First Drive: Porsche’s Taycan Turbo GT aims to push EV performance to the extreme

What is it?

The Taycan Turbo S is no slouch, of course, but what if you’d like your EV to go even quicker or offer even more absurd levels of performance? That’s where this car – the Taycan Turbo GT – comes into play. We’ve been driving it.

What’s new?

As with other Porsche models, a Weissach package is available for the Turbo GT, bringing even more performance-focused features, including a large rear wing that helps the car generate up to 220kg of downforce. It’s also the model we’re driving here.

What’s under the bonnet?

Despite this, Porsche says that you should still get up to 343 miles from a full charge of the Taycan’s large 97kWh battery. That said, expect the range to dwindle if you repeatedly make use of all of this car’s power. However, given that the Taycan can accept a super-speedy charge rate of 320kW, you could get a 10 to 80 per cent charge sorted in around 18 minutes if you find an ultra-rapid unit.

What’s it like to drive?

The only downside is that you lose much of the refinement that you’d get from a regular Taycan. With the rear seats removed, the Turbo GT is a far louder, more raucous affair, though, given it’s aiming to be the wildest Taycan to date, you can forgive it this.

How does it look?

You get 21-inch lightweight forged alloy wheels on cars with the Weissach Package, too, and you can get these finished in a range of colours to help personalise things further.

What’s it like inside?

The steering wheel is pleasantly thin, too, and a welcome change to other chunkier versions that you’ll find on many of the Taycan’s rivals. It’s equipped with easy-to-use dials for the drive and suspension settings, too.

What’s the spec like?

You do get loads of standard features, too, including that pleasant multifunction steering wheel, an advanced climate control system and rapid wireless smartphone charging. You’d expect to get these features included, given the car’s price, mind you.

Verdict

For most people, the standard Taycan Turbo S will be more than quick enough. You get rear seats and it’ll be an overall more comfortable – yet still rapid – way to get around. But that does miss the point of this go-faster GT version.

With the Weissach Package, the Turbo GT taps into an almost futuristic level of speed and one which is scarcely believable when you first try it out. As a technological breakthrough, the Turbo GT really is something to marvel and that’s what makes this car truly impressive.