The rear-wheel-drive Taycan arrives, the most affordable in the range: Porsche

Until now, the Porsche Taycan range had 4 versions, with prices ranging from 109,063 euros for the Taycan 4S Performance (530 CV) up to 190,000,245 euros for the Taycan Turbo S (761 CV). Now, with the arrival of the new rear-wheel-drive variant, you have a Porsche Taycan for less than 85,710 euros. That is almost 25,000 euros less than the previously most affordable version.

• Porsche Taycan Performance: 85,710 euros
• Porsche Taycan Performance Plus: 91,530 euros

This new entry-level Taycan, which customers can also access through a leasing arrangement with a monthly fee of around 1,000 euros, joins the success of the first all-electric sports car from Porsche, which reached 20,000 units sold worldwide in 2020. In Spain and Portugal the targets have also been met, with more than 400 Taycans sold.

But what does the Taycan “lose” to offer a version at this price? Let’s take a look.

Rear-wheel drive, two battery options, from 408 CV

To begin with, unlike the Taycan 4S, Turbo and Turbo S, the new Porsche “entry-level” Taycan does not have all-wheel drive; instead, all the power is delivered to the road through the rear axle. It therefore loses the motor on the front axle, so some horsepower is left behind. Let us recall that Porsche already got the rear-wheel-drive Taycan into the Guinness World Records book, by covering more than 42 km non-stop in an electric car while drifting.

It is offered with two battery versions: the Taycan Performance, with a maximum output of 240 kW (326 CV) rising to 300 kW (408 CV) in overboost mode, and the Performance Plus, with 280 kW (380 CV) nominal and 350 kW (476 CV) in overboost mode. As in the Taycan 4S, the Taycan battery is 79.2 kWh, allowing a homologated range of 431 km. For the Performance Plus, the battery capacity increases to 93.4 kWh, raising the range up to 484 km, always according to the WLTP cycle.

The 0 to 100 km/h acceleration of this rear-wheel-drive Taycan is 5.4 seconds in both versions, Performance and Performance Plus, with a top speed of 230 km/h. Charging capacity does vary: up to 225 kW in the Performance and up to 270 kW in the Performance Plus. In either case, only about 20 minutes are needed to go from 5 to 80 percent charge. And in five minutes you can recover 100 km of range when charging at maximum power.

The single electric motor, located on the rear axle, retains the two-speed transmission of the rest of the range. This version also features intelligent charge management and an efficient energy recovery system, with a maximum recovery capacity of 265 kW. The standard brakes can optionally be replaced by the PSBC high-performance braking system, with larger discs of 410 mm at the front and 365 mm at the rear (standard: 360 mm and 358 mm, respectively).

With all the improvements of the 2021 Taycan range

The new rear-wheel-drive Porsche Taycan arrives already with all the improvements announced for the rest of the range for 2021. This includes the Plug & Charge function for paying at charging points without needing cards or mobile apps, by connecting the vehicle to the charging point.

Optionally, it can be equipped with a colour head-up display and the 22 kW on-board charger. Through On-Demand Functions, it is possible to install various elements online without visiting the workshop, to use them for a limited time or to purchase them permanently. For now, this functionality can be applied to the PIRM intelligent range manager, Power Steering Plus, the active lane-keeping assistant and the Porsche InnoDrive function.

The exterior details that identify this version are the optimised 19-inch Aero wheels and the black-coloured brake calipers. LED headlights are standard, and the front apron, side sills and rear diffuser all come from the Taycan 4S.

Inside, this version includes as standard partial leather upholstery and electric front seats. Despite having no motor on the front axle, the front boot under the bonnet only grows from 81 to 84 litres of capacity, retaining the 407 litres at the rear.

Technical specifications of this car

HatchbackPorsche Taycan22 versions · from 106,252 €