Goodbye Taycan, hello 2025 Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo

[Uknown]

Today, I said farewell to my trusty Rocinante and picked up what currently has the working title Rocinante II, a new 2025 Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo.

I've only had her for half a day, so I haven't had time to fully assess all the differences, but spontaneously I can say that it's still very much a Taycan, but with a lot of little changes. Many of which are probably only noticeable by other Taycan owners, like that the handles mechanically sound different.

I'm going to try to take some more extensive photos tomorrow, so you can probably see this as a bit of a sneak peak at the moment.

I did change a few things in my spec compared to my previous Taycan. New colour, obviously, since my wife put in a veto on red cars. I also embraced the Cross Turismo styling a bit more and went with the extra plastics and roof railings. I also went with the black door handles, because I see myself as a bit of a bad boy and wanted to prove to myself that I'm not entirely allergic to changes. Otherwise the spec is essentially the same as before, except for some custom floor mats and such that I kept and brought over from the old car.

Some spontaneous changes that I've seen so far that I don't think have been covered previously:

1. InnoDrive has, like you might know, some fancy new graphics. It however also behaves quite differently than before. It's much more decisive and will fight you a bit more for control. It's absolutely not like Tesla Autopilot, but you will feel it tug in the steering wheel when you do something it doesn't agree with, whereas the previous version was barely even noticeable. It also appears to follow the road much better than before, even in relatively complex situations.

2. I'm not sure if it's because of hardware changes or new software, but the PCM is much faster than before. It's still not exactly snappy, but quite a few areas like scrolling and switching apps is much smoother. Apps now also animate when they launch and close.

3. The navigation, while still quite sluggish, is at least a fair bit less buggy than before. In the earlier gen, it would typically calculate a long route, and then recalculate several times to find the best charging plan. Now it essentially shows a route, spends a few seconds thinking, and then updates the route with the chargers.

4. ActiveRide is straight up silly. In Sports mode, the car stays so flat on the road it's surreal. In Normal mode where it does its whole "overcompensation" schtick it feels... weird. Not bad per se, but the car doesn't behave like you expect it to, which is an odd sensation.

5. The suspension is also significantly softer than before, in again a bit weird way. When going over a speed bump or a rough road the car will soften the impact, but it's not boaty like traditional soft suspension can be. It's not exactly trivial to explain, but essentially I think it can be summarised as the suspension is soft, but it doesn't bounce.

6. The ActiveRide system is however not used for lift mode, which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity because of how quick it is. I assume there's a technical reason for it.

7. The car can now connect to WiFi hotspots. So far, it's primarily used for the video app which requires it, but I assume it's also used for other online services.

8. The easy entry part of ActiveRide works just as advertised. It does take some time to get used to getting thrown into the air when you open the door to get out. One quirky thing however is that it doesn't seem to activate when the boot is open. It makes sense, but in practice if you push the button to close the boot, it often hasn't had time to fully close by the time you get to the door, which means that the easy entry function won't activate.

9. There is now, among other things, an audible warning when you exceed the speed limit, mandated by law. It can be turned off, but it will turn on every time you start the car. There are options for how much you need exceed the limit for it to sound, but strangely that seems to also be reset at start, which makes it utterly pointless. I'm still trying to understand exactly how this works, but at least it's possible to bind the diamond button to turn it off.

10. The carbon ceramic rims look significantly better in real life than I expected from the photos. The blades almost appear to be hovering rather than being attached. Again, hard to capture in a photo, but I like it.

11. Recuperation is no longer tied to the drive mode at all. It's a seperate setting, so If you turn it on, it's on for all modes.

12. I'm not sure if I'm just being dumb, but the dash map view seems to no longer be separately configurable, and instead just follows whatever zoom or display settings you have on the PCM.

13. Regen hasn't turned on yet, so my efficiency isn't great, but the guessometer is currently giving me 447 km at 86% or equivalent 520 km at 100% (~323 miles).

14. I know people have some mixed feelings over the new design, but personally I think the Turbo S looks great, again much better in real life than in the photos. It looks much more aggressive than before, which I think is fitting for the trim.

