Remember when we told you that the Porsche Taycan Turbo S got a dismal EPA rating of just 194 miles of range on a single charge? Well, as it turns out, that’s the cost of being fast. Incredibly fast. Well, that and a sticker price of $186,350, but that’s a story for another time. In fact, that price almost seems justified.
How Fast is the Porsche Taycan Turbo S?
Car & Driver finally managed to get behind the wheel of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S and, while it does come at a high price with near-pitiful electric range, there’s one thing it excels at – acceleration. In C&D’s testing, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S actually became the third-fastest car that the outlet has ever tested, making the sprint to 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds – equal to that of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and 0.1-second faster than the Porsche 911 Turbo S! The only cars to ever beat the Taycan Turbo S in C&D testing to 60 mph is the Lamborghini Huracan Performante and the Porsche 918 Spyder. On that note, the Taycan Turbo S also ran the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds at 130 mph. These are supercar speeds we’re talking about here, folks.
In terms of how it competes with the Tesla Model S, well C&D has only tested the P90D, and the Taycan Turbo S was faster than it to 60 mph by 0.3-seconds and by more than a half-second in the quarter-mile. However, the new Tesla Model S Performance will either meet or exceed what the Taycan Turbo S can do, so this victory might be short-lived. Tesla claims the Model S P110D Performance can do 2.6-second sprints, so perhaps I’m firing a little prematurely here.
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the Taycan Turbo S is that fast. With the overboost function in full effect, the Taycan Turbo S delivers a cool 750 horsepower, split between all four wheels. In C&D’s short review of the Taycan Turbo S, Connor Hoffman said,
Porsche Taycan Performance Comparison
|
0-60 Mph |
Quarter-Mile |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Porsche Taycan Turbo S |
2.4 Seconds |
10.5 Seconds |
|
Lamborghini Huracan Performante |
2.3 Seconds |
10.2 Seconds |
|
Porsche 918 Spyder |
2.2 Seconds |
9.8 Seconds |
It’s not very often you hear someone use the words “sluggish” and “supercar” in the same sentence, yet somehow the Porsche has managed to deliver a product that makes that easily possible. For what it’s worth, C & D didn’t mention anything about top speed, but Porsche estimates it to be at 161 mph.
Final Thoughts
Does a 2.4-second sprint to 60 mph and a 10.5-second quarter mile make up for the $186,350 price tag and sub-200-mile range estimate? Well, that depends on your perspective, but the fact that the Porsche Taycan Turbo S is one of the fastest sedans in the world does go a very long way. Either way, we’re highly impressed by what the Taycan Turbo S is capable of, even if the range could be better.