Some first impressions of new MY2025 Taycan test drive

[Tighlines]

It blows my mind that the German engineers haven't figured out to fix the center console. Due to the panhandle shape and hinges in the rear of the console, you almost need octopus arms to get anything out, not to mention plug a usb-c in. Rotating the hinges to the passenger side would definitely help.
All Taycans look better in the wild for some reason. IMO, no other car has such a big disparity from pics to wild.
I have no desire to upgrade to a '25. I normally upgrade every 3 years but it's going to take something amazing to come out to get me out of this car (sans the center console).
Being that Porsche is the "Drivers Car" brand, I hope they allow you to disable all drivers assist warning/chirps. Those are deal breakers for me.

Sponsored

 

[Cincy2]

How did it handle? Did you notice any differences? I will endure all user interface complexities / absurdities if the car still handles like a proper Porsche.

Cincy

 

[Perry]

How did it handle? Did you notice any differences? I will endure all user interface complexities / absurdities if the car still handles like a proper Porsche.

Cincy

I didn't exactly push it, but it drives pretty much how you would expect. Like I said, it's hard to compare going from a top specced Turbo S to a medium specced 4S.

Notably, however, it didn't have Active Ride, but even then it actually felt quite comparable to PDCC on my Turbo S, so they've done some improvements there.

Like I said, it's hard to say exactly without doing a proper test, but I doubt anyone would be disappointed with the performance and driving characteristics of the new Taycan compared to the old one.

 

[David Baldwino]

Thanks for the info review ....I'll be having another 3 yrs of warranty in August as updates should be worthy of a justifiable price hike ...this is now a + £100,400.00 MRP car in bog standard 4SCT in the UK !! .....so off to Spain again to rack up some more miles but with a sports roof box this time :-o

 

[KLHubb]

Weird thing about the camera.. I have a MY23 Taycan, and never had issues with the quality. 2 weeks ago I had a MY24 loaner, and the quality of the camera was awful! Can it be that there are different cameras across the models?

I just received a 2024 Macan as a loaner and I was very impressed with the cameras all around...much better than my 2020 4S.

 

[Perry]

I just received a 2024 Macan as a loaner and I was very impressed with the cameras all around...much better than my 2020 4S.

I did snap a (really bad) photo of the parking camera, and it seems to be more or less identical to the previous models.

 

[bwherry]

I'm curious to see how much of an efficiency improvement can be had on J1 cars by using the slightly narrower Aero Design wheels from the J1.2 along with 245 front, 285 rear Hankook iON evo tires that have been on the J1.2 cars... Could be quite substantial, especially compared to something like the wide open design of the RS Spyder wheels w/ sticky 265/305 rubber...

 

[Perry]

I'm curious to see how much of an efficiency improvement can be had on J1 cars by using the slightly narrower Aero Design wheels from the J1.2 along with 245 front, 285 rear Hankook iON evo tires that have been on the J1.2 cars... Could be quite substantial, especially compared to something like the wide open design of the RS Spyder wheels w/ sticky 265/305 rubber...

According to Porsche’s own numbers, up to 40 km compared to the old Mission E’s.

 

[BJCanadaMax]

According to Porsche’s own numbers, up to 40 km compared to the old Mission E’s.

I read somewhere that the new battery improves roughly 10% efficiency. In terms of the wheels, it really is if u would choose style or range. I prioritize style over range. Without style the whole car is worthless to me.

 

[cityhpper]

I'm curious to see how much of an efficiency improvement can be had on J1 cars by using the slightly narrower Aero Design wheels from the J1.2 along with 245 front, 285 rear Hankook iON evo tires that have been on the J1.2 cars... Could be quite substantial, especially compared to something like the wide open design of the RS Spyder wheels w/ sticky 265/305 rubber...

I have also been wondering about this. Asked my SA and he said that the new Aero Design wheels could not officially be sold to me for use on my 2022 Cross Turismo. It was only the wheels available in the Tequipment pages that they could sell. But he also confirmed that the new wheels would fit my car, so technically there should be no issue.

Saw no reason to push him further on this, but I did anyway recently order a set of non-OE wheels in 21" and then with the Hankook iON evo tyres. Expect a 5-7 % higher consumption compared to the OE 20"s but DC-chargers are everywhere now, so should not be a big issue.

