We like
Suspension is an engineering masterpiece; phenomenal grip, traction and driver engagement; surprisingly liveable for a car of this calibre; real-world energy efficiency exceeds expectations; acceleration and cornering ability defy 2220kg kerb weight

Room for improvement
Transition from regenerative to friction braking is noticeable when cold; secondary touchscreen and some interior elements looking dated; further evidence that Porsche is succumbing to tackiness; deleted rear seats don’t provide useful storage space

Overview

 

AS THE pinnacle of Porsche’s battery electric Taycan range, the Weissach-packed Turbo GT joins a tiny club of performance sedans to delete the rear seats – Jaguar’s Project 8 being one of few in recent memory – as part of a weight-saving exercise that trims a modest 70kg from the standard Turbo GT’s 2290kg kerb mass.

 

Track-focused Weissach trim ups the lairiness with a fixed carbon-fibre rear wing and Victory Gold brake callipers to go with the massive ceramic composite rotors, which combined serves up a road presence communicating in no uncertain terms the fact that this is one of the most extreme series-production models Porsche has offered to date.

 

By some measures, it is the most extreme Porsche street car full stop.

 

Permanent magnet synchronous motors on each axle produce a combined 580kW/1240Nm as standard, climbing to 760kW when launch control is engaged.

 

Doing so unleashes a 2.2-second sprint to triple digits that feels as though your kidneys are about to exit via your mouth.

 

Joking aside, there is much, much more to this car than how thrust-worthy two-tonne BEVs can be from a standing start.

 

A two-speed transmission on the rear axle and single-speed at the front create an all-wheel-drive system that can also channel a massive 1240Nm of instantly accessible, predictably linear electric torque to the rear for an adjustable and exploitable balance.

 

The 97kWh battery delivers a claimed 605km of WLTP range from its 33-module pack, though real-world figures proved even more impressive during my time with the car.

 

GoAuto’s test vehicle arrived in Purple Sky Metallic – a no-cost option on the Turbo GT – with the GT interior package featuring Race-Tex and leather in Black with GT Silver contrasts, full carbon-fibre bucket seats, forged 21-inch wheels, illuminated carbon door sill guards and aluminium pedals among other items.

 

A relatively modest $7620 in fitted options for a Porsche press car brings the as-tested price to $423,620 plus on-road costs.

 

Without touching the Exclusive Manufaktur catalogue or going full bespoke via the Sonderwunsch program, it may come as a surprise how few factory options the Turbo GT has, or perhaps more accurately, needs.

 

Standard across the Turbo GT range – but a $16,980 option on the Turbo S – is Porsche Active Ride, the electro-hydraulic active suspension system first seen on the Audi RS E-Tron GT.

 

It replaces conventional dampers with active units that can raise and lower each corner independently to counter roll, pitch and heave in real time.

 

The car also lifts itself when you open the door so that ingress and egress to those deeply bolstered bucket seats is easier for someone who has lived long enough to accumulate the required funds to own such a vehicle. Or been around the automotive media long enough to be lent one to review.

 

Precious little else at this price does what the Porsche does. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N and Ioniq 6 N are brilliant engineering feats in their own right, sharing Rimac-influenced technology DNA with the Taycan and even convincing Zuffenhausen that simulated gear shifts are a good enough idea to include them on the updated Taycan Turbo GT.

 

But they are a completely different kettle of fish. You could buy nearly four of those for the price of this and still have change for a few sets of tyres.

 

Prospective buyers are likely to be aware of – or insulated from – the fact Taycans have been notoriously heavy depreciators, in stark contrast to most other Porsches.

 

Depending on how the market pans out, consider this spent money, not invested money, at least for now. Especially as the update adds those simulated manual shifts.

 

The fuel crisis that boosted BEV popularity may have stemmed the slide somewhat, though its inflationary effect impacts people shopping in this price bracket less than most.

 

On the other hand, a Turbo GT with Weissach Package will probably be a curio in years to come. Rumour has it that the Taycan model line is on borrowed time thanks to the financial turmoil engulfing Porsche and the broader Volkswagen Group.

 

As the pinnacle of Porsche’s first attempt at an electric car, it could well hit the floor and then find its level as a collector piece.

 

If so, it might yet prove to be a safe place for some money – and a rather more exciting one than a savings account.

 

Our Opinion

 

I came into the Turbo GT with no preconceptions other than having driven various flavours of Taycan quite extensively since the model launched Down Under in 2021.

 

Suffice to say, it exceeded every expectation I could have formed anyway. Where lesser Taycans can feel somewhat aloof and remote, the Turbo GT feels alive.

 

These days, alive is not a word used lightly for any car, let alone an electric one, but this machine communicates with its driver in a way that transcends powertrain.

 

One missing piece of the puzzle – more interaction via simulated gearshifts or truly adjustable regenerative braking – is about to be addressed as a running change that I’m very much looking forward to experiencing.

 

Despite massive track-focused capability that can dull the street experience of many performance cars, even on public roads at legal but spirited speeds I could feel the car rotating beneath me through every corner and sense the drive being shuffled across the rear axle.

