What's the best alternative to the Taycan?

[Gkwan]

Going back to the original question, and without reading now 14 pages of responses, what do people think of a Macan EV GTS or Turbo being an alternative to a Taycan? Four seats, Porsche brand cache, Porsche performance, etc.

The Macan I drove (~130K€) convinced me definitively to buy my Taycan Turbo : far too bumpy, rolling you from left to right, and 1/5th of the fun (for me at least)

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[Gkwan]

Tesla S PLAID……

Best overall Software and will pretty much outrun anything on the streets​

Not sure about the Plaid, but I drove a 2023 Model S (680ch) before buying my Taycan : only thing it can do is go fast in a straight line, it doesn't behave anywhere near a sportive sedan as soon as you turn the wheel, really disappointing - my previous Xpeng G9 Perf was superior in every regard (software included).
Then I tried the 2025 Model Y Performance, which was "much better" than this S, but that's it, no thrill, no "fun" to drive - just my opinion.

 

[Gkwan]

I’ve had the Macan twice as a loaner, each time for several days, including my regular drive over the mountains. It’s a very good car: composed, confident in bends, and quick when overtaking slower traffic. The slightly higher seating position is also an advantage on longer drives, especially on uneven roads.

The longer suspension travel helps on tarmac that’s been warped by frost and thaw cycles. The trade-off is a bit more body movement in corners (my loaners may not have had active suspension).

It also fits my electric mountain bike in the back, which the Taycan could not accommodate.

That said, I found myself missing the Taycan both times. The Macan feels more restrained and less sharp, which is natural for an SUV. For me, it doesn’t replace the sportier character of the Taycan.

I should see if the dealer has a Cayenne EV available for a test drive one of these days.

Exactly the same experience I had, except I'd qualify the body movements of the Macan as "massive" vs the Taycan's. And I don't think it even has the possibility to spec PAR or Air Suspension ? (unless maybe the GTS model?) didn't check that but if it doesn't then of course it's difficult to compare with a Taycan like mine which has Air Suspension (I don't have PAR or PDCC for my 1st Gen alas).

I'm hoping the Cayenne EV could be the best of both worlds, waiting to test drive it too

 

[Truthteller]

Exactly the same experience I had, except I'd qualify the body movements of the Macan as "massive" vs the Taycan's. And I don't think it even has the possibility to spec PAR or Air Suspension ? (unless maybe the GTS model?) didn't check that but if it doesn't then of course it's difficult to compare with a Taycan like mine which has Air Suspension (I don't have PAR or PDCC for my 1st Gen alas).

I'm hoping the Cayenne EV could be the best of both worlds, waiting to test drive it too

Air suspension is available as an option on the Macan, along with PTV+ and RAS, but as you mentioned there’s no option for PAR. From what I’ve heard from various journalists and others who’ve driven the car, if you’re aiming for a more pure, sports car-like driving experience, PAR isn’t typically recommended as it can feel a bit “unnatural.” That said, if your priority is comfort and an easy, refined daily drive, PAR can provide a very pleasant experience.

 

[Gkwan]

Well, I never said it’s a direct competitor, but rather (a much more expensive) alternative. It’s just like Taycans being considered an alternative to Teslas or some of the Chinese offerings (one of which even looks like a Taycan).

Perhaps the same argument that people use to justify paying for a Porsche can be applied to the Rimac - if you want premium products, you have to pay the premium.

lol, right

 

[Gkwan]

Air suspension is available as an option on the Macan, along with PTV+ and RAS, but as you mentioned there’s no option for PAR. From what I’ve heard from various journalists and others who’ve driven the car, if you’re aiming for a more pure, sports car-like driving experience, PAR isn’t typically recommended as it can feel a bit “unnatural.” That said, if your priority is comfort and an easy, refined daily drive, PAR can provide a very pleasant experience.

