“In 4S form, the Porsche Taycan provides an excellent balance of performance and everyday usability.”
- Sports car style
- Porsche performance
- Luxury car refinement
- Plenty of configuration options
- Needs more buttons
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One of the many things the Tesla Model S did when it arrived over a decade ago was put the established German luxury brands on notice. Suddenly, the prestige of the Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche names wasn’t enough to guarantee a down payment from luxury-car shoppers.
Porsche didn’t take this lying down. Previewed in 2015 by the Mission E concept car, and finally arriving in 2019, the Taycan is the Model S recipe prepared the Porsche way. It’s a fast, four-door electric car, but with emphasis on all-around performance, rather than just quick bursts of straight-line acceleration, and a premium cabin that’s more than just a big screen.
For the 2025 model year, Porsche gave the Taycan a significant refresh, with updates that aim to add greater efficiency and charging performance to this EV’s résumé. So it was as good a time as any to revisit Porsche’s first EV, in dual-motor 4S form, in this case.
2025 Porsche Taycan 4S: design
The biggest differences for 2025 are under the skin, with styling changes limited to small tweaks like more-defined fenders, flush-mounted headlights (with matrix tech the U.S. misses out on due to regulations), and triangular aerodynamic elements for the front fasciae of the high-end Turbo models. To help boost efficiency, Porsche also added a 21-inch wheel with a narrower tire width to the catalog of Taycan wheel options.
The number of doors may say “sedan,” but the look says “sports car.”
Yet, the Taycan still looks fresh and distinctive — impressive for a design that, counting the initial concept version, has been in the public eye for almost a decade. Prominent front fenders and a dipping hood visually reference the totemic Porsche 911, while providing the driver with excellent visibility and good reference points for the front corners of the car. The low-slung roof and a pronounced shoulder below the window line help the car avoid the shapeless form of other EVs, while sucked-in sides provide some visual interest across the vast expanse of wheelbase.
The number of doors may say “sedan,” but the look says “sports car,” setting the Taycan apart from other luxury EVs like the Model S, Lucid Air, and Mercedes-Benz EQS. But look closely in profile view, and you’ll notice a strong resemblance to the Audi E-Tron GT, which shares the Taycan’s J1 platform.
The interior also has a minimalist appearance that further contributes to the feeling that this is a serious driver’s car. Screens are integrated with the dashboard rather than sprouting from it, and while there are plenty of control stalks and switches, they don’t crowd the driver. The view ahead is focused on an easy-to-read instrument cluster and the road itself. Getting into this car always felt like a special occasion — and not just because of the Porsche crest on the steering wheel.
The sports car styling doesn’t inhibit interior space much, either. This is a truly usable four-door car, with surprisingly comfortable back seats. Porsche even carved out spaces in the floor — nicknamed “foot garages” — to ensure rear-seat passengers didn’t have to sit with their feet unnaturally elevated. The middle rear seat is too small for anything other than emergency use, though. Upfront, it was easy to find the perfect driving position without compromising legroom, and the front seats were supportive without being constricting. And while Porsche didn’t have measurements available, headroom in both rows wasn’t lacking.
At 14.3 cubic feet, trunk space does trail other high-end electric sedans like the Lucid Air, Mercedes-Benz EQS, and Tesla Model S, but I found the Taycan could still swallow two armfuls of shopping bags with no problem. There’s also a 2.9-cubic-foot frunk, close in size to what you get in a Tesla Model S, but smaller than a Lucid Air’s. Unlike these rivals, though, Porsche also offers wagon versions, dubbed Cross Turismo and Sport Turismo.
2025 Porsche Taycan 4S: specs
| Length | 195.4 in |
| Width | 84.4 in |
| Height | 54.2 in |
| Wheelbase | 114.2 in |
| Trunk space | 14.3 cubic feet |
| Frunk space | 2.9 cubic feet |
| Powertrain | dual-motor all-wheel drive, 89.0-kWh or 105.0-kWh battery pack |
| Horsepower | 455 hp (536 hp with launch control) |
| Torque | 479 lb-ft (512 lb-ft with launch control) |
| Range (estimated) | 252 miles (Performance Battery)
295 miles (Performance Battery Plus) |
| Price | $120,495 (before options) |
2025 Porsche Taycan: tech
The Taycan’s cabin is an impressive feat of screen packaging. A 16.8-inch curved display serves as the instrument cluster, while a 10.9-inch touchscreen serves as the main infotainment hub. In lieu of physical controls, Porsche installed an 8.4-inch touchscreen on the center console to handle functions like climate control and audio volume. The test car also had the optional 10.9-inch front-passenger screen.
All of the displays featured clean and simple graphics.
All of the displays featured clean and simple graphics, particularly the new charge display that shows not only charging progress, but the amount of power the car is pulling from a charging station, in an easy-to-read format. The robust haptic feedback of the 8.4-inch control screen also made it easier to use. But physical buttons and knobs would have been even better, and the slim dashboard means the main touchscreen is also at a somewhat awkward, low angle. That, along with its rectangular shape, makes the passenger screen worthwhile. Passengers can also watch video on that screen thanks to a privacy filter that blocks the driver from seeing it.
Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard, with deeper integration of the latter for 2025. For now, that means various presets can be grouped together so drivers don’t have to make as many adjustments once they get in the car and connect an iPhone.
Porsche doesn’t offer anything beyond expected features when it comes to driver aids. Base models come standard with lane-keep assist, lane-change assist, park assist, traffic sign recognition, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking, but not adaptive cruise control. That’s not great in a nearly $100,000 car, but Porsche is likely correct in assuming that most customers won’t notice as they’re busy checking option boxes or perusing higher trim levels.