 

[HerrCooles]

Thanks for the very informative OP. As for cruise control, I'm glad they made this change. My Audi works in the way you mentioned and it has always been a little annoying that the Taycan works totally differently. Looking forward to my new Taycan.

I was glad that it works like the Panamera and not like our Q4. But now I'm very disappointed about the change. ???

 

[TDinDC]

According to Porsche’s own numbers, up to 40 km compared to the old Mission E’s.

These kinds of interesting conversations nearly send me down the rabbit hole of thinking that I should buy the 21" Aero Design Wheels with Distance Tires (oops, "Tyres") so that I could rotate them in for those few times that I take a long-distance trip (so I would have Summers, Winters, and Road-Trippers) . . . and then I snap out of it and realize it just doesn't matter for me or most people who have charging at home (and maybe even for most of those who do not). 40km will likely not have a material impact on many, if any, of the trips I, or most, would take. The range obsession just sucks you in but it really only matters if you have a specific frequent trip where that extra 40 km would be the difference between needing to stop and not needing to stop at all . . .

 

[BJCanadaMax]

These kinds of interesting conversations nearly send me down the rabbit hole of thinking that I should buy the 21" Aero Design Wheels with Distance Tires (oops, "Tyres") so that I could rotate them in for those few times that I take a long-distance trip (so I would have Summers, Winters, and Road-Trippers) . . . and then I snap out of it and realize it just doesn't matter for me or most people who have charging at home (and maybe even for most of those who do not). 40km will likely not have a material impact on many, if any, of the trips I, or most, would take. The range obsession just sucks you in but it really only matters if you have a specific frequent trip where that extra 40 km would be the difference between needing to stop and not needing to stop at all . . .

The real solution for tripping really is just for better charging network. Unfortunately, that is happening too slow or non existent.

 

[whitex]

I did snap a (really bad) photo of the parking camera, and it seems to be more or less identical to the previous models.

I drove a recent Cayenne in the US this week. The UI looks like your pictures. The yellow "selector" is replaced by white on the Cayenne, rather than blue that you described. I wonder who at Porsche decides on the color of the selection, and is it per model or per country, or just random depending on what some lonely developer decided when checking in the code. Here are some Cayenne IC pics:

Oh, it had a 5 "tube" mode as well, I wonder if new Taycans have this too.

 

[mjoe]

Sharing some impressions I gathered this week of the new Porsche system on a loaner, but sadly not the new Taycan.

Currently having a 2 week shop break for my used MY'21 Taycan to fix various things at the dealer and got a new e-Hybrid Cayenne loaner.

The Cruise Control behaves exactly the same as described here. Activating the different levels of assistances now happens through the main control panel, once the button on the cruise control shifter is pressed. (Unsure if the 2-step up/down movement has been mentioned already. Similar to the indicator, one must go all the way to increase/decrease by 10 km/h steps. Otherwise it stays in single steps while holding indefinitely.)

Regarding Cameras:
the surround view package has a better camera then just the normal parking camera.

Regarding the "going-over-speed" warning:
-> my loaner cayenne has the free-programmable button on the steering wheel configured to turn that off. Every car sold in the EU is forced to have this feature always enabled at each new start. Sad that this button is now forced to have this functionality and cannot be used for something different then anymore..

Push to pass seems also be integrated in that car.. It feels very wrong to come from electric only drive-mode to forced revving the complete cold engine at 6000rpm.. Glad this isn't my car..

Oh yeah. the range on that is also horrible in terms of electric only. Happy to make 45km (80% city) out of it vs 75km promised in 20°C warm conditions. After exceeding 120km/h for 10 seconds, the combustion engine starts to kick in without a warning..

The charging timers on this thing is also interesting. Profiles vanished completely and I am now forced to set a "leave" goal where I can then set under advanced settings my preferred charging window (I have dynamic electric tariffs at home..). Costs me about 5€ per charge for 45km. My Taycan costs me 15€ per full charge (very unscientific with my dynamic tariffs) .. Carrying a tank and a combustion engine seems to be not so efficient. Who would have guessed..

Sponsored