~130K€ for a not-GTS points to "yes" but I'm not sure, so benefit of the doubt.
Yes, PAR seems to be a massive improvement for comfort, the "flying carpet" effect which downside is to cut you more from feeling the road.
The perfect car would be a Taycan that's a flying carpet when you go to "comfort/PAR", and still the Taycan I love when you set it to Sport/Sport+, but if I'm not mistaken the PAR can't be disabled.
Maybe if it could be tweaked beyond the 2 or 3 choices you get in "individual" mode then it would be the best of both worlds.

 

[EXOTIC3]

Not sure about the Plaid, but I drove a 2023 Model S (680ch) before buying my Taycan : only thing it can do is go fast in a straight line, it doesn't behave anywhere near a sportive sedan as soon as you turn the wheel, really disappointing - my previous Xpeng G9 Perf was superior in every regard (software included).
Then I tried the 2025 Model Y Performance, which was "much better" than this S, but that's it, no thrill, no "fun" to drive - just my opinion.

…. drive a plaid and get back with us. Tesla software blows away Porsche

That’s without question. I still love my taycan turbo but a realist​

 

[gnr3312]

Exactly the same experience I had, except I'd qualify the body movements of the Macan as "massive" vs the Taycan's. And I don't think it even has the possibility to spec PAR or Air Suspension ? (unless maybe the GTS model?) didn't check that but if it doesn't then of course it's difficult to compare with a Taycan like mine which has Air Suspension (I don't have PAR or PDCC for my 1st Gen alas).

I'm hoping the Cayenne EV could be the best of both worlds, waiting to test drive it too

I’m excited for the Cayenne EV as well, hoping that in 2 years I can add it to the household vehicle count.

 

[targa666]

Stay away from the Mustang. My neighbours had one and ended up broken down every 2-3 months…

 

[whitex]

I’m excited for the Cayenne EV as well, hoping that in 2 years I can add it to the household vehicle count.

I am seriously considering two of those in a couple of years - his and hers. I've done it in the past with other cars - makes it easier for me to learn about, modify, and do basic service on the cars (which I do as a hobby). The main issue is Porsche needs to get their reliability up. My wife would divorce me if she had to deal with the issues I've been dealing with the Taycan.

What issues you ask? Let's start with something like the random electrical error which forced me to leave my car at the store parking lot recently (since the car refused to switch into gear), only to come back a couple of hours later and find out the error is gone, then dealer service diagnostics found nothing actionably to repair - that makes the car unreliable at best, dangerous at worst (imagine getting stuck somewhere cold, and the car won't engage the HV battery so no heat, unable to drive). If the solution is turn off the car for an hour for it to reset itself, why isn't there a fucking reset switch under the hood to do this when needed to get the car functional again? I buy my cars to drive them, not to put them on display for neighbors to drool over. Oh, I know, Porsche hasn't thought of this, and it would cost money to implement and test. I talked with service techs, even with a PIWIS (Porsche's diagnostics software which I happen to have), there is no way to reset the car without leaving it off for an hour, which is why all their Porsche procedures end with such time off. WTF Porsche, is there anyone left there who actually considers customer experience with the cars?!?

Porsche can't even get something simple like remote pre-heat/pre-cool via a phone app working reliably. Lately most of the time I try to preheat my car, the car fails telling me that the status of the car is just from 2 or 3 minutes prior to me starting the app (I am pretty sure it's not true, uncertain whether Porsche is consciously lying to customers to show them what Porsche things they want to see to mask their incompetent design architecture, i.e. always tell the customer the status is only few minutes old), then when I attempt pre-heat, it fails telling me my car has no connectivity. I call bullshit since the car is parked in my garage where it has its own cellular tower (a femtocell I installed just for the Taycan) barely 3 feet away with no obstructions, so full signal strength when in the garage (the femtocell is connected to two different internet providers with an automatic failover in case one of the providers craps out, which in itself is super rare - I had 15 minutes of internet failover active in the last 12 months, 3 events, one of them was me manually rebooting a fiber optic modem/ONT as I was changing out power backup, and it's backed up by batteries and a generator, so it literally NEVER goes out completely).

I guess we'll see if Porsche gets their shit together in the next couple of years. I'm willing to maybe wait a bit longer, as long as the Taycan holds up, or until some other car excites me and I give up waiting on Porsche.

