It didn't take Porsche long to capitalise
on the popularity of its Taycan electric sedan. Meet the Taycan
Cross Turismo. Is the crossover wagon better than the sedan? Strap in. Let's go and find out.
The Taycan has been a massive hit for Porsche, outselling the legendary 911 along the way.
The Cross Turismo doesn't stray too far from the concept.
Here we're testing the top spec turbo and no, it doesn't actually have a turbo charger.
What it does have is a gob smacking price and incredible performance.
Apart from the Taycan, there's no direct EV rival at the moment for the Cross Turismo,
instead there are plenty of plugins with e-motors and internal combustion engines. It's easy to see
the visual relationship between the Taycan and the Cross Turismo and the Porsche heritage from
which they're drawn. Where the two cars really differ is the extension of the rear roof line
on the Cross Turismo delivering more headroom for the rear passenger and more luggage space.
This thing would have to be the least off-road looking off-roader ever.
Could you imagine trying to take a really rough ground with these 21 inch wheels and
just 148 millimetres of ground clearance? I'm sure this gravel mode doesn't make much difference.
The Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo fits powerful e-motors to both axles fed by a large lithium ion
battery pack that delivers an all wheel drive experience befitting the Porsche brand. Check
out these huge power and torque numbers, incredible. There's a two speed reduction
gear on the rear axle but don't go hunting for some way to pick the ratio. Porsche doesn't even
allow manual adjustment of regenerative braking as some rivals do. This car is throttle and brake
and that's it. If the exterior of the Cross Turismo is maybe kinda sort of familiar,
you get to find the interiors links to Porsches of the past even more tenuous.
Naturally, there's plenty of leather and the seats are deeply supportive.
But what's most obvious is Porsche has gone screen mad.
There are no less than four digital screens. There's the instrument panel here,
touchscreen's here and here. And even another touchscreen in front of the passenger seat.
There's hardly a single button on the dashboard. It's all touchscreens, you even have to drill into
a screen to adjust the direction of the climate control vents. That's just a bit too complex.
Considering the money charge the Taycan Cross Turismo doesn't cover all the bases when it
comes to equipment, and that includes safety. Not having rear cross traffic alert at this
price is a surprise. The Cross Turismo does not have the same sort of storage
options and functionalities some SUVs and crossovers really pride themselves on.
Look, it's adequate, but certainly not extravagant. This is really annoying. The
center little bin is at the wrong angle for the driver. So plugging in USB cables is unnecessarily
hard. It's easy for the passenger though and that suggests this is one feature that wasn't converted
from left to right hand drive. It's spacious enough back here for two adults to sit comfortably
in supportive bucket seats. You can really see the extra headroom, which is where the roof-line
extension of the Cross Turismo really pays off. The middle rear seat is really an afterthought
and best ignored. There is limited storage back here but there are proper climate controls.
The Cross Turismo has a small frunk or front trunk and a much larger boot area here at the rear.
Flip the seats down and you got plenty of room to fit your stuff to take it all to the tip.
Now, Cross Turismo's boot came with a soft pack full of charging cables. There were also
string net storage pockets, hooks and even an underfloor storage area. No spare tire though.
Well, all that's pretty interesting and different, isn't it? But I wonder what the Cross Turismo
is like to drive. Let's go and find out. Well, the steering wheel looks kind of familiar and so
does the instrument panel. But that's a power meter sitting in the center
and not a tachometer. It's a sign of things to come. The Cross Turismo turbo
makes so much power and torque and has so much grip its acceleration is prodigious.
Oh, that's crazy. Feels like the skin's peeling back off my forehead. It's not
just the velocity. It's the crazy glue grip of the tires. This thing just propels up the road.
Thankfully, in true Porsche fashion, the Cross Turismo knows what to do when it gets to corners.
This thing weighs more than 2300 kilograms yet it steers nimbly,
sits flat and responds promptly to changes of direction.
Despite the massive low profile rubber the Cross Turismo rides pretty well. Air Suspension helps
but just don't wind the shocks up into Sport or Sport Plus mode on a bumpy road. At 28.7
kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres, the Cross Turismo's consumption claim is not that great,
but it's a big, heavy car so it's understandable. It did actually manage to undercut its claim for
us consuming about 25 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres. Roughly speaking, that's a range
of about 400 kilometres in the real world that diminishes range anxiety but doesn't kill it off.
If you like SUVs and crossovers 'cause they've got a high sitting position which really helps
you look out, then the Taycan Cross Turismo will disappoint. It's like sitting in a back hill,
you're so low. The good thing is it really helps accentuate the sharp handling.
Tell you all that's going on in the Taycan driving experience is definitely something different.
It's amazingly fast and corrals its wide brilliantly, but without the sound and fury of
an internal combustion engine. For some that's great, but others might just miss that drama.
The Taycan Cross Turismo comes with a three year warranty and eight year 160,000 Kilometer
battery warranty. The service intervals are long at two years and 30,000 kilometres,
but Porsche does not have a national capped price servicing plan.
So is the Taycan Cross Turismo better than the Taycan sedan. Well, it's a little bit easier to
live with equally and crazily as fast and just a tiny bit more expensive. So the answer to that is
probably a yes. But look at the bigger picture and what the brilliant if flawed Cross Turismo
tells us is our EV future will be fascinating and potentially even exhilarating. Bring it on.