2025 Porsche Taycan 4S: driving experience
The 4S is far from the fastest or most powerful of the numerous Taycan variants available for 2025, but I was eager to try it to get a sense of the car in a more basic form, without added bells and whistles or excessive power. And with 455 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque from a dual-motor powertrain (or 536 hp and 512 lb-ft with launch control activated), the 4S is no slouch. Porsche quotes a 3.5-second zero to 60 mph time (also with launch control) that’s quicker than some of its traditional gasoline sports cars, plus an 11.8-second quarter-mile time.
Quick acceleration is an EV expectation, but the Taycan makes you feel it in your chest.
Quick acceleration is an EV expectation, but the Taycan makes you feel it in your chest, like Thor was giving it a love tap with Mjolnir. After that initial hit, the 4S continued pulling strongly, but more smoothly. It’s easy to imagine getting up to this car’s manufacturer-estimated 155-mph top speed without much drama.
Highway driving is also drama-free. Riding on standard air suspension, and with optional rear-axle steering to improve stability, the Taycan skimmed along the patchy pavement of New York State freeways like a powder blue cruise missile. In 4S form, the normal sporty car compromises of harsh ride quality and nervous steering just weren’t there. Other luxury EVs might be a tad more comfortable, but it’s a difference of degrees. The Taycan isn’t an overstuffed couch like a Mercedes EQS sedan or Lucid Air Touring, but it got me through the boring stretches of road without wearing me out.
On more entertaining roads, the Taycan proved itself to be a true Porsche. With its four-door cars, Porsche’s true aptitude is not just generating raw speed, but blending the various electronic systems together in a seamless way that keeps the driver involved. Most drivers will need some help keeping a car this heavy in line, but Porsche still makes it fun, providing delicate steering that offers a clear picture of what the front wheels are doing, along with excellent body control that lets the Taycan gracefully flow through corners without clumsy weight transfer. Porsche also doesn’t do one-pedal driving like other EV brands, but that’s in keeping with the Taycan’s role as a driver’s car that gives the person behind the wheel more control over deceleration while still recovering energy.
I came away from a week with the Taycan 4S totally satisfied, in part because I wasn’t left with the nagging feeling that I was missing out by limiting the experience to public roads. This being Porsche, there are Taycan models that need a racetrack to be fully appreciated, though. For 2025, a new Turbo GT model joins the lineup with 1,019 hp and the ability to reach 60 mph in 2.1 seconds with the optional Weissach Package.
2025 Porsche Taycan 4S: range and charging
The Taycan gets a boost in battery capacity for 2025. The smaller Performance Battery grows to 89.0 kilowatt-hours (with 82.3 kWh of usable capacity), while the optional Performance Battery Plus now has 105.0 kWh of capacity (97.0 kWh usable). Porsche also made some efficiency-related improvements, including a streamlined thermal management system with higher-power 800-volt cooling hardware and a heat pump that handles cabin heating at all times.
Porsche’s focus on performance means that, even with these changes, the Taycan falls short of the maximum range available from the likes of a Tesla Model S or Lucid Air. But the estimated 318 miles for single-motor models with the bigger battery pack is a big improvement over the Taycan’s previous best of 246 miles. Porsche expects even the raucous Turbo GT to return 269 miles.
Solid charging performance also makes the Taycan a very usable daily driver. Performance Battery Plus cars can now DC fast charge at up to 320 kilowatts (Performance Battery cars charge at 270 kW), allowing for a 10% to 80% charge in 18 minutes, assuming you can find a 350kW charging station. The charge curve has also been flattened, allowing for better performance in a wider array of conditions, which hopefully takes some of the stress out of road trip charging.
Porsche expects most customers to charge at home most of the time, and that’s where the smaller Performance Battery starts to make more sense. The automaker estimates a 10.5-hour Level 2 AC charge time for small-battery 4S models like this test car, at 9.6 kW, meaning it will easily be able to charge overnight assuming sufficient charge power and average mileage.
2025 Porsche Taycan 4S: How DT would configure this car
Porsche offers more configuration options than most other automakers, with this test car leaning more toward comfort and style. It had a base price of $120,495, but numerous options like a glass roof, Burmester audio system, passenger touchscreen, rear-axle steering, 21-inch wheels, and Frozen Blue Metallic paint jacked up the as-tested price to $154,315. That’s still with the standard battery pack, which returns an estimated 252 miles of range in this model.
For new car shoppers that can rely on home charging, a well-optioned Taycan 4S like this car is a good balance of everyday usability, performance, and the design and convenience features that justify the indulgence of a luxury car. But it’s worth noting that a single-motor Taycan base model with the larger Performance Battery Plus starts at $107,175. This configuration offers 318 miles of range, with a still-quick zero to 60 mph time of 4.5 seconds and air suspension for a plush ride appropriate for a six-figure car. And there’s still plenty of headroom for adding optional extras as desired.
Porsche is not a value brand, and that’s apparent when looking at potential rivals. A Lucid Air Touring is about as quick as the Taycan 4S reviewed here, but offers up to 406 miles of range with a base price of around $80,000. The tri-motor Tesla Model S Plaid is also within the same price range, while offering an estimated 348 miles of range and a claimed 1.9-second zero to 60 mph time that makes it among the quickest-accelerating cars in production.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a high-end EV, the Taycan should be on your radar. The Air Touring is an excellent road-trip car, but it doesn’t feel as special or entertaining in daily use as this Porsche. And while the Model S ignited the modern EV era, the reality is that today it has an aging design that can only justify its premium price with its spec sheet, and it’s sold by a company with questionable leadership and priorities.
It might be cliché, but it’s true. When you buy other luxury EVs, you’re buying cars. When you buy a Taycan, you’re buying a Porsche.
