MINISTRY Of SPORT (some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Porsche's Taycan Sport Turismo adds finesse to the market's wildest electric SUV. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 40

If you'd like your Porsche Taycan luxury EV with extra presence and practicality but don't want or need the look of an SUV, Zuffenhausen wants you to consider this, the Taycan Sport Turismo. Your ultimate luxury sports EV? Very possibly.

Backgroundword count: 119

This might be the perfect interpretation of Porsche's Taycan concept. This luxury EV first appeared in Sports Saloon four-door form. Then we got the Cross Turismo SUV version. What if you could get the best of both, the suspension of the Sports Saloon with the practicality of the Cross Turismo body shape? That's the idea behind the Taycan Sport Turismo. There's a wider choice of battery and drivetrain options with this third interpretation of the Taycan theme - compared to the 'Cross' version anyway. You can have a rear-driven variant - and one with Porsche's smaller 79.2kWh battery, neither option possible with the Cross Turismo. That means a significantly lower entry price them with the 'Cross' too. Sounds interesting.

Driving Experienceword count: 317

All Sport Turismo derivatives are almost indecently fast. Even the base 'Sport Turismo' variant has 408PS and gets to 62mph in just 5.4s en route to 143mph. The 530PS 4S version improves those stats to 4.0s and like all other models, must be limited to a top speed of 155mph. The 598PS GTS version sprints to 62mph in 3.7s, the Turbo manages it in 3.2s and the Turbo S delivers 2.8s. The Sport Turismo shares the same powertrain options as the normal Taycan Sports Saloon and, like that model, can be ordered in its most affordable form with two things most customers for this Porsche EV don't tend to want - rear wheel drive and the smaller 79.2kWh battery pack. We're referring there to the base rear-driven 'Sport Turismo' variant at the base of the range: otherwise, all versions are 4WD, which means they get the Taycan's usual twin e-motor set-up, with the rear unit driving a 2-speed transmission featuring a shorter initial ratio optimised for initial acceleration. The bigger 93.4kWh 'Performance Battery Plus' package is optional on the standard and 4S variants - but included further up the line-up. This will take the car anywhere up to 309 miles, depending on variant and the conditions. Though not if you exercise your right foot as you'll be tempted to. None of the dynamic stuff in play here is anything we haven't seen before - torque vectoring, adaptive damping with 3-chamber air suspension, and, optionally, rear wheel steering and 'PDCC' electromechanical roll stabilisation. But with Porsche's 4D Chassis Control set-up coordinating it all like the conductor of an orchestra, the result through the turns is quite simply astonishing when you consider the amount of weight in play here. And the steering, brakes and ride quality are all brilliant - almost 911-like. No other large EV drives like this. The soul of a sports car? That about covers it.

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