Taycan feels faster in the passenger seat

[NJ-Taycan]

So today was an interesting experience. I let my good friend, and a fellow Porsche guy, take the Taycan out for a nice drive. Of course we did some high-performance runs and a launch control. Perhaps it’s me but the car feels so much faster when you are seated in the passenger seat, and feels more docile when you’re driving behind the wheel.

Has anybody else experienced a similar situation as a passenger in your own Taycan?

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[kempez]

Isn’t that em the same with literally any car? When you’re not in control, it’s a lot scarier/disconcerting

 

[jld1]

Isn’t that em the same with literally any car? When you’re not in control, it’s a lot scarier/disconcerting

Partly why I never let my wife drive.

 

[MartyMeatball]

That's true of any car IME.

 

[TDinDC]

I once hit a plateau when I was racing that I needed to break through, so I hired a pro race car driver as a coach. I didn't want to drive in his car and I wanted to learn on a track I knew well, so I installed a passenger seat in my car (it normally doesn't have one) and let him drive me around on a very familiar track.

Absolutely terrifying. He entered corners at 25 mph faster than I was entering them, and I literally thought I was going to die. I thought "he doesn't know how shitty my car is" and I was legitimately terrified. Until I wasn't. It was the best way to learn. You see, if you start going through a corner and each time you do, you increase speed by 5 mph, you will likely hit a point where understeer will convince you that you can't go through that corner even 1 mph faster, but that's just not true.

It's like there is a dead zone, and if you go in "much" faster, it is actually easier to rotate the car and you likely will be managing oversteer rather than understeer. It was really enlightening, and it was when I started driving by using a lot more left foot braking (not possible on Taycan due to electronic nanny) where I kept my foot on the gas and used the brake to induce rotation. You actually steer with the brake and use the steering wheel to control the slide.

so yes, it's horrifying to be a passenger in your own car, but it can be enlightening.

It's also good to walk around your neighborhood to experience how "aggressive" many of our cars seem to pedestrians when we are not even trying to be aggressive. I know this convinced me to cool it even more over the years as I "hopefully" have become a little more mature.

 

[TDinDC]

Partly why I never let my wife drive.

I don't mind letting my wife drive, but I would rather die than let her parallel park. I cannot begin to tell you how many of my pricy rims she has curbed, even on cars that will fully park for you!

 

[whitex]

So today was an interesting experience. I let my good friend, and a fellow Porsche guy, take the Taycan out for a nice drive. Of course we did some high-performance runs and a launch control. Perhaps it’s me but the car feels so much faster when you are seated in the passenger seat, and feels more docile when you’re driving behind the wheel.

Has anybody else experienced a similar situation as a passenger in your own Taycan?

If you ever had any aspirations to be a stuntman, I bet it feels even faster riding strapped down to the roof rack.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Partly why I never let my wife drive.

I do let her drive very occasionally.

....... It's usually in the afternoon while you're at work.

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