Latest news with #SportTurismo
Top Gear
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo Driving, Engines & Performance
Driving What is it like to drive? The chassis and suspension are identical to the standard Taycan and the estate is only 15kg heavier. And since we're talking about 2,310kg of mass, that weight difference is beyond negligible. So aside from the rear glass being further away in the rear view mirror, there's not much change for a driver to detect. Treat with extreme scepticism anyone who says the handling is more tail-happy because that 15kg extra mass is mostly over the rear axle. Advertisement - Page continues below Noted. Is this very much a sports estate then? It is. The Cross Turismo is a fairly racy crossover, and this is a fairly racy estate. However, the Cross Turismo is more languid, has detectable pitch and dive which we think actually suits the role of an estate car better. The Sport Turismo is slightly harder, sharper and more immediate. It has lovely steering and is immaculately behaved through corners, doing a very impressive job of disguising its mass and maintaining impressive body control over rough surfaces. Certainly crisper to drive than an Audi RS6. Does this only apply to the GTS? It applies to the GTS most of all, since this is – and probably always will be – the sportiest machine in the range. Not that other Sport Turismos drift that far from the template laid down by the GTS though. One thing about the GTS: it's the most rear-biased Taycan. Because of how the motors work, the GTS shuffles a greater proportion of torque to the rear axle than even the Turbo S. In fact as far as it can, it'll only send power to the rear axle, activating the front motor as it gets close to the fringes of grip. Advertisement - Page continues below Can you feel it? Not on the public road. But the Sport Turismo is a very well-balanced car. You'll get some understeer if you really hurl it along, but on the whole it grips tenaciously and behaves neutrally at the limit. You can up the ante with the Sport Turismo as well: £6,939 buys you the Dynamic Package that, alongside adjustable suspension, brings Porsche's phenomenal Active Ride technology which works to keep the body level no matter the forces working on it. It really impressed us in the Panamera, but the even lower centre of gravity here means it's not something we would consider a must fit. Same applies to the £7,230 PCCB ceramic brakes (which have gone almost £1,000 in the last four years). At least rear wheel steering is now standard, and helps give Taycans fitted with it crisper, more immediate turn-in. How's the powertrain? More polished than just about any other electric car out there, but where electric motors are concerned those margins are small. The background fake engine noise is actually pretty decent and the calibration of the throttle is brilliant – gives you faith in the car no matter what mode you're in or where you're driving. The GTS, as with all Taycans, is an effective deliverer of speed (0-62mph in 3.3secs, 100mph in 6.9secs – a whole second faster than the pre-facelift car). But that's with Launch Control's overboost function or keeping the push-to-pass button pressed. The rest of the time instead of 691bhp you have to make do with 597bhp. Don't stress. It's more than enough to put the hound in the boot on red alert. Highlights from the range the fastest 700kW Turbo S 105kWh 5dr Auto 0-62 2.4s CO2 0 BHP 938.7 MPG Price £163,200 the cheapest 320kW 105kWh 5dr RWD Auto [Revised] 0-62 4.8s CO2 0 BHP 429.1 MPG Price £89,200 the greenest 440kW 4S 105kWh 5dr Auto [5 Seat] [Revised] 0-62 3.7s CO2 0 BHP 590 MPG Price £97,570
Top Gear
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo Interior Layout & Technology
Interior What is it like on the inside? A 405-litre boot that expands to 1,171 litres with the seats folded means two things. It's actually shrunk about 40 litres during the facelift and is about two-thirds the size of equivalent estates from Audi and Merc. You do notice. The tailgate's slope limits load capacity and the boot is actually quite narrow. Don't forget about the area under the nose though. Another 81 litres and just the place for the bulky cables. Advertisement - Page continues below There's more. Although this can be partially alleviated by raising the air suspension, elderly relatives aren't going to enjoy dropping down into the low seats – conversely, elderly dogs are less likely to need assistance into the boot and if you do wreck the 0.25Cd drag factor with a roof box you should be able to access it easily. But yeah, for good or ill, a roof height of 1,392mm (100mm lower than an RS6) does mean this is a low-slung car. How is it for those in the back? A bit dark and lacking in legroom. The front chairs are big and dominant in your view, but the Sport Turismo does at least benefit from an extra 36mm of headroom compared to the saloon. Two people will fit, the third will complain. And you'll be able to hear them because it will come as no surprise to learn that this is a very quiet and refined car. It's beautifully built and attractively designed and laid out inside. Advertisement - Page continues below Does the driver have the best of it then? Emphatically. It may be an estate, but this is still a Porsche - it's all about the driver. The GTS comes with Race-Tex Alcantara upholstery as standard. Have it, it's great. Lovely driving position, small, tactile steering wheel, you sit low and feel snug. On the whole the screens are good to interact with. The dash display is operated logically via the steering's clickwheel, while the twin-stacked central screens don't bury things too deep in the menus. Which means less jabbing to disable the speed bongs and lane keep. And you'll want to do that as Porsche's lane keep isn't that impressive. Can you have paddles? Funny you should ask, because yes, post-facelift you can now option paddles in a Taycan. No gearbox obviously, they're there to adjust the regen braking. At last. Until now Porsche has always insisted braking should be done with the brake pedal, but has now relented. And charged you £394 if you want it.
