Porsche Taycan

Lamborghini, a brand synonymous with supercars once envisioned a luxury sedan with a naturally aspirated V10, straight out of the Gallardo LP560-4. Yes, I’m talking about the Estoque concept. This sick-looking performance sedan concept debuted back in 2008, but couldn’t make it to production, mainly because of the declining interest in the sedan body style.

Porsche sports cars like the 911 in particular, have a faithful following. With a legacy spanning over 60 years and counting, the car itself, and the people who drive them possess very specific traits. Whether we are talking about one of the many 911 versions, the EVs, or the SUV offerings, Porsche’s performance models are some of the most capable, pound-for-pound. There have been many Porsche 911 versions that have achieved legendary status and have even overshadowed other decent Porsche offerings. Then, there is the infamous brand tax, which is present on, both the new stuff, the classics, and limited-edition models, of which there are plenty on this list. While most of these models are deserving of their reputation, their exclusivity has priced them out of reach for all, but the most avid car collectors. This isn’t just limited to the 911 though and some Porsche models aren’t as deserving of the hype. Now, I know that including some of the models in this list may be controversial, but in my opinion, here’s why these are 10 of the most overrated Porsche models.

Catering solely to car enthusiasts may seem like the best way for a company to go bankrupt unless you are Porsche that is. The German carmaker has realized people still want gasoline-powered models and the declining demand for EVs has inadvertently forced Porsche to make some strategic changes and adjustments, that have been widely welcomed by some of the brand’s biggest fans. By now, everybody has heard of how many automakers originally planned to electrify most of their lineup by 2030, with some even planning a full transition to EVs. Porsche meanwhile has now taken a slightly more flexible stance due to a slowdown in demand for electric cars, and it appears that we will continue to get some interesting ICE-powered models. However, this may come with a few sacrifices, as you’re about to find out.

Between trying to stick to the 2030 electrification plans and keeping the internal combustion engine alive, Porsche has made some weird decisions of late. EV demand has decreased, prompting a few strategy changes from the German automaker. The all-electric Taycan in particular was affected by this market shift, as the performance EV went from being one of the most popular Porsche models to now suffering declining sales. Global Taycan sales have dropped by almost 50 percent during the first nine months of 2024 and this makes me draw parallels with another Porsche model from the 1980s that started out strong but ended up being axed due to slow sales. The 928 suffered a similar fate during the second half of its production cycle. Porsche had big plans for the 928 and its derivatives, which never saw production. All this begs the question: is the writing on the wall for the Porsche Taycan EV? There is more to suggest that this is the case and I am going to share all we know so far.

No Porsche can truly be called slow, but then again, no Porsche is truly affordable either. The sports carmaker has long traditions in motorsport, which has nicely transitioned into its road cars. While much can be said about the Porsche 911, you need to put together a hefty sum of money if you want to buy one. The base-model 992.2 Carrera starts at $122,000 and special-edition models like the GT3 RS are over $240,000. Not long ago, you could get behind the wheel of a 911 for under $100,000, but that is no longer the case with the 992.

Given how crossovers and SUVs are all the rage these days, it is no surprise that only a handful of wagons on sale in 2024. This is strange because most wagons are more practical than sedans and pack better driving dynamics than SUVs. In the EV world, Porsche’s Taycan Cross Turismo is a great alternative to some of the gas-powered or hybrid wagons like the Audi RS6 Avant and the newly debuted BMW M5 Touring.

Despite Porsche being one of the most iconic sports car manufacturers of all time, most of the company’s offerings these days are geared towards luxury and daily usability. What was once a company focusing on high-performance models and motorsports, now has one of the most versatile lineups in the industry, made up of sedans, SUVs, and also wagons. This includes the likes of four-door sedans like the Panamera and Taycan. Both share plenty of traits and with the next-generation Panamera going full EV, this begs the question, which one should you choose?

Porsche’s Taycan is one of the most hyped-up and popular performance EVs on sale today. By Q4 of 2023, Porsche had sold 136,000 Taycans cumulatively. The EV sedan bumped Porsche sports car sales by 3.3 percent, despite the German brand’s overall sales having dropped by 12 percent compared to 2022. While the electric vehicle market is currently experiencing a slowdown, it hasn’t stopped other manufacturers from entering the performance EV segment with their own offerings. Take for instance Lotus, a brand typically known for its lightweight sports cars. Still, now the British carmaker is giving us the Emeya – a large, EV performance sedan that wants to steal potential buyers, from the likes of the Taycan and Tesla Model S.

