There’s a certain Jekyll and Hyde streak to the Porsche Taycan Turbo that defines high-performance EVs. One minute, it’s smoother than a big Merc in traffic, gliding along with barely a whisper. No engine fuss, no gearbox theatrics, no hesitation or lurch – just a calm, fluid way of dealing with the daily grind. As a city car, it’s almost disarming.
That’s what makes the Taycan such a genuine daily driver. You don’t feel like you’re driving something highly strung or temperamental. Visibility is good, the driving position is spot on, and the ride – thanks to the standard-fit air suspension – is supple enough for broken city roads. The only real worry comes from its low ground clearance. Indian speed breakers pop out of nowhere, and I’ve found myself instinctively reaching for the nose-lift button more often than the volume control. On our roads, it’s survival equipment. A nice touch is the way the onboard computer can store the location of speed breakers and raise the suspension automatically when you approach them subsequently.
But you don’t buy an 884hp Taycan just for the daily office grind. It’s the unhinged side of its personality that matters more – the part you reserve for empty roads and unsuspecting passengers.
My favourite party trick is simple; find a clear stretch of road (the Coastal Road in Mumbai is perfect), get a firm grip on the wheel, engage Sport Plus, press the boost button and floor the accelerator pedal. All hell breaks loose. The surge is instant, violent, and, for the uninitiated, completely terrifying. Your head slams into the headrest, your lungs compress, and you feel like you’ve been shot out of a cannon. Everything feels like it’s in fast motion, speeded up to 3X.
Off the line, the Taycan Turbo is brutally quick. It can do 0-100kph in 2.7 seconds; the kind of acceleration you normally associate with racing cars, or at least supercars with no practicality; not a four-door sedan. And yet, it delivers this pulverising performance with zero effort – no wheelspin, no noise; just pure, relentless thrust. The brakes are equally effective; the stopping power is immense, progressive and reassuring, which gives you the confidence to use the Taycan’s mental performance rather than fear it.
A car like this needs space, and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway provided just that – at least in theory. In reality, it’s now infested with cameras, so you only get to enjoy the Taycan in short, sharp bursts. Even a brief squeeze of the accelerator is enough to pick up a fine. The Taycan gathers speed so effortlessly that staying within limits becomes an active exercise in restraint. In fact, on a Mumbai-Pune run, I always had one eye on the speedo and not the range. And that leads me to the Taycan’s big surprise – range.
With its massive 105kWh battery and impressive efficiency, the Taycan can really go the distance. My run from Mumbai, covering Pune city, Pimpri, Chakan and back, all on a single charge with over 100km still showing, was a real eye opener. That’s a real-world 500km-plus range; something very few EVs can honestly claim today.
Yes, drive it hard, and the range will drop, but the point is that you can still go pretty far. This is an EV with supercar pace whose battery doesn’t wilt the moment you stretch its legs. Mahabaleshwar? Easily doable, without the worry of range anxiety creeping in halfway up the ghats.
Performance and range, the Taycan has got both, but what makes it special is that it doesn’t just feel like a very fast EV – it feels like a Porsche. The power delivery is calibrated, not spiky. The steering is accurate and talkative. The brakes are progressive and phenomenally effective, the responses are measured, linear, and not hair-trigger. It has that magical Porsche feel, translated brilliantly for the electric age. Jekyll when you need it to be. Hyde when you want it. And it does both without breaking into a sweat.
Gavin D'Souza
Jay Patil
Sergius Barretto
Saumil Shah
Nikhil Bhatia