Top Gear
a day ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo Review 2025
Porsche claims the designers have 'sharpened the lines'. But they appear to have done so with blunt pencils. Not much has changed there. Still a good looking car – better than the Taycan saloon we reckon – so we'll forgive and move on. Reckon it's a shame the Sport Turismo doesn't get the full house Turbo GT motors? You're wrong in the head. 2.4-to-62mph is enough for anyone. Those are the most significant, yes. Look, the motors are more powerful but rather than list them all, let's focus on the mid-range GTS. Instead of 509bhp (589 with launch control) you now get 597bhp, rising to 691. So about a hundred more. Worth having. The Turbo S now peaks at 939bhp. Despite the bigger battery and more standard kit, weight is claimed to be down across the range, if only by 15kg. About 0.7 per cent. Be warned, the updates are geeky. Battery size has increased from 93kWh to 105. Together with some nifty software tweaks and upgrades this means it charges faster (up to 320kW rather than 270, so 10-80 per cent in 18 minutes) and goes further. Up to 35 per cent further in the case of the entry level Taycan Sport Turismo and its 404-mile range. Even the hairiest Turbo S claims 375 miles. Previously, peak power figures were only available with launch control. However now there's a 'push to pass' button in the centre of the rotary drive mode controller on the steering wheel, which gives you 10 seconds of maximum attack. Provided you've had the Sport Chrono kit fitted. Is the Cross Turismo still kicking around? It is, and you can read about it here. Clicking a link too much for you? Here's a precis: it's pretty much identical to the Sport Turismo but has a higher ride height and some extra body cladding to give it more of an off-road vibe. The Cross Turismo also has a couple of small adaptations to make it ride slightly more gently – new wheel mounts and softer anti-roll bars. Back to the Sport Turismo though – a rival to the Audi RS6 and BMW M5 Touring, then? Absolutely, provided you're happy to give up your V8 soundtrack as well as your hydrocarbons. The £119,200 GTS is the most driver focused Sport Turismo (20 per cent more roll stiffness than the Taycan Turbo S. That's a thing) and priced in line with both rivals. It's a sharper handling, better riding car than both as well, manages to feel small on the road when it absolutely isn't (measuring 4,963mm long by 1,966mm wide) and has a turn of pace neither can match. But as we all know, the engine and gearbox combo is a hard one to give up. Even if you could square that away, another problem is likely to rear its head – the Sport Turismo's lack of cabin space. Is it really that small inside? Unfortunately, yes it is. While it is very useful having an 81-litre frunk if you are doing a quick shop or just need somewhere to put your cables, the premise for the Sport Turismo is to double up as a family holdall. However, the boot only measures 405 litres, extending to 1,171 with the seats folded. This puts it in line with the VW Golf (381/1237 litres).If you are assuming all the space has been put into the rear seats, you're wrong. More on all this in the Interior tab. How about the rest of the driving environment? In terms of interior functionality and design, it's thoroughly thought through and every bit as impressive to use and live with as the regular Taycan. Great cabin design, top notch quality. It is low though and for that and a couple of other reasons we'd point you at a Cross Turismo if you have practicality in mind. The plastic cladding should shirk scuffs and it has a sense of ruggedness that's more likely to play better with family life. What does the Sport Turismo cost? £1,000 more than the equivalent four-door Taycan saloon, which makes it the better choice as far as we are concerned. There are five models in the range, with prices starting from £89,200 for the entry level 435bhp model, through to £163,200 for the flagship Turbo S. The sweet spot lies more down the range than up it. You've probably read the horror stories about depreciation already. We'll cover that in the Buying tab. How does it drive? As we said, the sweet spot is low down the range. The faster ones just bring bigger, shinier numbers. Chiefly the price. The GTS is quite compelling though. The adaptive three-chamber air springs and low centre of gravity combine to create a car with immense body control and family-friendly comfort levels. Although think control rather than cushioning as the general strategy. It's crisp, smooth and quiet, just with a fraction more emphasis on steering clarity and chassis response than other Taycans. But the margins of difference between the models are slight and seem only more so when the only way to tell the powertrains apart is from the level of shove in your back.
