Forum member test drives

[zardoz]

I was wondering if any forum members have yet to test drive the Taycan. Professional reviews are fine, but I am interested to hear from forum members on their unbiased experience. I am scheduled for a test drive this Saturday. If it happens, I will post my impressions. I have been an EV driver for over six years. (2) Tesla Model S. I have a reasonable idea of what to expect & benchmark against the only real Taycan competitor at the moment.

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[feye]

I am scheduled for a test drive this Saturday. If it happens, I will post my impressions.

Yes, please, ideally with pics and vids...

 

[charliemathilde]

https://www.taycanforum.com/threads/is-your-dealer-showing-you-the-love.322/page-5#post-7186

 

[Lfcdan]

In the U.K. it looks like wee will have to wait till Jan-feb for test drives!
I’d be interested to know what models 4s, Turbo or S other countries have for test drives and the different specifications they have

I’m fortunate that I’m an estimated April build so hearing others options etc will help me make my final decisions when it comes to looking my spec in for build

 

[zardoz]

As promised I am posting my impressions of the Taycan. I test drove a Taycan Turbo this morning. The dealer stated that I was the 2nd person to test drive the car. When I arrived at the dealer, the outside air temperature was 25 deg. F. partly sunny. The car I drove was a Standard white car with a red interior. Pretty much how I would spec it. It had the Turbo Aero wheels. I thought they were eh, I would do the Sport Aero wheels. It is noticeably smaller than a Panamera. I think better looking & better proportioned. There was a Turbo S inside the store that was the metallic white/black interior./ Mission E wheels. I like the Mission E wheels, but I am nervous about 21" wheels with the crappy roads where I live. The all-black interior is kind of boring, but to each his own. Really on the fence about spending extra for the metallic, standard white looks very good too. The car is fairly compact. I am 6 ft. & was very comfortable. Seats are very supportive. The back seat is quite snug for adults, especially with tall people driving. The trunk is small, but rear seats do fold down. Fit and finish are superb, Lightyears better than Tesla. Tech and driver interface goes to Tesla for ease of use. The Taycan had the optional Burmeister system. It sounded amazing, but it is way too expensive IMO. I am going to skip on ordering the electric charge door. The turbo did not have it, I thought it had a cleaner look than the Turbo S that had it optioned. So, driving impressions:

1. Very fast off the line no matter what drive mode you are in. Sport + is neck snapping fast. I would go for the sport chrono package as the drive modes are easily accessed via the knob on the steering wheel.
2. Steering is light and nicely weighted. great feedback. Much better than Tesla. The steering wheel very nice. small with a nice thickness. Feels good in your hands. The car is planted in the twisties & I took some fast corners, no noticeable lean or body roll.
3. The car was optioned with the fake noise. It sounds like a vehicle on the Jetsons cartoon. It is absurd & annoying. I turned it off after 2 minutes. I would not pay a dime for this.
4. My biggest disappointment is the braking. Having driven a Model S for the last 6 years, I have really, I mean REALLY appreciate the hard regen feature on throttle lift. 1 Pedal driving is fantastic. Unless you have driven a car with hard regen for an extended period, It is difficult to describe how beneficial it is. A blessing in stop/go traffic in Model S. When you lift off the accelerator on the Taycan, it just coasts even with regen on. Braking via pedal is absolutely required. I believe this is a major fail on the Taycan. Hard regen increases range & brake life as well. I think, a better driving experience.
5. The car had 90 miles of range when we began. I drove hard for at least 25 minutes on back roads, did not bother with highway driving. Range dropped by 8 miles upon return. I cannot comment on the range. It is something you will have to live with to determine.

Overall, I think it is really nice. I have a real concern about the braking though. If Tesla did a wholesale redesign on the Model S, I think I would stick with Tesla for the braking alone. If no change is coming, I cannot see going back to the same car after 6 years. I do not like the Model 3 and I do not like driving SUV/crossovers. So, I am going to think about placing an order over the next week or so on a 4S.

If anyone has specific questions, I will try to answer with the brief amount of time I had with the car.