 

The bespoke Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tyres (gigantic 305 section at the rear) were sufficiently sticky that they spread the gravel from my driveway all over the surrounding streets but somehow still managed to communicate exactly how much of their substantial reserves of grip and traction remained through the Taycan’s chassis and steering.

 

And boy does the Turbo GT need – and deploy – them. At legal road speeds, I recorded more than one G of lateral load under cornering and more than a G under acceleration, with a clear sense that the traction control was letting them spin up slightly as they found purchase.

 

From a sedan that weighs 2220kg!

 

At the same time, the electric-ness of it all makes the experience less of a sensory overload than, say, the 911 GT3 Touring I recently tested. There’s no exhaust note demanding attention, no mechanical cacophony clouding concentration and the general construction, size and shape of the car seems to limit road noise.

 

In its place is a clear connection to the road and even the optional synthetic engine sounds add rather than detract from the experience with their bassy note communicating the Turbo GT’s powerful, torquey nature while accurately matching the frequency changes a brain raised on internal combustion would expect as feedback from pedal inputs.

 

You can also switch them off entirely and just listen to the tyres and faint whine of the electric motors. On the subject of sound, a trickling noise presumably from the cooling system that is audible at a standstill could prove distracting for those with a weak bladder.

 

What surprised me most is how liveable this car is. You could absolutely use it every day as a grand touring two-seater and if you need rear seats you can option them.

 

A decent-sized boot (367 litres), an 84-litre frunk, a generously proportioned glove box, Porsche’s usual slightly slim door pockets, a pair of cup holders and the typical centre console storage all contribute to a workable package.

 

Inexplicably, there’s still no wireless phone charger, despite a little phone-holding clip under the front central armrest being an obvious place for one.

 

Getting in and out of those bucket seats is the only real daily challenge, and even that is mitigated by the clever door-opening lift function of the Active Ride suspension. From that perspective, it is every bit the Porsche promise of a daily drivable supercar (which happens to be electric).

 

Needless to say, the acceleration is unbelievable. The Turbo GT with Weissach Package will dispatch the 0-100km/h sprint in a claimed 2.2 seconds, and on my test I recorded 1.09g of longitudinal acceleration from a traffic light style launch.

 

The car does spin up the tyres slightly off the line, or perhaps allows them to tramp a little to maximise traction, but the way it gathers itself and launches is simply relentless and leaves the mere mortal brain struggling to keep up.

 

Given 200km/h arrives just 4.4 seconds later, you’ll need some pretty sharp reactions to avoid the long arm of the law on a public road.

 

Porsche says it’ll keep pulling all the way to 305km/h, by which time the interior will likely be filled with the vomit and the otherwise seemingly useless wipe-clean carbon-fibre shelf where the rear seats would be in lesser Taycans will start to make more sense.

 

Unless you are some kind of masochist or G-force junkie, I can reliably confirm that little pleasure is to be derived from standing-start blasts. You might do it a few times when you first take delivery, then happily leave alone in favour of the Turbo GT’s many other talents.

 

Rolling acceleration is almost as savage. Even without activating the overboost – accessible via a button on the drive mode Manettino on the steering wheel or the right-hand paddle – the Turbo GT will pin you into the seat at any speed.

 

Inspired by Formula E’s push-to-pass, overboost delivers an additional 120kW for 10 seconds via the ‘Attack Mode’ button and is as ferocious as it sounds.

 

The existence of paddle shifters on this model serves as a tantalising preview of the simulated gear shifts that Porsche has confirmed for future iterations, having publicly praised Hyundai N’s implementation of virtual transmissions in the Ioniq 5 N and 6 N.

 

When this feature reaches the Turbo GT, it promises to add another layer of driver interaction to an already deeply engaging experience

 

For now, the left paddle toggles regenerative braking on and off (no levels to toggle through), while the right activates overboost.

 

The default driving mode employs a coasting calibration that I have come to genuinely enjoy across several Taycans now. The car glides – one passenger described it as feeling like it was about to take off – and the sensation of effortless, friction-free motion remains a beguiling take on high-performance motoring.

 

Despite all this performance, energy efficiency was impressive. My spirited dynamic drive loop returned 22.8kWh per 100km, while more relaxed driving saw figures of 18 to 19kWh/100km.

 

Porsche claims 605km of WLTP range, and based on my real-world consumption, north of 500km on a full charge seems realistic.

 

Ride quality is excellent and not just in acceptable-for-a-supercar terms. The Active Ride system’s electro-hydraulic dampers counter body roll and pitch in real time, keeping the car flat and composed over surfaces on my test route that unsettle many a vehicle.

 

On the coarse-chip country roads I frequent while testing cars, the Turbo GT shrugged off ripples, divots, lateral ridges and mid-corner undulations without once being knocked off my intended line.

 

I didn’t change the suspension settings for the dynamic section of my test as I didn’t feel the need to. The system simply makes everything feel effortless. Corners that challenge most cars on this particular route were breezed through with a lack of drama but an intoxicating sense of control.

