New Porsche Taycan rear-wheel drive review | Is this the best electric car? | Autocar

The 2021 Porsche Taycan is huge fun in its four-wheel drive, Turbo or 4S forms. But what if less is more?

This car is just badged Porsche Taycan, a simple name signifying that it only has one electric motor, so is purely rear-wheel drive. That in turn means it's lighter than other Taycans, weighing from 2050kg, which means it could be better? We'll see.

The latest Porsche Taycan has two power options, depending on which battery size you spec. Which is where it all gets a bit complicated. As standard, costing £70,690, it has 322bhp in normal driving or 402bhp on overboost when using launch control.

Specify a Performance Battery Plus, though, and your £74,769 Taycan gets a bigger battery, and you'll have 375bhp in normal driving or 469bhp on overboost.

As standard, the battery has a 71kWh usable capacity or, with a Performance Battery Plus, an 87kWh battery. That lifts its weight from 2050kg to 2130kg, hence the extra power - Porsche wouldn't want a 'Performance Battery' car to be slower.

Anyway it also gives a longer range, which is 268 miles with the smaller battery and 301 miles with the bigger one, on the official WLTP drive cycle.

Whether you'll get that in the real world is another matter. Stay tuned to see whether this lighter, rear-drive EV is just as compelling as other Taycans, too.
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