The Porsche Taycan, its first production electric car, just about broke the internet when the vehicle was unveiled earlier this year. Since then, there has been much pontificating and posturing about what the car means for Porsche’s future, for Tesla’s sales, and whether the 911 faithful will embrace the car as a true Porsche. In other words, everyone has an opinion on the car despite the fact that very few people have seen a Taycan in the flesh, let alone driven one.
The Taycan Turbo has been slowly trickling into Europe and America, but they are still exceedingly rare. The 4S model that was just announced is rarer still, as it is not even released yet. We got our first chance to look the model over, inside and out, at the 2019 LA Auto Show and record our first impressions.
As anyone with functioning retinas can see, the Taycan looks very similar to the Porsche Panamera, and this stays true in the flesh. In fact, we fully expect the Panamera to fade into history soon as the Taycan takes its place in the model lineup. The proportions of the electric four-seater are all teutonically perfect, panel gaps are non-existent, and details abound to catch your wandering eye. It is all very Porsche.
Venturing inside, it is a case of evolution over revolution. Where the BMW electric i models created an entirely new design language versus regular BMWs, Porsche has chosen to simply increase the screen count but otherwise leave the cabin alone to reflect a central Porsche-ness. The shame is, I really like the BMW i interiors. Regardless, I will certainly take the multiple small screens of the Porsche setup in lieu of the single massive screen inside of all the Tesla models. Breaking the screens into primary functions just makes navigating them much easier than the submenus of the Tesla interface.
As is expected, every scrap of leather and each perfectly weighted button is as it should be in a Porsche. Thankfully, those multiple screens seem to have killed the tendency for the automaker to absolutely pepper its interiors with buttons and switches. The simplicity inside the Taycan 4S cabin is welcome indeed.
The driving seat is comfortable and easily exited without an embarrassing scrambling procedure. Rear leg room is excellent and sitting in the rear in general is a pleasant and comfortable experience. Again, the Panamera DNA shines brightly here.
After a good poke around, the Taycan feels and looks like a well-proportioned amalgamation of Porsche tradition and futuristic technology. I can think of few better combinations on this planet of ours.
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