By Dan Neil
In the age of electric performance, gloria mundi transits pretty quickly. Our guest last week, the 2025 Lucid Air Sapphire, went around all summer calling itself the quickest production sedan in the world, having dethroned the painfully immediate Tesla Model S Plaid.
This week, the quickest thing with four doors is the 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT ($250,575, as tested). This diamond-hard, slightly overbred variant of the revised Taycan sedan can punch itself to 124 mph in 6.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 180 mph, PDQ. The Turbo GT is the first production car to break the 2-second mark from 0-60 mph (1.9 seconds) using Car and Driver's strict testing methodology. On behalf of a grateful nation: Oww.
If the Turbo GT forecasts the soulless, emotionally sterile future of performance driving, count me in. The damn thing feels nuclear powered. Together, the Model S Plaid, the Sapphire and the Taycan Turbo GT have only themselves to rival; behold three of the quickest, fastest, most powerful production automobiles on the planet.
I wonder if they are giving EVs a bad name?
Like the Plaid and the Sapphire, the Turbo GT is a six-figure halo car, a new collectible built for media influencers, one-of-each collectors and other fringe elements. It is priced accordingly. I noted that for many commenters under the Lucid story, the quarter-million-dollar figure alone represented the height of consumer folly, if not a kind of wealth-based dementia. I worry that the rising class of unspeakably fast, stupidly expensive electrics might be sending the wrong signal to the larger culture, conflating electrification with a nutty and detached elitism. Perhaps I am late to that party.
Introduced in 2019, the Taycan was Porsche's first swing at an electric performance sedan that could compete with the pivotal Tesla Model S. While Taycans sold reasonably well -- about 150,000 units worldwide -- the cars didn't stack up to Model S in some important metrics, including range, charging speed, convenience and packaging (luggage space).
Five years later, the redux Taycan -- also available in the U.S. in the Sport Turismo body style -- has nearly outgrown its adolescence. For 2025, all cars get a stronger, lighter and more efficient battery pack, providing more power, range and acceleration across the board. The better battery and 800V hardware allows Taycan to fast-charge at up to 320 kW -- equivalent to a 10-80% recharge in 18 minutes. A 150-kW DC/DC converter is also standard equipment that will speed up charging at 400V chargers.
The Taycan was also hamstrung by the capacity of its silicon pulse inverters, which are the semiconductor devices that convert direct current from the battery into AC current for the motor, and back again.
2025 Taycans get more powerful and efficient silicon carbide chips in the rear pulse inverter, with a nominal rating of 900A. The front pulse inverter (600A) continues to use conventional silicon chips. Thanks to the high-capacity switches, the battery can now disgorge more power with less heat. The bigger switches also allow the Taycan to reabsorb up to 400 kW of regenerative braking energy, even before calling on Brembo brakes the size of Hoplite shields.
Current is no longer a problem. The Turbo GT restrains itself to a mere 777 hp in everyday driving. In order to access the pants-filling maxima of 1,019 hp, drivers have to use the Launch Control, which provides an overboost function. Our example also featured the vaguely immoral Attack Mode function. Pressing the red button on the drive-mode selector sends output soaring by up to 120 kW (160 hp) for as long as 10 seconds. Once Attack Mode is engaged, the display will count down from 10 to 1 for as long as you're gunning it. Relax and continue to scream normally.
Oh, and it makes a sound, all right. Plenty of them, actually. As you lay on the throttle the synth-sound system fills the cabin with juice-pumping resonances, muscular aural washes and spiraling polytonal vortexes.
Or you can turn it off, spoilsport.
Corseted in black and neon-blue leather upholstery and coutured in a clingy black metallic paint, our test car waited at the curb, practically pouting. But when I approached with the key fob in hand, the car leapt to attention. The powerful hydraulics that support the active suspension suddenly pressurized, raising the car's body 2 inches in about a second -- shushhssst -- welcoming me aboard. That's cool.
With two body styles, nine trim levels, and options for single-motor/rear drive or dual-motor/all-wheel drive configurations, there are plenty of choices for the amply financed. Porsche makes an even more rarefied version of the Turbo GT called the Weissach package. In January, factory driver Lars Kerns orbited the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a lap time of 7:07.55, claiming the record for a production four-door of any description.
Remember when petrolheads used to say EVs couldn't even complete a full lap? What was that, two years ago?
The rising tide of equipment has been especially good for the entry-level car. For 2025, all cars get upgraded to four-corner adaptive air suspension, including the option of active ride control, which is a little bit of magic. Even the humblest Taycan offers a push-to-pass function, summoning another 70 kW (94 hp) of oomph, for a nominal output of 402 hp.
Not that I don't enjoy having 1,019 hp to swing like a gold watch on a chain, but I could probably make do with less. Even the slowest Taycan is fast enough. For a price less than half of our test car, the basic Taycan can jolt you and your loved ones to 0-60 mph in entirely adequate 4.5 seconds, 0.6 seconds quicker than the car it replaces.
That'll do, pig.
2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT
Base price: $230,000
Price, as tested: $250,575
Powertrain: all-electric, with permanently excited AC synchronous motors on front and rear axle; single gearset in front and two-speed gearset in rear for coordinated all-wheel drive; 600A and 900A pulse inverters front and rear; 97 kWh (net) 800V lithium-ion battery pack
Length/height/width/wheelbase: 195.6/114.2/78.7/54.3 inches
Max system power: 777 hp/1,019 hp with Launch Control
Curb weight: 5,090 pounds
0-60 mph: 2.2 secs (Porsche)
Top speed: 180 mph
Cargo capacity: 14.5 cubic feet (3 front/11.5 rear)
Estimated range: 276 miles
Maximum charging rate: 320 kW, equivalent to 10-80% recharge in 18 minutes
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 03, 2024 18:00 ET (22:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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