Taycan RWD Base U.S.: What are the "must haves" Options & Equipment in a New RWD Base Build?

rich_r

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Personally, I dont see much point in the larger battery. The extra power is a wash since it makes the car about 200 pounds heavier. And it likely only adds around 20 or so miles of range. When I think about it, I'd say 95% of journeys dont exceed 200 miles a day. And when they do, the extra range isn't going to make or break anything- going to be more about having access to destination or fast charging on the route. My list of must-have options is:
-adaptive cruise (should be standard)
-LCA (basically blind spot monitor. This should also be standard as it is in a 20k toyota).
-Seat heating (can't believe this isn't standard)
-14 way seats with massage (massage doesnt add much so why not)
-Bose (base stereos in Porsches tend to suck)
-2+1 backseat.
-One of the wheel upgrades. I really dislike the base wheels.

I have air suspension in my current vehicle and as cool as it is, I dont think i'd spend more to have it. The standard adaptive shocks will already help a lot with ride quality on poor roads. PTV would be nice but probably not necessary on a relatively low power car and not worth it since you have to add air suspension to get it for some reason. As for the glass roof I'm not really a fan of glass roofs that dont open. Especially when there's no sunshade. Just adds more heat and glare on sunny days imo.
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Here are some thoughts in order of priority.

1. Premium pack - for the $$ adds a ton of functionality that you expect in the car, 14 way seats, basic driver aids, better audio, LED lights. Again this should all be standard...see #2
2. Leather or Race Tex interior. The base interior is woefully underwhelming for such an expensive car, and this is just a few thousand $$ for a level of interior quality that should be standard.
3. Air suspension is required, can't imagine the car without it. Handing and ride is exceptional, and car is low and needs a lift for many approaches.
4. Larger battery pack - more performance/range
5. If driving dynamics matter, the sport package, but at a bare minimum PTV with 2 wheel drive...

Things I consider a waste of $$ ( I currently have all of these options, but could live without them)
Sport Chrono - I don't know why they bury a software enabled feature (Sport Plus) in a package...but it's a lot of $$ for a clock and driving mode.
Sport Sound - Get's old quickly
Any of the headlight options other than the ones in the premium package
P**B brakes...they just don't matter unless you want the look or are going to aggressively drive on track/closed course.
 

Pete85

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1. Performance battery plus (I gladly pay for any extra range)
2. air suspension PASM
3. Torque vectoring (coming from several M-cars, this is a must for a rwd vehicle)
4. Sport chrono (Sport+ is a must in any Porsche)
5. passenger display (this is also a must have, as I don't know any other cars that have this)

Then comes full leather, 20" inch Turbo Aero wheels, Panoramaroof, Bose, Lane Changer assist, heat pump, heated seats etc.....and of course all cables and good amount of not so important features.
 

Jeke74

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I ordered RWD on last week:

-Panorama
-Sport Crono
-Bose
-21” mission E wheels
-air suspension PASM
-electric sport sound
-Power steering plus
-light package inside
etc.

I did not ordered bigger battery,because this has almost
same range,than 4S with performance battery plus and performance and acceleration is same with smaller battery than car with bigger battery.

weight difference between 4S with Performance battery plus and base Taycan with normal battery is outstanding
175KG!(389 pounds)!!!

You will notice that weight different sure when cornering
car in high speeds..
 
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rich_r

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I ordered RWD on last week:

-Panorama
-Sport Crono
-Bose
-21” mission E wheels
-air suspension PASM
-electric sport sound
-Power steering plus
-light package inside
etc.

I did not ordered bigger battery,because this has almost
same range,than 4S with performance battery plus and performance and acceleration is same with smaller battery than car with bigger battery.

weight difference between 4S with Performance battery plus and base Taycan with normal battery is outstanding
175KG!(389 pounds)!!!