15. While I didn't actually care that much for the increased performance (the old Taycan Turbo S wasn't exactly sluggish), but I can say that there is definitely some pull in this one, especially at higher speeds. Again, together with ActiveRide, the car couldn't care less about my apparent attempt to break the sound barrier, like it wasn't in fact a two ton glorified station wagon.

16. The new video player based on ScreenHits is like all Porsche software about 70% good and then falls flat right at the end. It's almost literally just a web browser showing the ScreenHits service. ScreenHits itself is probably the most useless service I've ever seen, where it essentially just shows a bunch of random content from different services and literally opens a new browser window to netflix.com or whatever when you try to play anything. Why Porsche didn't just give us an actual web browser where you could play whatever you want, is completely beyond me. Maybe someone will eventually find a way to make the video app navigate to other websites (maybe through some creative proxy settings on the WiFi), because it is literally already a full fledged browser without a search bar.

Below is my spec and some quick photos I took. Like I said, I'll try to make sure to post some more photos later. The specs are translated from Swedish with the magic of ChatGPT so please excuse any AI hallucinations.

Packages
OffroadDesign Package

Foils
Model designation in black (glossy)

Exterior

• Roof rails in black aluminum (high gloss)
• Preparation for bike carrier
• Exterior mirrors with upper part in carbon fiber
• Window trim in black (high gloss)
• Door handles in black (high gloss)
• 'PORSCHE' logo LED lighting in doors
• Panel for rear window wiper in black (high gloss)

Transmission / Chassis

• Active Ride Control
• Sport Chrono clock in Porsche Design

Wheels

• Tire repair kit with electronic compressor
• Aeroblades Carbon
• 21" Exclusive Design wheels painted in black (high gloss) with high gloss polished surfaces and Aeroblades

Interior

• Porsche crests embossed on headrests (front and outer rear seats)
• Interior package with contrast stitching
• Seat consoles in leather (front)
• Comfort sport seats in the front (14-way) including memory package
• Seat configuration 4+1
• Individualized car key in exterior color with key case
• Heated leather steering wheel with matte carbon fiber inlays (in combination with Sport Chrono package and leather interior)
• Leather storage compartment for rear drive tunnel
• Massage function (front) including seat ventilation (front)
• Extended leather package, instrument panel
• Safety belts in contrast color - Atacama Beige
• Extended leather package for door panels
• Extended leather package for center console
• Grab handles in leather
• Aluminum pedals
• Illuminated carbon fiber (matte) door sill guards (in combination with inner door sill guards)
• Sun visors in leather
• Roof panel in Race-Tex
• Inner door sill guards and lower B-pillar in leather
• Cup holder panel in leather

Audio / Communication

• Passenger display
• Burmester® 3D High-End Surround Sound System

Color Choice for Leather/Decorative Stitchings

• Color choice for stitching

Lighting and Vision

• Rear light strip with illuminated "PORSCHE" logo in black
• Panoramic glass roof (fixed) with variable Light Control
• Sound and heat insulating glass including tinted windows

Comfort and Assistance Systems

• Head-Up Display
• Night Vision Assist
• Comfort entry
• Soft close function for doors
• Advanced Climate Control (4-zone)
• Air quality system
• Garage opener HomeLink®
• Remote Park Assist
• Trunk net
• Preparation for Porsche Dashcam (front and rear)
• Side airbags (rear)
• Porsche InnoDrive including Active Lane Keeping
• Lane Change Assist

Can you give another update on active ride after you have had it a few weeks? I am interested in this feature and skeptical I will be able to test it.

 

[andb]

Would you spec again the Active Ride suspension?

 

[bluesky]

My main concern is really how it will affect car sickness. My son tend to get car sick pretty easily, so I wonder whether this will help or make it worse. It’s possible to disable it in settings and it’s only activated in Normal mode, so we’ll see what I’ll do.

Same as I am wondering. Let us know how it goes.

 

[d00d]

3D surround shows me what's around the car from an external perspective when I select a camera, is it preferable to have 360 because it's camera view instead?