 

Rather than rolling, the trick suspension makes the Turbo GT feel as though it is diving toward the apex as you’d lean a motorcycle. The front end offers seemingly limitless grip and bite, and you can just lean and lean and lean on it with absolute confidence that you will feel every sensation on the way to approaching what is a sky-high limit.

 

On a series of tight hairpins that form part of my regular route, the Turbo GT achieved the highest speed I have recorded through those corners in any test vehicle and it felt almost laughably composed while doing it.

 

But not in a way that felt like cheating as the Turbo GT was absolutely interactive and engaging.

 

Put it this way: having access to a level of capability so far beyond what the road demands while feeling so intimately in control, it is easy to feel as though you are really only limited by your own sense of self-preservation (and responsibility for those around you should something go badly wrong).

 

The only time the car felt twitchy at all was when I hesitated. Commit, and the Turbo GT has you covered with an enormous reserve of traction and stability.

 

But when you first start to feel the tyres reporting the limits of their adhesion through the brilliantly transparent chassis and steering, the instinct is to lift or overcorrect. The truth is there is still vastly more grip available before anything remotely concerning would happen.

 

It just takes a few corners to build that trust and get used to the unexpectedly high level of feel and feedback provided. And, I daresay, get some heat into those special tyres.

 

The steering is well weighted in Normal mode, its default calibration perfectly judged for the kind of enthusiastic road driving this car invites.

 

A pair of Manettinos on the steering wheel – one for suspension stiffness, one for drive mode – offer plenty of customisation, and I appreciated the quick-raise function accessible via a button in the centre of the PASM Manettino for clearing speed bumps and driveway lips faster than you would a regular nose-lift function.

 

Braking is handled primarily by the regenerative system, which is so well calibrated it feels for all the world like conventional friction braking but when the ceramic composite brakes do intervene – with their 420/40mm front and 410/32mm rear discs respectively clamped by massive 10-piston and four-piston callipers – there is a noticeable change in pedal feel, especially when they are not up to temperature.

 

Once warmed through, they are utterly formidable, but that cold transition from regenerative to friction braking stands out in a car where almost every other control feels seamlessly matched.

 

The carbon-fibre bucket seats, with their manually adjustable bolsters and electrically adjustable height, provide an ideal driving position.

 

Despite their track-oriented nature, I could see myself sitting in them for long journeys without complaint. They use the same fore and aft adjustment mechanism that has been a Volkswagen Group staple since my MKII Golf and if you want to change the backrest beyond the normal range, an Allen key is apparently required (it was not an adjustment I needed to make).

 

Porsche has kept the interior of this test car clean and focused: black leather and Race-Tex surfaces with GT Silver contrast stitching, carbon-fibre trim throughout and minimal visual distraction.

 

It suits the car’s purposeful character, though buyers seeking a brighter cabin would need to look elsewhere in the options list while being mindful that adding weight defeats the purpose of the Weissach treatment.

 

There are a few signs of age in the cabin, though, a symptom of rapid progress elsewhere than anything Porsche has or hadn’t done.

 

For example, the secondary touchscreen for climate shortcuts and settings is beginning to look dated, and a couple of minor creaks from the instrument panel area intruded during spirited driving.

 

Being a BEV, these are more audible than they would be in an internal combustion car and were disappointment given the cost of the thing.

 

Given how surprisingly well the $416K Taycan Turbo GT can be used daily, the lack of adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring seem puzzling. There’s just basic lane-keeping assist that is easy to turn off. The reversing camera is also laughably basic and the parking experience otherwise unassisted.

 

It is all in the name of weight saving and purity of course. Perhaps Porsche’s GT-oriented customers genuinely don’t want driver aids. But I would argue that a car this easy and rewarding to drive every day deserves at least some of the assistance tech that makes longer stints less fatiguing.

 

While I’m having a whinge, the drive mode screen reads ‘Attack Mode’ rather than simply ‘Drive’, which is a bit naff, and the Weissach logos on the fixed rear wing and arguably even the Purple Sky paint colour suggest a shift toward a market segment that is perhaps less refined than Porsche’s traditional clientele.

 

I made a similar observation about the ‘icons of cool’ puddle lamps on the otherwise entirely glorious 911 S/T. Coolness is a bit like nicknames: something that is decided by other people.

 

Still, the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach Package is both a chill cruiser and aggressive corner carver with physics-bending abilities to disguise 2220kg of mass and deliver an utterly engaging drive that few modern internal combustion cars can manage, let alone a BEV.

 

Clever suspension and the cumulative effect of the Weissach Package’s weight reduction, fixed aero, lightweight brakes and track-focused interior create a car that feels purpose-built without being impractical.

 

The Taycan was a controversial proposition when it launched but Porsche has iterated and refined it to the point where this range-topping version does things that I challenge anyone to not enjoy and admire. Yet there’s more where that came from with the 2027 model year changes!

 

When those simulated gear shifts arrive with the coming update I have no doubt that this car will only get better.

 

As it stands, the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach Package is the best BEV I have driven and one of the most impressive cars, at any price, full stop.

 

It’s a supercar that happens to be electric and one you could happily drive every day. It is not cheap, nor rational. But it is the real deal.