You will notice that weight different sure when cornering
car in high speeds..
Y
For sure! Yeah I think the lower weight will be noticeable in many ways. Porsche doesn't do a great job of justifying why its worth paying for the bigger battery honestly. Sure you get more power on paper, but its no faster in reality. And the range is nearly a wash as well due to the higher weight.
 


Rcrewse7

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Y
For sure! Yeah I think the lower weight will be noticeable in many ways. Porsche doesn't do a great job of justifying why its worth paying for the bigger battery honestly. Sure you get more power on paper, but its no faster in reality. And the range is nearly a wash as well due to the higher weight.
So based on the marketing Porsche has put out in the US, I too thought that there wasn’t a difference but on paper (0-60 and top speed are the same), however a quick browse on Porsche’s European sites reveal that the RWD Taycan is measurably faster from 0-160km, and 0-200km with the performance battery plus. Perhaps more relevant to us who plan on actually driving and enjoying the car (not just stoplight to stoplight which my Tesla owning brother claims to do every time he drives), are the 80-120km acceleration times (50-75mph). Here is what I found out and added in a different thread:


Porsche does provide some stats on this on their European sites as follows:

80-120km/h Performance Battery – 3.0 seconds

80-120km/h Performance Battery Plus – 2.7 seconds



For reference the 4S states 2.3 seconds for this same test. Pretty close to the performance battery plus stat.



Here are some other interesting stats straight off Porsche’s website:

Macan Turbo 80-120 – 2.9 seconds

Panamera 4s 80-120 – 2.8 seconds

Cayenne Turbo – 80-120 – 2.7 seconds



When considering in-gear acceleration, it looks like the Taycan RWD is in good company of cars that do 0-60 in around 4 seconds.
 

Mouse House

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2. Leather or Race Tex interior. The base interior is woefully underwhelming for such an expensive car, and this is just a few thousand $$ for a level of interior quality that should be standard.
The funny thing here is that the standard interior and the race-tex interior are the same except for the seats. I don't really buy that the standard interior is "woeful".

I got the full leather in black, and it is really nice, but I'm not convinced it's an essential upgrade when budgeting for a RWD car. (if I was ordering my car again I'd either get the burgundy leather with black centres or the light chalk colour with black centres)
 
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The funny thing here is that the standard interior and the race-tex interior are the same except for the seats. I don't really buy that the standard interior is "woeful".

I got the full leather in black, and it is really nice, but I'm not convinced it's an essential upgrade when budgeting for a RWD car. (if I was ordering my car again I'd either get the burgundy leather with black centres or the light chalk colour with black centres)
I’m not sure what country you live in, so don’t want to argue. In the US the difference between the standard interior and the full leather/Race-Tex is everthing OTHER than the seats themselves. The dash/doors/pillars etc with the standard interior are all very plastic-y. The higher spec interiors have a much nicer finish on the non seating interior components.
 


Tay Tay

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I’m not sure what country you live in, so don’t want to argue. In the US the difference between the standard interior and the full leather/Race-Tex is everthing OTHER than the seats themselves. The dash/doors/pillars etc with the standard interior are all very plastic-y. The higher spec interiors have a much nicer finish on the non seating interior components.
@Mouse House is right. Race Tex still has all those plastic bits. I disagree with him that it’s not woeful though. I don’t know who would pay the upcharge unless they really wanted leather free.
 

ismelllikepoop

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Not as worried specifically about TYD, just want to make it for the tax credit. Originally showed 12/31 then 1/17 then middle of Dec now back to 1/17
 

Itrsteve

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My SA said only two of the 60 Taycans that have been ordered through them have got the massaging seat. Baffling to me as it's certainly one my favorite features and I would have paid much more for it.

It's incredible sitting at a charging station, on a zoom call while getting a shiatsu massage.

Personally - I'd say the larger battery is a necessary feature even if it's a little pricey. The draw to me wasn't so much for range day-to-day but more to have some extra capacity as the years erode the battery capacity.
 

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I ordered RWD on last week:

-Panorama
-Sport Crono
-Bose
-21” mission E wheels
-air suspension PASM
-electric sport sound
-Power steering plus
-light package inside
etc.