 

[whitex]

Stay away from the Mustang. My neighbours had one and ended up broken down every 2-3 months…

Yea, but for Taycan money you could buy 2 of them (or 3 if comparing to Turbo S or GT) - if you only drive one at a time there ought to always be one in working order. It's not like Taycans run 12 months a year (mine averages a month a year in service).

 

[gnr3312]

I am seriously considering two of those in a couple of years - his and hers. I've done it in the past with other cars - makes it easier for me to learn about, modify, and do basic service on the cars (which I do as a hobby). The main issue is Porsche needs to get their reliability up. My wife would divorce me if she had to deal with the issues I've been dealing with the Taycan.

What issues you ask? Let's start with something like the random electrical error which forced me to leave my car at the store parking lot recently (since the car refused to switch into gear), only to come back a couple of hours later and find out the error is gone, then dealer service diagnostics found nothing actionably to repair - that makes the car unreliable at best, dangerous at worst (imagine getting stuck somewhere cold, and the car won't engage the HV battery so no heat, unable to drive). If the solution is turn off the car for an hour for it to reset itself, why isn't there a fucking reset switch under the hood to do this when needed to get the car functional again? I buy my cars to drive them, not to put them on display for neighbors to drool over. Oh, I know, Porsche hasn't thought of this, and it would cost money to implement and test. I talked with service techs, even with a PIWIS (Porsche's diagnostics software which I happen to have), there is no way to reset the car without leaving it off for an hour, which is why all their Porsche procedures end with such time off. WTF Porsche, is there anyone left there who actually considers customer experience with the cars?!?

Porsche can't even get something simple like remote pre-heat/pre-cool via a phone app working reliably. Lately most of the time I try to preheat my car, the car fails telling me that the status of the car is just from 2 or 3 minutes prior to me starting the app (I am pretty sure it's not true, uncertain whether Porsche is consciously lying to customers to show them what Porsche things they want to see to mask their incompetent design architecture, i.e. always tell the customer the status is only few minutes old), then when I attempt pre-heat, it fails telling me my car has no connectivity. I call bullshit since the car is parked in my garage where it has its own cellular tower (a femtocell I installed just for the Taycan) barely 3 feet away with no obstructions, so full signal strength when in the garage (the femtocell is connected to two different internet providers with an automatic failover in case one of the providers craps out, which in itself is super rare - I had 15 minutes of internet failover active in the last 12 months, 3 events, one of them was me manually rebooting a fiber optic modem/ONT as I was changing out power backup, and it's backed up by batteries and a generator, so it literally NEVER goes out completely).

I guess we'll see if Porsche gets their shit together in the next couple of years. I'm willing to maybe wait a bit longer, as long as the Taycan holds up, or until some other car excites me and I give up waiting on Porsche.

This is why I would wait 2 years, I want the kinks worked out and I really want wireless charging lol

 

[Dabz]

I'm in a Cayenne hybrid today, it's a tank. Having stuck a couple hours charge in (the battery was flat on pickup) it's definitely interesting being able to switch from battery (in town) to engine (which I used on the motorway), and also letting the car choose (which seemed to follow no pattern - one min it chose battery when accelerating on motorway or when going up a steep hill, then chose engine when gently driving the flat).

Oddly I thought having some grunt from an engine might sell me on either the upcoming RS5 Avant or in to a 911 GTS but if anything it's sold me again on EVs because of the quiet.

 

[Leccy61]

Could be the same one I had recently (Crayon, Reading?), quite liked the interior and PCM snappier, but yes bit of a tank, jiggly ride, could feel that high cog. Didn’t move the needle away from EVs for me one little bit

 

[Dabz]

Could be the same one I had recently (Crayon, Reading?), quite liked the interior and PCM snappier, but yes bit of a tank, jiggly ride, could feel that high cog. Didn’t move the needle away from EVs for me one little bit

Matt grey and Bristol for me I almost fell out the chair going through the first roundabout a bit too enthusiastically. Regardless of how much hassle it gives me, you just can't beat the Taycan for driving experience (ignoring the 911)

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