battery and have had the TTS for a month. Spend a month in each and come back and tell me is makes no difference…lol

Sorry, but this is totally false. PTV+ and RWS are absolutely optionable on a 4S. I have both on mine. Every performance option except the extra power can be optioned on the 4S, and it will handle identical to the Turbo S.

It sounds like you had a low spec 4S.

 

[RCorsa]

Well @Archimedes i guess that may be the case who knows - but I assume you understand that the added power and torque of the turbo/s influence downforce and handling of the car. To say it doesn’t is naive. “Low spec” Not sure - it was a $140k spec which compared to my $220k turbo S I guess is “low” I suppose. That said, I’d take my turbo s over your “high spec” 4s every day of the week. Lol

 

[Archimedes]

Well @Archimedes i guess that may be the case who knows - but I assume you understand that the added power and torque of the turbo/s influence downforce and handling of the car. To say it doesn’t is naive. “Low spec” Not sure - it was a $140k spec which compared to my $220k turbo S I guess is “low” I suppose. That said, I’d take my turbo s over your “high spec” 4s every day of the week. Lol

Power and torque affect downforce? You’re joking, right? Or just clueless.

And I’m not criticizing your car or saying a 4S is better. I was merely pointing out your multiple false statements for the benefit of the forum readers.

Oh, and power and torque have nothing whatsoever to do with downforce. Downforce is a function of the aerodynamic design of the car and the speed of the airflow over it. And before you say it, note the 4S can achieve the same speeds as the TTS…

 

[RCorsa]

Drive both and get back to me. I’m sure you are aware the front and rear end design of the turbo S are different. Maybe not. Also saying that a a car that has toque vectoring isn’t affected by the absolute torque of the vehicle makes no sense. Maybe we need a a physicist to chime in….

 

[TK-421]

It is a 19% price increase for a 6% increase in regular power (or 5% of boost power), so, like I wrote, unless you are very keen on the unique cosmetic extras it is poor value compared to a 4S.

Other than the unique cosmetics there isn’t much going for the GTS IMO.

GTS owner here, so I am clearly biased. I'm not sure about UK pricing, but assuming you want 21" wheels on both cars, US pricing is about 14k USD different for speccing the cars with the same performance bits. That's no add on cosmetic or interior changes except adding 18 way seats to the 4s, because they are standard on GTS. That's a 11% price increase for the GTS.

I agree that the delta for an extra 30hp is very high. I like the cosmetics of the GTS, as well as the extra HP and evidently useless 146lb/ft of torque.

I'm not sure on the street you will get any advantage from the specific GTS suspension tuning, but it is there. A skilled operator might at the track, but how many trips to the track is an average Taycan owner going to see?

I went GTS after my Turbo and have a small regret from a power perspective (it really needs 50 more HP), but love everything else.

 

[TAYC4S]

I think most on this thread will find a way to justify their choice. I have yet to see anyone in a Taycan (of any model) driving at W.O.T. on the roads where I live. In the end, Porsche always wins…LOL

Perhaps as the OP I need to pivot the focus to the range question as this probably has more bearing than the performance on the road question. For anyone either with a Turbo or even better, people moved from 4S to Turbo (with the 21 inch wheels) - have you noticed an real difference in driving range?

 

[f1eng]

and evidently useless 146lb/ft of torque.

The shape of the torque curve is used to calculate the power output.
With an IC engine there is only one speed at which the valve timing and ignition timing are optimum and a lot of compromises are used to get a broader usable power output, and compromises differ depending on use.
There are a huge range of compromises possible and used.

With an electric motor the torque curve is wider and flatter and has almost no necessary compromises. The stall torque is high and, of course, torque is produced from zero rpm. Controllers of the power to the motor define the power curve and the limits are more thermal than anything else since an electric motor can produce more than its steady state rated power for a time but starts getting hotter, so for how long depends on how much extra power is being demanded and how big the thermal capacity and maximum safe temperature.

If one tries to get more power from an IC engine it stalls

So an electric motor is superior to an IC engine in very many ways, its biggest relative downside being the cost and weight of its "fuel tank"

So in reality the torque capability of an EV is even less relevant than it is for an IC engine.

I think what most non-engineering people mean when they "appreciate" torque is that in an IC engine it tends to be used to describe an engine which produces reasonable power at lower rpm so you don't need to change gear all the time.
Again irrelevant for an electric motor since it can be controlled to give good torque over its entire rev range from stopped, so needs neither the clutch nor multi-ratio gearbox that an IC engine needs to match its limited performance to the job it is being asked to do.

 

[Perry]

I would argue that if you’re asking whether the Turbo is worth it, then it probably isn’t.

The Turbo (S) is insanely fast, but so is the 4S. I would never opt for a base Turbo over a higher specced 4S, especially since straight line performance isn’t at all what makes this car (or any Porsche) great.

If anything, I think the GTS is much more reasonable if you want higher performance.

 

[TK-421]

The shape of the torque curve is used to calculate the power output.

I think what most non-engineering people mean when they "appreciate" torque is that in an IC engine it tends to be used to describe an engine which produces reasonable power at lower rpm so you don't need to change gear all the time.
Again irrelevant for an electric motor since it can be controlled to give good torque over its entire rev range from stopped, so needs neither the clutch nor multi-ratio gearbox that an IC engine needs to match its limited performance to the job it is being asked to do.

I think this is where I am getting tripped up. In our race cars we always tuned for max power even at the expense of torque. But for our street cars we always wanted max torque under the curve as it was much more fun at street speeds and RPMs.

Can you explain why having the extra torque, all other things being equal, doesn't really matter on the street in an EV.

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