The New Rear-Drive Porsche Taycan Is A £70k, Drift-Ready EV

At the tail end of last year, Porsche drifted its way into the record books by setting the benchmark for the longest EV drift. The tool for the job wasn’t the enormously powerful Taycan Turbo S, but the one at the opposite end of the range.

The reason is simple: the entry-level Taycan (simply called, erm, Taycan) doesn’t have a motor at the front axle. So as well as being the cheapest car in the line-up, it’s also the most drift-ready. The catch is that from the rear-wheel drive Taycan’s launch last summer, it’s only been available in China. That’s just changed, though.

Porsche has finally confirmed the derivative for the European and US markets. Here in the UK, you’re looking at a starting price of £70,690, while the in the US it’s $79,990. A Taycan 4S is £13,000 more, while a Turbo S is near enough double.

Is the boggo Taycan half the car? Definitely not. It looks scarcely different, and you get the same well-designed interior, complete with a curved instrument cluster, a 10.9-inch infotainment screen and an optional display for the passenger. With 404bhp on tap in the overboost mode (322bhp otherwise) it’s also more than powerful enough for most, hitting 62mph in 5.4 seconds and topping out at 143mph.

The range with the standard 79.2kWh battery pack is 268 miles according to the WLTP cycle. If swapped for the ‘two-deck’ 93.4kWh Performance Battery Plus, this jumps to 300 while increasing the maximum charge capacity from 225kW to 270. At the same time, the power is boosted to 469bhp, although the 0-62mph time doesn’t change.

Along with the power decrease, there are (inevitably) further compromises forced by the price. Unlike the 4S, Turbo and Turbo S it runs on steel springs rather than air, although you can option the three-chamber air setup if desired. Plus, as with the 4S, 19-inch wheels are fitted as standard rather than the 20-inch whoppers used for the Turbo/Turbo S.

If that doesn’t put you off, cars are set to arrive at UK Porsche Centres from March.