Electric Sport Sound option - should you get it?

[Kayone73]

A common Q I see frequently asked by first time Taycan buyers who are speccing out their car or buying one off the lot:

'Should I get the Electric Sport Sound option'?

As someone who did spec ESS on my CT4S and going on 4 years or ownership, my answer is a resounding 'YES' but not for the reasons you may think.

Sure it sounds kind of cool inside the cabin, like a futuristic spaceship but that novelty wears off more quickly than you may think, and TBH I drive the car 90% of the time in dead silence, especially when cruising on local roads or highways.

HOWEVER there is one use case I find the feature indispensable: when driving around enclosed parking lots/parking garages, local street cross walks, basically anywhere pedestrians are walking around and stepping into the paths of oncoming cars.

In the era of ICE vehicles, people usually had no problem being aware a car was nearby because they could hear the engine or exhaust rumble, but the Taycan is nearly a dead silent vehicle from the outside especially creeping around in parking lot speeds. Also thanks to modern technology, the situational awareness of pedestrians are at an all time low with their faces buried in their smartphones, often in some of the most dangerous situations. The number of people who blindy walk in front me when I'm trying to find a parking spot or leave the lot altogether because they're staring at the phones, or worse, parents holding their kids hands and unknowingly pulling their kids into the path of an oncoming EV for the same reason, when they of all people should have their heads on a constant 360 swivel

Anyway with the ESS feature, I activate at the flick of a button, their heads immediately perk up and they promptly move out of the way. All without me having to resort honking on my horn.

Are the pedestrians just as careless and unaware in your city/part of the world as well?

Sponsored

 

[trycan]

The sport sound is only for what you hear inside the cabin. My car is optioned without sport sound and it still makes the startup sound and low speed hum on the outside of the car. Those external sounds are regulations that all EVs must implement, for the pedestrian awareness you mentioned.

 

[f1eng]

When I had a demo I turned it off within a few seconds so didn't order the option on mine.
I haven't missed it once.
I don't remember at what speed it switches off but for warning pedestrians my car has a noise outside at low speed.

An electric motor is objectively superior to a piston engine in every way, near silence is one of them.

 

[pteron]

I have it on mine - first thing I did was program the ‘individual’ setting to be everything from sport plus except the ESS.

To me it sounds silly, like a 4 year going ‘brum brum’ as they push their toy cars around.

 

[MrJones02]

I have it, it's off 95% of the time ... but yeah, the other 5% of the time I do kinda like it
Also very useful to alert cyclists/pedestrians ... they are often unaware of their surroundings until they actually hear something behind them.
Could also just use the horn for this, but the ESS is more subtle
Probably the newer cars make some sound at low speeds by default anyway.

 

[jakeCT]

I have it and use it on mine most of the time, but only in Sport Mode and recuperation ON, though this could be due to having enjoyed my Mazda RX-8 for 13 years- a car which needs to be kept in the range of 5-8K RPMs when cruising around town to be in the power band of the low but flat-torque rotary engine and be rewarded with the song of the engine. It uses much gasoline and produces excessive tailpipe emissions driven this way however.

From my POV, the ESS and the braking recuperation setup is what makes the Taycan (and Macan EV) unique among EVs. It’s not obnoxiously loud like the Charger Daytona’s implementation. The aural experience in the Taycan is surprisingly similar to my old car and adds to the joy of ownership. Funny thing is I sometimes think I am using a lot of battery range / fuel when maintaining speed and on deceleration due to the ESS sound

 

[lcarron]

I should have skip it when I ordered the car. Same for the Porsche crest on the head rest. Useless to me.

 

[kempez]

The sport sound is only for what you hear inside the cabin. My car is optioned without sport sound and it still makes the startup sound and low speed hum on the outside of the car. Those external sounds are regulations that all EVs must implement, for the pedestrian awareness you mentioned.

But the sport sound is a lot louder outside the car than the standard sound with it switched off. And it makes a big difference in pedestrians noticing you or not. It is what I use it for primarily. I've found switching it on means people don't just walk straight in front of the car, which they 100% do without it. I go a lot of places where there are kids and adults (ignoring kids), so it's a must have for me

In the 1.1 there is an extra speaker outside of the vehicle and it is quite loud.

 

[tbinmd]

My wife’s 22 CT4 does not have ESS and the car is loud, I can hear the car when she is coming up the street when she comes home.

 

[chun]

I use it all the time. On j1.1 the outside sound is also louder/different with it on.

I don't find the Taycan to be quiet enough in the cabin, even with insulated glass and road noise reduction tires with foam - the road noise is simply too loud at autobahn speeds, and it's is very annoying to be the only audible tune/frequency.
The sport sound mutes the road noise / wind noise quite a bit, so from that point of view, I like it.

 

[cmhitch]

Save a couple bucks and go without! It’s fun to show to newbies and then gets turned off.

 

[Dr. Debt]

Although I rarely turn on ESS just for the cool sound, whenever I am in parking lot area where a distracted pedestrian is obliviously focused on his smartphone, flipping it on quickly makes my presence known.

Is it worth the cost?

It depends on how you feel about tapping your horn because you otherwise can't be heard. Simply put, Porsche drivers who honk at pedestrians need to get used to a raised middle finger.

 

[B61]

The sport sound is only for what you hear inside the cabin. My car is optioned without sport sound and it still makes the startup sound and low speed hum on the outside of the car. Those external sounds are regulations that all EVs must implement, for the pedestrian awareness you mentioned.

AFAIK, with sport sound, you get additional outside speakers and i’m using it quite often, either in areas with lots of pedestrians (like parkings) and around my home, to make some noise, so wild animals go away…

 

[Torv]

A common Q I see frequently asked by first time Taycan buyers who are speccing out their car or buying one off the lot:

'Should I get the Electric Sport Sound option'?

As someone who did spec ESS on my CT4S and going on 4 years or ownership, my answer is a resounding 'YES' but not for the reasons you may think.

Sure it sounds kind of cool inside the cabin, like a futuristic spaceship but that novelty wears off more quickly than you may think, and TBH I drive the car 90% of the time in dead silence, especially when cruising on local roads or highways.

HOWEVER there is one use case I find the feature indispensable: when driving around enclosed parking lots/parking garages, local street cross walks, basically anywhere pedestrians are walking around and stepping into the paths of oncoming cars.

In the era of ICE vehicles, people usually had no problem being aware a car was nearby because they could hear the engine or exhaust rumble, but the Taycan is nearly a dead silent vehicle from the outside especially creeping around in parking lot speeds. Also thanks to modern technology, the situational awareness of pedestrians are at an all time low with their faces buried in their smartphones, often in some of the most dangerous situations. The number of people who blindy walk in front me when I'm trying to find a parking spot or leave the lot altogether because they're staring at the phones, or worse, parents holding their kids hands and unknowingly pulling their kids into the path of an oncoming EV for the same reason, when they of all people should have their heads on a constant 360 swivel

Anyway with the ESS feature, I activate at the flick of a button, their heads immediately perk up and they promptly move out of the way. All without me having to resort honking on my horn.

Are the pedestrians just as careless and unaware in your city/part of the world as well?

An utter waste of money. Take your significant other out to a really nice dinner.

 

[Silverback]

I had my 4S without it as I thought it was a gimmick, however I have only had my GTS for a couple of days but I am loving the Sports Sound. It may wear off, but worth the extra and increases the size of my grin when I am driving it. So much so the diamond button on the steering wheel has the shortcut to enable it.

Sponsored