The Porsche 718 EV will soon join the Porsche Macan electric and four-door Taycan as the third model in Porsche’s lineup. This shows that regardless of a slowdown in sales, Porsche is going to continue models that it already had in the pipeline. So besides the 718 EV, the Cayenne and even a rumoured Taycan will be here before the end of the decade. However, the flagship model of the Porsche brand, i.e. the iconic 911 won’t be going electric until well into the early 2030s. So until then, it begs the question, why doesn’t Porsche use something that’s already here to cater to the discerning luxury car buyer, who’s looking for a sleek coupe in the form of a Taycan Two-door? Okay, this may sound preposterous and unrealistic in the real world, considering something like this will involve a considerable amount of retooling on the production line, but let’s just try and make the case for such a model, hypothetically.

A car cover is a pretty generic item and is an absolute necessity if you park your ride out on and about for extended periods of time, in order to protect it from the elements. But it makes an even stronger case if the ride in question happens to be your brand-new 100-grand Porsche Taycan. You can go with something pretty generic from Amazon for under a hundred bucks. It does the usual stuff like protection accents for rain, snow, the wind, and sun and I found one that even has reflective stripes and a cut-out for a charge port. But if you want the novelty of a Porsche branded cover for your Taycan, you can get both a water-repellent outdoor cover and an indoor cover from the Porsche Tequipment accessories catalog for just $379. However, if you happen to have the luxury of an enclosed garage, Porsche has something pretty unique, to keep your Taycan under wraps, quite literally.

The Porsche-Piëch connection is a deep-rooted family relationship that goes back decades and has shaped the history and success of the Porsche and Volkswagen automotive groups. Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of the Piëch name before, the late Dr.Ferdinand Piëch was one of the most influential automotive personalities of the 20th century. He was involved with the motorsports division of Porsche and Audi in the 1970s and ’80s and was instrumental in proliferating technologies such as Quattro and TDI. As CEO of Volkswagen in the 1990s, Piëch was also responsible for acquiring iconic brands such as Bugatti, and Lamborghini into the wider VW Group portfolio. Despite these phenomenal achievements, no car ever bore the Piëch name, until recently.

Things are always dynamic in the automotive industry and even carmakers like Porsche, hellbent on staying true to tradition, have to resort to unconventional methods to keep some of its most iconic models around. Porsche hasn’t given up on the internal combustion engine and it will continue to give us potent internal combustion powerplants, at least, until 2030. With electrification being the main agenda of many legacy automakers (and more than a few young companies), some of them are trying to make EVs more fun by incorporating traits from combustion-powered vehicles, such as manual shifting.

Porsche’s second top model for the Taycan EV, the Turbo S, is nothing short of a performance powerhouse. We’re talking 938 horsepower and 818 pound-feet of max torque, along with loads of sportier touches, including standard carbon ceramic brakes (you need these beefier brakes to tame this beast), standard 21-inch wheels, rear-axle steering, and a boatload of carbon fiber trim.

Back in 2019, Porsche finally took a leap into the electric future with the Taycan, a sleek and powerful EV that proved sports sedans could be both thrilling and eco-conscious. Seeing an opportunity to carve its own path in the electric performance sedan market, sister-brand Audi followed suit with the e-tron GT, its second electric offering after the fat e-tron SUV, built on the same J1 platform developed by Porsche.

Not everyone is a die-hard E.V. enthusiast, like myself, and I have to admit the Porsche Taycan is very convincing. It looks unmistakably like a Porsche, and more importantly, it drives like one, too. But it’s not like it got off to a bad start. The Taycan, a practical four-door sedan that offers excellent luxury and driving experience, had its limitations when it came to the driving range.

Porsche has announced a strategic partnership with Varta AG, a German battery manufacturer. Even as the broader EV industry faces headwinds, this counterintuitive strategy reflects Porsche’s long-term vision of dominating the high-performance electric vehicle segment. I say counterintuitive, because Porsche backtracked on its statement from 2020, that it wanted 80% of its sales to come from EVs by the end of the decade. Regardless, this move could shake things up for Tesla and other EV players.

