Taycan Reservations Begin

The other day, news broke that reservations for Porsche’s first electric vehicle, the Taycan, have officially started, and we even got a call from our sales rep, Mr. H.

“Reservations for the Taycan have started. Would you like me to put one in for you?”

My husband replied that “Actually, I’m also interested in the Continental GT, so I’m still undecided about the Taycan,” to which Mr. H responded, “Got it! Then let’s add the Continental GT as an additional car, haha.” (laughs)

For now, we can’t say for sure we’ll buy it, but we decided to go ahead and place a reservation for the Taycan. When I asked my husband, “If you’re going to reserve, is it the Taycan 4S? Have you decided on the specs yet?,” he said:

Well, I don’t really need that much power, so this time it’s the Taycan 4S. If there was a base model, I’d go for that without hesitation. Ever since the Taycan was announced, I’ve been running simulations on the US Porsche site’s configurator, so I pretty much know what specs I want. But I wonder why the Porsche Japan site is so slow to release their configurator. I always think, can’t they do something about that…

So, since we had the chance, I asked him to share what specs he’d choose if he bought a Taycan.

Taycan 4S Specs

Here are the specs my husband would pick, based on his trials with the US site’s configurator, which you can check out here. (There might be slight changes for the Japanese spec, and if he ends up buying, he’ll review it again.)

The must-have option was the Porsche Electric Sport Sound. It’s like a sports exhaust system, but since it’s not an engine, it lets you enjoy a dynamic sound while driving. I actually listened to it in a video, and the high-pitched whirring sound was really cool.
Also, he chose black for the body color. He was torn between Gentian Blue Metallic, but felt that black suits the Taycan’s design well, giving it a compact, solid look. He also made the window frames black to give the whole car a solid feel.

For the wheels, focusing on range, he picked the 20-inch Taycan Turbo Aero Wheels, which gave the longest range in simulations.
The interior and seats are mostly stock, but he changed the seatbelt color to red to match the red brake calipers.

Regarding driving performance options, he went all-in for the first time with the Sport Chrono Package, Rear Axle Steering, and PDCC Sport — the holy trinity.
There’s no reason not to get the Sport Chrono Package, and he really appreciated the Rear Axle Steering from driving the Panamera. He also experienced PDCC on the new Cayenne test drive and found it greatly improves ride comfort, so he chose it this time.
For comfort features, just Lane Change Assist and ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control).
He tried to keep options minimal, but it still ended up pretty pricey, haha.

PDCC Sport

That’s the rundown. Interesting…

Taycan Brakes

I said, “But with electric cars, it feels strange when the brakes engage automatically as soon as you lift off the accelerator. I get that it’s for regeneration, but when I drove the Nissan Note e-POWER, it felt a bit weird at first.” Apparently, the Taycan’s braking system is structured differently from other electric cars.

When I asked my husband about this,

Reading the Taycan’s Press Kit Technology Workshop, it says that 90% of normal braking can be done without using the actual brake system, relying solely on the electric system (motor regenerative braking).
So, unlike typical EVs, it doesn’t do one-pedal driving. Instead, energy regeneration only kicks in when the driver actually presses the brake, and the motor’s regenerative braking works behind the scenes. This means the brake pads are used less. That’s why Porsche has set the brake replacement interval by time for the first time, setting it at six years.
That’s amazing. They really emphasize the importance of the driver actually pressing the brake pedal, which is so Porsche. This kind of dedication is why I love Porsche. They develop with a strong belief in how things should be.

That’s what he said. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

My husband also said, “I haven’t driven it yet and there’s still a lot I don’t know, but the more I learn, the more I realize Porsche is aiming in a completely different direction than Tesla, which makes me more interested.”

I haven’t actually seen a Taycan in person yet, so first I want to see the real thing!