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The Porsche Taycan saloon is one of the best electric driver’s cars, but if you need a bit more practicality, then the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo could be your answer.
We’ve already reviewed the Porsche Taycan and acknowledged that it’s one of the best electric driver’s cars, but if you need a bit more space in the boot, and the ability to drive slightly off the beaten track, then the Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo is designed to be the solution.
The Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo is essentially a Porsche Taycan with a tailgate, a slightly larger boot, and the ability to raise the suspension by 20mm compared to the saloon. All this doesn’t sound much, but it does make the Cross Turismo more practical.
The Taycan has a 366-litre boot at the rear – and narrow access – although there’s also an 81-litre luggage compartment at the front. The Cross Turismo has a 446-litre boot, and 84 litres under the bonnet; folding the rear seats gives 1,212 litres of space. There’s also 47mm more headroom for rear seat passengers, and it’s worth noting that, at 4,974 mm, the Cross Turismo is quite long.
The Cross Turismo has a 93.4 kWh Performance Battery Plus with electric motors on front and rear axles. This delivers electric all-wheel drive with variable torque distribution and Porsche Traction Management (PTM) and Porsche Active Suspension Management.
There’s an optional Off-Road Design Package that increases ground clearance by a further 10mm, giving an extra 30mm compared to the saloon.
The vast majority of EVs have a single-speed transmission, which the Cross Turismo features on the front axle, but on the rear axle there’s a two-speed transmission.
The Porsche Taycan delivers performance and tight body control. This applies to the saloon and the Cross Turismo.
Let’s look at performance first. The Taycan 4S Cross Turismo has a power output of up to 360 kW (490 PS), although overboost power for Launch Control is up to 420 kW (571 PS). There’s also a huge 650 Nm of maximum torque for Launch Control.
In terms of body control, the Cross Turismo has adaptive air suspension with three-chamber air springs including Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) and Smart Lift. This basically means that in addition to the Cross Turismo having a very low centre of gravity, there’s lots of technology to ensure that any body movement is kept to a minimum, but ride comfort is also good. All-wheel drive means excellent grip levels, and you can raise the suspension for rough surfaces.
Steering is a key part of the Porsche driving experience and the Taycan’s steering is direct, sharp, and well-weighted – and there’s a very nice Alcantara steering wheel rim. Rear-wheel steering is an option.
As impressive as all this is, the element that Porsche has done really well is the ability to control all the car’s settings. This is done via the touchscreen – no surprise there – but many brands, Volkswagen included, seem to really struggle with making car controls on the touchscreen user-friendly.
The Taycan’s touchscreen (which isn’t particularly large compared to some rivals) has five permanent shortcut buttons on the right-hand side of the touchscreen, for Home, Navigation, Media, Phone and Car. This might not be rocket science, but it works really well, and we’re constantly amazed why other manufacturers don’t follow this approach.
Under the main touchscreen there’s a second (larger) screen, which has heating and ventilation controls at the top – which is very user-friendly – and additional car controls below. There are even shortcut buttons at the top of this screen, for Navigation, Media, Phone and Car.
Even better, there’s a button on the steering wheel for drive modes, which comprise of Normal, Sport, Sport Plus, Gravel and Range (and Individual). The ‘electric sport’ soundtrack to accompany your driving is most obvious in Sport Plus mode – although this can be turned on or off. The drive modes are also accessible through the Car Controls menu on the touchscreen.
As well as drive modes, you can adjust the chassis – with options of Normal, Sport and Sport Plus, and you can adjust the height of the chassis between low, medium and high. You can switch brake recuperation on or off, and an ‘Assistance’ tab allows you to switch off the Lane Keep Assist.
So there are lots of drive settings to play with, and they’re user-friendly to adjust. However one thing that isn’t particularly user-friendly is the gear selector, which is completely hidden away behind the right-hand side of the steering wheel rim – as is the start button on the left-hand side. These are pretty much the only ergonomic issues with the cabin layout. The driving position, as you would expect in a Porsche, is excellent.
So overall, virtually everything about the Taycan driving experience is excellent, but we have to mention the weight: 2,245 kg – a result of the EV’s heavy battery. Although all the technology on the Taycan does a good job of dealing with the weight, it’s evident that this is a heavy car when you’re driving it, and ultimately this means that the Taycan isn’t as agile as a petrol Porsche.
The Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo WLTP electric driving range is 257 – 304 miles. Our test car was promising a real-world range of 220 miles.
One big plus point for the Taycan is its ability to ultra-rapid charge at up to 270 kW thanks to its 800-volt architecture. This means that it can charge from 5% to 80% in as little as 22 minutes and 30 seconds, or that 62 miles of range can be added in just 5 minutes 15 seconds. Charging time from 5% to 80% at a 50kW DC rapid charger takes 93 minutes (or 28 minutes 30 seconds for 62 miles). A 0% to 100% charge at an 11kW AC charger (typically found at a workplace in the UK) should take 9 hours.
Electric cars do not charge at their maximum charge rate for an entire charging session – their charge rate typically starts off high with a battery with a low state of charge, then the charge rate decreases as the battery charge increases. See the charge curve for the Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo from Fastned:
There are four versions of the Taycan Cross Turismo, all with the 93.4 kWh Performance Battery Plus: The Taycan 4 Cross Turismo, priced from £79,340; the Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, priced from £87,820; the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo, priced from £116,950; and the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo, priced from £139,910.
The Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, perhaps not surprisingly, offers all the benefits of the Taycan saloon, with a bit more practicality thanks to its tailgate and larger boot. It can also venture slightly off road due to the ability to raise its suspension by a small amount. But the key selling points of the Taycan saloon remain: lots of performance, good grip, tight body control, sharp steering, and the ability to manage the car’s settings via well thought-out touchscreen menus. The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 10 out of 10.
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