 

[Singularity]

About the charging port, in case people are wondering about that. I originally thought also that the basic port looks cleaner, but after playing around a lot with both ports at Frankfurt, I picked the fancier port for my 4S.

Reason simply is that opening/closing the basic port, it feels just like with any petrol car I've owned. Nothing special, same old. The sensor port is very cool, very futuristic. It's something that just fits a 2020 car. Just to keep this in mind.

The brake issue is interesting. I have never before owned an electric car, so I love the fact that Taycan's breaking/coasting will be close to what I'm used to. In fact it'll likely coast with even less friction than a petrol car if you keep regen off. Which I think is nice. But I fully understand the dilemma if one is very used to this 1-pedal driving with electric cars.

 

[Reg]

I also had a great test drive today in a Taycan Turbo.
Disclaimer: I haven't been in a Porsche in years, and due to family, was a Lexus LS430 and Mercedes E class owner, so I am not coming at this as a high performance driver, but I like to drive.

TLR: It is awesome. Things that particularly stood out for me, in no particular order.
- Since braking was mentioned earlier, I liked the braking. I never liked the one pedal driving I tried in Tesla. Personal preference.
- Not only does it quickly accelerate, but the quality and drive made it effortless and i found myself getting to 90 several times without a clue I was speeding so much.
- The quality of steering and the confidence in taking cloverleafs at high speeds or lane changing was unreal. That may be a typical "Porsche thing" but from my experience in other cars, it was incredible.
- From the images of the screens, i was concerned that they would be too big or overwhelming, but they weren't. They were perfect and seemed very natural.
- I am 5'11" and front seat was perfect with great visibility all around.
- Quality was top notch with my only frustration being trying to think of all the options available for the interior (e.g. carbon fiber? wood? aluminum?)
- Range: the car had been test driven several times before I did mine and so didn't start with a full charge. I drove aggressively about 20 miles and checked the meter at the end - it implied a total range of around 250. It was around 50 degrees outside and cabin was set to 72. No doubt that day to day driving will get you a lot more.
- Really liked the panoramic roof - although it is more noticeable in the back seats.
- The car looked great. It seemed much smaller than the Panamera (which was nearby), although the dimensions are similar.
- 5000 pounds? what 5000 pounds? just didn't feel like it weighed anything near that.
- The ride in "normal" was smooth and Sports + was a blast. Easily changing the setting on the steering wheel made it so easy to play around with different options.

I placed my order for a 4S a week ago and I am more excited than ever after driving it. Now the wait begins...

 

[Lfcdan]

Nice reviews guys, can’t wait to actually drive one myself before I need to lock in the spec!!!!

 

[felixtb]

Yes very nice reviews. Hope to drive one soon my self..........

 

[Eisbärenhöhle]

My biggest disappointment is the braking ... Hard regen increases range & brake life as well.

Thank you for your post Zardoz ... but one point I guess you misunderstood: Even when breaking with pedal the Taycan uses regen in 90% of all breaking and not the brakes!

 

[felixtb]

3. The car was optioned with the fake noise. It sounds like a vehicle on the Jetsons cartoon. It is absurd & annoying. I turned it off after 2 minutes. I would not pay a dime for this.

there also seems to be a general misconception about this sound. Good or bad I cannot opinion since I have not heard it yet. However, the sound is not fake. It is the sound of the electric drive train that has been amplified and redistributed by the speakers. Similar to what quite a few manufactures do with the sound of their ICEs so as not to be drowned away by more and more restrictive regulations on outside noice.....

 

[grahamsimmonds]

My biggest disappointment is the braking. Having driven a Model S for the last 6 years, I have really, I mean REALLY appreciate the hard regen feature on throttle lift. 1 Pedal driving is fantastic. Unless you have driven a car with hard regen for an extended period, It is difficult to describe how beneficial it is. A blessing in stop/go traffic in Model S. When you lift off the accelerator on the Taycan, it just coasts even with regen on. Braking via pedal is absolutely required. I believe this is a major fail on the Taycan. Hard regen increases range & brake life as well. I think, a better driving experience.