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

Are the leather grab handles just a selectable option? Did you have them on your .1? For some reason I don't see this being offered on the US builder. All of the additional leather details on your car look terrific.

I agree - the deviated stitching looks incredible - the one option I regret not getting. The backup camera looks better - is this the case??

 

[Perry]

I agree - the deviated stitching looks incredible - the one option I regret not getting. The backup camera looks better - is this the case??

Hard to say whether the camera is better or just cleaner than my previous Taycan. I think it’s relatively marginal, anyway. I think the real test is at night. Any camera will look fairly good in broad daylight.

 

[HerrCooles]

I have selected car remote control in the hope of being able to get in more easily when parking at an angle. Have you configured this?

 

[Watchesandburgers]

Is Rocinante in reference to Don Quixote’s horse, or the space ship in the sci-fi show The Expanse (which, I guess, is also named after the horse)?

 

[Perry]

Is Rocinante in reference to Don Quixote’s horse, or the space ship in the sci-fi show The Expanse (which, I guess, is also named after the horse)?

The latter. I thought it was fitting no name my EV's after fictional spaceships. My Model S was named Serenity after the TV show Firefly and my Model 3 is named Normandy from the game Mass Effect.

I was otherwise thinking of naming this one Endurance from the movie Interstellar.

 

[Perry]

I have selected car remote control in the hope of being able to get in more easily when parking at an angle. Have you configured this?

Yeah, I have remote parking configured. I know people have had connection issues on the forums, but for me it has worked as expected for both my old car and this one. I honestly haven’t used it that much, but the few times I have, it has been quite useful.

 

[Roppe]

Curious, although your spec is obviously pretty maxed out;
Now that you have had the car for a little while, if you had to choose between the Burmester system and Active Ride, would the choice be easy? My 2022 CT was specced with RAS but no PDCC or PTV+ and I thought it still was a phenomenal car to drive. I thoroughly enjoyed the BM but the BM system is MUCH better in our EQE43 than it was in the Taycan.

 

[Perry]

Curious, although your spec is obviously pretty maxed out;
Now that you have had the car for a little while, if you had to choose between the Burmester system and Active Ride, would the choice be easy? My 2022 CT was specced with RAS but no PDCC or PTV+ and I thought it still was a phenomenal car to drive. I thoroughly enjoyed the BM but the BM system is MUCH better in our EQE43 than it was in the Taycan.

Oh, that's a tricky one. Personally, I love good sound so while the Taycan BM isn't the best I've ever heard, I would still typically spec the best sound system available. I haven't actually listed to the Bose speakers, though, so I don't know how much of a difference it is.

That said, Active Ride is quite spectacular. I would argue that it's one of the more unique aspects of the new Taycan. It's a noticeable improvement even over PDCC, but most importantly I appreciate the improved comfort (I doubt I will ever actually push the car hard enough for the pure performance aspect to really matter). One also can't ignore the pure coolness factor of the comfort entry function, where the car shoots up when you open the door. Then again, they have apparently also improved the basic suspension even without Active Ride.

I think this is something that eventually comes down to personal taste. The standard suspension is still pretty good as it is, so I don't think anyone would be dissatisfied by going without Active Ride.

 

[Roppe]

Oh, that's a tricky one. Personally, I love good sound so while the Taycan BM isn't the best I've ever heard, I would still typically spec the best sound system available. I haven't actually listed to the Bose speakers, though, so I don't know how much of a difference it is.

That said, Active Ride is quite spectacular. I would argue that it's one of the more unique aspects of the new Taycan. It's a noticeable improvement even over PDCC, but most importantly I appreciate the improved comfort (I doubt I will ever actually push the car hard enough for the pure performance aspect to really matter). One also can't ignore the pure coolness factor of the comfort entry function, where the car shoots up when you open the door. Then again, they have apparently also improved the basic suspension even without Active Ride.

I think this is something that eventually comes down to personal taste. The standard suspension is still pretty good as it is, so I don't think anyone would be dissatisfied by going without Active Ride.

Thanks Perry, this is exactly what I’m thinking. Also, the AR will probably hold its value better than the Burmester. Appreciate the response, tack snälla

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