Driving the Porsche Taycan on the Highway

Moving to the highway to observe its behavior at speed. First, merging from the toll booth, if you gently press the accelerator, the earlier intense acceleration calms down, and the car accelerates very gently.

The optional Electric Sport Sound produces a pleasant tone, and the car smoothly and quietly picks up speed. Around just under 100 km/h, if you listen carefully, you can hear the motor sound change slightly as it shifts to a high-speed gear.

Of course, there is zero shift shock.

Increasing the pace a bit, I moved from the driving lane to the passing lane to overtake, then back to the driving lane. Even with somewhat rough inputs, nothing untoward happened. There was no roll or instability at all.

Driving at a speed to lead the passing lane in line with surrounding traffic, the first thing my wife said from the passenger seat was, “The aerodynamics are amazing.”

Indeed, it feels like the car is slicing through the air.

Often, for cars with good aerodynamics, people say they “cut through the air wall,” but the Taycan feels a bit different.

As speed increases, it feels like an air path or rail forms around the body, eliminating side-to-side sway and stabilizing the car firmly. There’s almost no wind noise, and acceleration remains endlessly smooth.

What stands out at high speeds is how flat the ride is. Honestly, it’s the flattest ride I’ve ever experienced in any car. It’s truly astonishing.

Your line of sight doesn’t move up or down.

Road joints or repair patches don’t matter. You just hear the “thump!” or “clunk!” sounds, but you hardly feel any impact or body movement.

On circuits, when driving a GT3 above 180 km/h, the flatness becomes very pronounced, but the Taycan offers that level of flatness even around 100 km/h.

Traffic got a bit heavier, so my wife took over driving and turned on ACC to cruise. From the passenger seat, the smoothness was so seamless that I couldn’t tell if it was the human or the car driving.

My wife has experienced ACC in many cars and said, “This is the smoothest and most reassuring one I’ve ever used.”

Is the Taycan Really a Porsche?

After driving the Taycan thoroughly in city, winding roads, and highway, my impression is that the Taycan is a car Porsche has crafted with absolute seriousness.

Initially, there were rumors it was aimed at Tesla as a rival, but in my opinion, this is beyond rivalry. The chassis and suspension performance completely dominate. It feels like Tesla can’t catch up at all.

The driving performance is so excessively refined that it makes you think, “It’s an EV, so maybe they didn’t have to go this far.”

It’s built so solidly that personally, I want to take longer trips with it. I want to tour places like Kanto or Tohoku without worrying about range or charging points, but the current environment makes that a bit difficult, which is the biggest drawback.

Next, regarding whether the Taycan is truly a Porsche, here are my personal thoughts. While the Taycan is wonderful, it doesn’t have the athletic performance of a GT3, and it would likely lose to a 911 on circuit lap times.

However, its feel is unmistakably ‘Porsche.’ After just a few dozen meters, it’s clear the feel is close to a 911, with handling characteristics that aren’t overly quick or abrupt, steering gain that increases gradually with speed, and no sense of unnatural behavior.

The Taycan’s steering feel shares traits common to all Porsche models.

Recently, Kazuo Shimizu said something interesting. Whenever he asks Porsche engineers, “What is Porsche’s strength?” engineers from every era always answer the same: “We test thoroughly. Testing is everything.” He said this might be the key to why Porsche can build cars that feel so Porsche-like.

I feel the Taycan was tested and developed with terrifying thoroughness, with a strong awareness that it must be a Porsche. Even though the powertrain changed to electric motors, the engineers clearly didn’t want to be told it’s ‘not Porsche-like’ and refused to use the powertrain difference as an excuse.

The development engineers must have poured their pride into creating the Taycan. I think the Taycan is uncompromisingly a Porsche, especially its chassis performance is undeniably Porsche.

That’s my impression from this test drive of the Porsche Taycan.