.

I have owned two Teslas and I too will miss accelerator regen braking when I get my Taycan. However, to maximise range using regen in a Tesla requires you to anticipate stopping. If you have to brake more suddenly using the brake pedal, you are using friction braking and wasting energy. As the Taycan uses mostly regen braking when pressing the brake pedal, it’s actually should be just as efficient if not more so.

What you didn’t mention was the regen braking using the front camera which according to some of the reviews, works really well. I will make sure To test that when I get to drive the car.

 

[Cpoarchy]

Thanks for the reviews, one thing stands out from all I have read, fantastic car and expensive, love all the opinions and don't think you can make a bad choice with this car. April/may can't come soon enough. Mine is a bare config, most say get the sound, I did get the sound and you can turn that off. thanks for all the great information, need my taycan fix, he he

 

[Skier]

As promised I am posting my impressions of the Taycan. I test drove a Taycan Turbo this morning. The dealer stated that I was the 2nd person to test drive the car. When I arrived at the dealer, the outside air temperature was 25 deg. F. partly sunny. The car I drove was a Standard white car with a red interior. Pretty much how I would spec it. It had the Turbo Aero wheels. I thought they were eh, I would do the Sport Aero wheels. It is noticeably smaller than a Panamera. I think better looking & better proportioned. There was a Turbo S inside the store that was the metallic white/black interior./ Mission E wheels. I like the Mission E wheels, but I am nervous about 21" wheels with the crappy roads where I live. The all-black interior is kind of boring, but to each his own. Really on the fence about spending extra for the metallic, standard white looks very good too. The car is fairly compact. I am 6 ft. & was very comfortable. Seats are very supportive. The back seat is quite snug for adults, especially with tall people driving. The trunk is small, but rear seats do fold down. Fit and finish are superb, Lightyears better than Tesla. Tech and driver interface goes to Tesla for ease of use. The Taycan had the optional Burmeister system. It sounded amazing, but it is way too expensive IMO. I am going to skip on ordering the electric charge door. The turbo did not have it, I thought it had a cleaner look than the Turbo S that had it optioned. So, driving impressions:

1. Very fast off the line no matter what drive mode you are in. Sport + is neck snapping fast. I would go for the sport chrono package as the drive modes are easily accessed via the knob on the steering wheel.
2. Steering is light and nicely weighted. great feedback. Much better than Tesla. The steering wheel very nice. small with a nice thickness. Feels good in your hands. The car is planted in the twisties & I took some fast corners, no noticeable lean or body roll.
3. The car was optioned with the fake noise. It sounds like a vehicle on the Jetsons cartoon. It is absurd & annoying. I turned it off after 2 minutes. I would not pay a dime for this.
4. My biggest disappointment is the braking. Having driven a Model S for the last 6 years, I have really, I mean REALLY appreciate the hard regen feature on throttle lift. 1 Pedal driving is fantastic. Unless you have driven a car with hard regen for an extended period, It is difficult to describe how beneficial it is. A blessing in stop/go traffic in Model S. When you lift off the accelerator on the Taycan, it just coasts even with regen on. Braking via pedal is absolutely required. I believe this is a major fail on the Taycan. Hard regen increases range & brake life as well. I think, a better driving experience.
5. The car had 90 miles of range when we began. I drove hard for at least 25 minutes on back roads, did not bother with highway driving. Range dropped by 8 miles upon return. I cannot comment on the range. It is something you will have to live with to determine.

Overall, I think it is really nice. I have a real concern about the braking though. If Tesla did a wholesale redesign on the Model S, I think I would stick with Tesla for the braking alone. If no change is coming, I cannot see going back to the same car after 6 years. I do not like the Model 3 and I do not like driving SUV/crossovers. So, I am going to think about placing an order over the next week or so on a 4S.

If anyone has specific questions, I will try to answer with the brief amount of time I had with the car.

 

[Skier]

Wonderful review! Please update after you've driven the car for a week or so. You're the only source for good info at present. Thanks.

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