I did not ordered bigger battery,because this has almost
same range,than 4S with performance battery plus and performance and acceleration is same with smaller battery than car with bigger battery.

weight difference between 4S with Performance battery plus and base Taycan with normal battery is outstanding
175KG!(389 pounds)!!!

You will notice that weight different sure when cornering
car in high speeds..
I have the RWD with the "small" battery and it does fine..range ends up about 260 miles (summer) and weight savings, as noted, is substantial (as well as the cost savings!)
 

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I am going to buy a U.S. Taycan Base and need some advice on the "must haves" in Options & Equipment in a New Base Build.


Murray
I went through my build a few months ago and posted this on another forum, hope its useful to you...

First and foremost, Porsche is a performance brand and so performance options were top in priority for me that could fit within my budget. I decided to go with the basic Taycan with extended battery option. I didn’t see much value in the higher end and turbo options for my routine use of the car. The extended battery was important simply thinking of the retained value of the car. The base battery is more than enough for daily driver for most people I suppose, but thought coming close to Tesla ranges will help retain long term value, once the novelty factor fades away.

The other performance options I went for were air suspensions (PASM) and rear axel steering. Air suspensions were important to me simply to avoid scrapping the bottom on inclined driveways and such… lots of ups and downs and poor roads around where I live. The other selling points of the air suspension were not too important for me since I won’t be racing this one. I did test out this option at the dealer to see what it actually does and how it works.

As for the rear axel steering, it was completely based on the feedback from owners on forums! I did not test drive with this feature. Just took a bet on this one!

Second come all the drive convenience and safety options. I absolutely wanted adaptive cruise control. But another important reason I am so used to ACC in one of the two cars we currently own, that I sometimes forget that my other car doesn’t have the option when driving it, and that can be dangerous if I accidentally assume the car will slow down with traffic! Don’t get it why a high end brand like Porsche is not offering this as a standard option today. They should offer almost all safety features as standard options. Same goes for the LCA option.

I was initially looking at the Inno Drive option option as well because it had the ACC included and offered the future upgradability of driver assistance. However, I learned through this forum that the option can create limitations and adjust drive speeds incorrectly if the speed limit data is not accurate. I didn’t want to get into something that needs too much fiddling while driving and ultimately not be used, so stayed away from Inno Drive. Also did not go for the battery optimization features since its not going to save a lot and I don’t plan to make too many long drives in this car.

The external appearance is a completely personal choice of course. I went with Volcano Grey metallic because I did not prefer too many contrasting colors on the surface. I wanted to keep a more uniform look that gels with the glass roof and other dark colored sections of the exterior trim. I could have gone black too, but liked the grey after seeing a Taycan with same color. As for interiors, I went with the standard seats in Beige. The base material seemed excellent to me and the color offered more sense of light and space inside. Just an obvious warning here - DO NOT choose the color based on the online/web tools alone!

With the wheels, I would have preferred not to spend anything extra, but I really didn’t like the base wheels much unfortunately. I selected the Taycan turbo aero wheels since it went well with the Volcano grey. I also opted to remove the Taycan logo for a clean look and to keep a sense of mystic on the road.

Lastly, all the luxury and convenience options - As for the audio, I tested the base audio and the Bose system by connecting my phone and playing the same tracks in cars at the dealership. Found a HUGE difference in the two sound systems, I prefer clear vocals and Bose certainly sounded much much better to my ears so decided to splurge on it! I also wanted folding mirrors to prevent any accidental damage, panoramic roof to offer more sense of space, and surround view to prevent any dings to the wheels. I also went for the Neodyne interior after recommendations on this forum and checking out a Taycan at the dealer with that interior color, really liked the rich contrast it offered inside. If you are considering it, know that it is a subdued shade of 15K gold. I really didn’t care for other convenience/luxury options. However, the economics of the premium package worked out better than individual options, so went with the premium combo.
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