With 1,019 horsepower, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is the most powerful road-legal Porsche ever. The Turbo GT trim packs a bunch of performance upgrades to make it more agile than the rest of the Taycan line-up. The competition in the shape of the 2024 Model S Plaid continues to hold its position as one of the quickest-production EVs in the world. While the Cyber Truck is grabbing all of the headlines currently, the Model S continues to be a comfortable and luxurious choice with the bonus of its supercar-like acceleration. Both of these EVs represent the pinnacle of EV technology offered by these respective brands, but the question remains, which one is faster in a straight line?

Porsche is best known for its sports cars, predominantly the 911. The rear-engine model, although far from being the brand’s only performance car, shows continuous commitment to perfecting the classic, rear-engine design, we have all loved since 1964. While the 911 would remain as a gas-powered model for as long as possible, Porsche has diversified its lineup over the last two decades. Following the Boxster, Porsche introduced its first SUV, the Cayenne, and a few years later, in 2009, the Panamera high-performance sedan. One thing no one expects from Porsche is a minivan.

Porsche has taken the electric vehicle landscape by storm with the Turbo GT trim of the Taycan facelift. But beyond the subtle revisions in exterior design and improvements in overall performance on the Taycan, there’s a twist when it comes to the flagship Taycan trim for the 2025 model year.

Porsche’s headlights are some of the most recognizable in the automotive industry. When it comes to the 911, the German sports car manufacturer has retained the classic forms since the 1964 original. This includes the round headlamps, which were present on almost all 911 generations, except the Porsche 996, featuring the controversial, "fried-egg" headlights. Like other carmakers, Porsche went from halogen to xenon headlights and, eventually, an LED setup on all its models. It started with the 993 generation, which introduced "Litronic” technology - Porsche’s first dabble in H.I.D. tech, only to be permanently replaced by LED technology over 20 years later. As Porsche says, "Light is identity, by day as well as by night", and the German brand’s current, four-line, LED headlight pattern is recognizable almost anywhere. The four-point LED principle, as Porsche likes to call it first became a feature on range-topping models, starting with the 2009 Porsche Panamera Turbo. Since then, the four-point headlight design has evolved and was extended to other Porsche models like the Cayenne, Taycan, 918 Spyder, and even the 911.

Let’s talk about Porsche and a dream that just got put on hold. Remember back in 2022, when they were all gung-ho about being 80% electric brand by 2030? Yeah, about that... seems that dream is hitting a major roadblock. Look, I get it. Porsche makes some of the most iconic sports cars on the planet, but the reality is, they too, just like so many automakers, jumped on the E.V. bandwagon. The problem is, that people today still aren’t as gung-ho about E.Vs as the industry thought. The proof is in the pudding, with hybrids making a comeback. For a brand that’s built its laurels on boxer-engines, where does this leave the 911?

I’m a sucker for anything with a Porsche crest on it and Porsche Design (PD) has always understood how to blend performance with pure, unadulterated style. Their design philosophy also extends to two wheels. I’m talking about E-Bikes that Porsche Design added to its product lineup in 2021. Regular E-bikes these days are about as exciting as a grocery-getter. But Porsche? They simply don’t do boring. A result of a partnership between Porsche and Rotwild, these E-bikes offer a premium riding experience and draw inspiration from iconic Porsche models like the 911 and the futuristic Taycan E.V. If you’re a Porsche fanatic, their range of E-bikes is a cool way to break a sweat, and now they’re kicking things up a notch with some new colorways and a smartwatch collab that’ll make any Porschephile drool.

Believe it or not, the all-electric Taycan Turbo GT holds the prodigious title of the "most powerful road-going Porsche ever". This 4-door road missile combines a 1019 horsepower powertrain with sharp handling, giving it an edge over its EV competition. When optioned with the Weissach package, the Taycan Turbo GT can hit 0-60 MPH in 2.3 seconds and achieve a top speed of 190 MPH. All that power from the Taycan’s dual motors is channeled through a 2-speed direct-drive transmission to all four wheels. The GT4 RS is a track fiend with the same engine that powers the 911 GT3, albeit detuned a little to make 493 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of Torque. Interestingly the same engine produces 502 horsepower and 346 pound-feet of Torque in the 911 GT3. This flat-six engine sits in the middle of the car and directs all its power through a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission to the rear wheels.