Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
If you're lucky enough to have the Taycan on your company car list, you're quids in. Electric cars attract fantastic benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax breaks right now, so even one as expensive as this will set you back a tiny amount in in monthly salary sacrifices.
The rear-wheel-drive Taycan is the cheapest option if you're a private cash buyer, but the 4S is significantly faster and better to drive. We reckon it's worth the extra. It's not cheap, though, and will cost you more than the equivalent Audi e-tron GT or Tesla Model S. The Taycan is predicted to hold its value extremely with low depreciation, but typically the PCP monthly finance payments are still more than they would be for an equivalent e-tron GT.
The Turbo and Turbo S come with a longer list of standard kit but they push up the price by tens of thousands of pounds.
As for charging, we recommend that you push the boat out for the Performance Battery Plus option if you're buying the 4S (it's standard on Turbo models). Without it, your maximum charging rate will be capped at 225kW. With it fitted, rates of up to 270kW are possible, thanks to the Taycan’s 800-volt electrical system. With the right charger, that allows a 10-80% charge in around 20mins (quicker than a Model S hooked up to a Tesla Supercharger).
Unfortunately, there are currently very few charging locations capable of delivering 270kW in the UK. You're much more likely to come across a 100kW charger, which will deliver a 10-80% charge in around 40mins. A 0-100% charge from a 7kW home wallbox takes around 13.5hrs.
The Taycan comes with a three-year warranty on the car itself, while the battery is covered separately for up to eight years, with a guarantee that it won't drop below 70% of its original capacity during that time.
The list of standard safety technology includes automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic-sign recognition and lane-keeping assistance. It’s a shame that blind-spot monitoring is an option, though, because it's standard on both the Tesla Model 3 and Model S.
In terms of crash protection, the Taycan achieved a five-star rating from Euro NCAP – the same as the rival Model S. Only whiplash protection for adults and children sitting in the front or back was found to be a little disappointing.
Reliability is much harder to predict – we’ve little to go on because this is Porsche’s first electric car in more than 100 years. However, the brand finished a relatively disappointing 22nd out of 31 manufacturers in the 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey – although that was still a better showing than Tesla down in 29th place
