2025 Porsche Taycan Review: Still The Best Of Its Kind

Yes, yes, we’re a little bit late to this party, but we’re here at last. The updated Porsche Taycan has been on sale for a little while in the UK and, although it’s taken us some time to get around to driving it, we feel it’s an important thing to cover still.

You see, we’ve long held the thought that as a do-it-all EV, the Porsche Taycan has been the king of the roost since its introduction. There’s obviously the stupidly-fast Turbo S for those who simply wanted outright speed, but the more sedate versions are our idea of the perfect daily driver in a world without internal combustion. Particularly any in Sport Turismo flavour.

Yet, the passage of time means it’s now been six years since the Taycan first went into production and while once at the cutting edge of its class, the rapid rate at which EV development has surged puts it at risk of being left behind. Porsche has done quite well to rectify this with a midlife update.

Our time with the even more bonkers Turbo S and Turbo GT will come, but for today, we’re talking about the base Taycan, the one you’re more likely to see than either of those.

While visually, the updated Porsche Taycan doesn’t look all that much different from the original save for tweaked headlights and the customary reworked bumpers, there are a lot of important changes under the skin.

As standard, the Porsche Taycan now comes with a 97kWh usable capacity battery pack, with a quoted range figure of 416 miles at best. Without really trying, a return of 3.4mi/kWh meant we were getting about 330 miles of real-world range from the Taycan. Impressive for a car with 430bhp on tap.

Oh, and an upgraded max charging rate of 320kW means you can take the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in 18 minutes on a compatible charger, which is approaching the territory where we think EV charging needs to be to compete with combustion power for ease of use.

Changes to the chassis aren’t too dramatic, although air suspension does come as standard now on all versions of the Porsche Taycan. Unsurprisingly, it drives much the same way as before, then.

There’s a neatness to the way the Taycan handles; you do get some of that taut Porsche DNA seeping through, but it’s not arrowhead sharp in the way it steers. There’s a sense of disconnect that seems to come inherently with EVs. Even Porsche hasn’t quite cracked that yet, and there’s no Hyundai N-style trickery to help avoid that

Body control is superb, though, and ultimately, it feels very neutral to drive. Rarely exciting, a tad bland, but not what we’d call bad. Perhaps more importantly to people buying (or leasing) a base Taycan, it’s very good at long-distance stuff thanks to a comfortable ride.

It’s quick, too. The 430bhp, rear-driven base car doesn’t offer stomach-churning acceleration, but it’s enough to have fun with. The changes on its two-stage gearbox are seamless too, which is something we can’t say for the range-topping version of one of its new rivals, the Lotus Emeya.

As for the interior, it’s very much small evolution rather than a revolution here. The Taycan’s digital instrument cluster and rather brilliant infotainment systems have largely been left alone, save for some minor quality-of-life tweaks, and the rest of the cabin remains unchanged. That’s to say well built, extremely pleasant, but perhaps a bit devoid of character.

You do get a few more standard bits of equipment, including ambient lightning, a wireless smartphone tray, new USB-C charging ports and a reversing camera, all of which are welcome given Porsche’s traditionally humongous list of tickable extras.

Not that you’ll be able to escape those entirely – for some context, although starting at £88,200, a handful of options, including a 360-degree camera, its leather interior, 20-inch wheels and Bose audio system saw our test car totalling £95,999. It doesn’t take much time on the online configurator to make that tip £100,00o either.

Which then brings us to the elephant in the room – depreciation. It’s hard to put our stamp on saying you should go out and buy a Porsche Taycan with cash, knowing full well that depreciation is going to be its absolute killer – it only takes a customary check of the classifieds to see practically new examples with already a good £30-40k off their list price.

Getting one on a company lease scheme, though? Do it. Forget the Lotus Emeya, or even the near-identical Audi E-Tron GT – the Porsche Taycan is still the best of its kind.