Porsche Taycan

As standard, the base Porsche Taycan offers 240kW (321bhp) of power. In its temporary over-boost mode, power leaps to a Jaguar I-Pace-sized 300kW (402bhp), and that’ll punt you from 0-100kph in a claimed 5.4 seconds. Spend more on the Performance Battery Plus (just under £5k), and battery capacity climbs from 79kWh to 93kWh, upping claimed range from 354 km to 407 km. Meanwhile you get 375bhp under your right foot, or a temporary 469bhp on over-boost – though Porsche says the upgraded car isn’t any quicker, because the battery weighs more.

At the other end of the price list, the Turbo S makes an astonishing 616bhp in normal mode (750bhp in over-boost). 0-100kph takes 2.8 seconds and it’ll do a 10.8 second quarter-mile. Carbon-ceramic brakes and wider tyres are standard, as is a range of between 390 km. Yes, you’ll want the Turbo S more than any of the other Taycans, but in 99 per cent of road-based situations the Taycan and 4S, with the big-battery option, are all you need.

Locate the toggle selector behind the wheel, flick into D and the car hums gently, just enough to let you know it’s alive. Around town the Taycan is effortless, silent, comfortable and doesn’t feel as wide as it looks – a joy, in other words, even when the traffic and speed cameras conspire against you.

The driving position is as near as to a 911, but the environment is all-new. The centre console locks you in but floats leaving space beneath and the only physical buttons are on the wheel and doors. In here, the screen is king – a sculptural, curved one behind the wheel, a standard rectangular 10.9-inch one in the middle of the dash, an I-Pace style portrait one where your left hand rests, and an utterly pointless (but fortunately optional) one above the glovebox in front of the passenger. The same passenger who is perfectly capable of moving their hand three inches to the left and using the central screen to mess with your music or plug something into the sat-nav.

Next to a Model S, the gimmick count is low, but that passenger screen is unnecessary, as are the directional air vents controlled deep in a sub menu on the main screen. What’s wrong with manually pointing the vanes? But there’s familiarity, too. Your driving modes – Range, Normal, Sport and Sport+ - are controlled via a dial on the steering wheel, and although all the interfaces and graphics are unique to the Taycan, anyone that’s driven a Porsche will be at ease within the hour. As you’d expect, quality is spot-on.

The boot is as big as a Golf’s (366-litres) and there’s a small frunk too (81-litres), and while you can squeeze a six-footer in the back, the rear seats are more suited to kids or vertically challenged motoring journalists. Porsche has, however thoughtfully carved a space for your feet into the battery under the floor – something they call the ‘foot garage’.

Summary