2022 Porsche Taycan GTS First Drive: The Driver’s EV to Beat

Porsche has the GTS styling recipe down to a fine art, by now, and the Taycan flavor doesn’t stray too far from there. The front gets a SportsDesign bumper, more angular under the squinting headlamps to help funnel airflow into the side vents. LED-Matrix Design headlamps are standard, with Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus, though given a black finish unique among the Taycan range.

The skirts are unique, too, with high-gloss black inserts, and as standard the side mirrors are a mix of exterior color and gloss black. Optionally, you can have them match the body completely, or switch to carbon fiber. 20-inch Turbo S Aero Design wheels are standard, while the 21-inch RS Spyder Design wheels you see here – altogether shedding 11 pounds versus the next-lightest set – are available.

At the back, there’s a new louvered-design red diffuser with more high-gloss black inlays. Porsche finishes things off with black logos and badging, along with matching black window trim and red brake calipers.

The result is clearly Taycan, but distinct enough to stand out in the EV crowd. To be more unique, of course, you can skip the standard Taycan and go straight to the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo. Unofficially the all-electric wagon enthusiasts have been blissfully dreaming of for years, it effectively takes the Cross Turismo body style but pairs it with the stance of the regular car and no plastic wheel arch cladding.

I happen to think the result looks epic – I am, I should point out, a big fan of wagons – but it’s also considerably more flexible should you need extra convincing. More than 42 cu-ft of cargo space for a start, and 3.6-inches more rear headroom thanks to the change in roofline. Porsche will sell you not only roof rails to match, but a very fancy rear bike carrier that’s rated to tote up to three bikes (including heavier e-bikes).

Much as with the styling, the performance strikes a balance between the current extremes of the Taycan line-up. 509 horsepower – 590 hp in overboost mode – may be lower than the Taycan Turbo, but the 626 lb-ft of torque is the same. 0-60 mph arrives in 3.5 seconds, an arguably negligible half a second slower than the Turbo, and top speed is an electronically-limited 155 mph.

What’s important is how Porsche has achieved all that. Every all-wheel drive Taycan variant shares the same front electric motor, but the automaker has two sizes for the rear. The GTS uses the same unit as the Turbo and Turbo S – larger and more potent than that in the 4S – only programmed for less horsepower. The sacrifice not only saves you some money but also helps with thermal load since the rear motor doesn’t have to work so hard, an important consideration if you’re considering track days in your EV.

Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is standard along with PTV+, together with 390 mm front brakes with 6-piston calipers and 358mm rear brakes. They’re iron, but surface-coated and carbon ceramics are optional; so, too, is rear axle steering and dynamic chassis control. Pricing kicks off at $131,400 for the Taycan GTS and $133,300 for the GTS Sport Turismo (both plus $1,350 destination), though as with any Porsche you can easily send the sticker spiraling with extras.

If you’re reticent, don’t take the test drive. The GTS badge has always unabashedly proclaimed a driver’s car, maybe not the most potent or the very fastest in a straight line, but beguiling and engaging in a way the raw numbers can’t quite express. The Taycan may switch out the gas engine, but the GTS spirit is here in spades.

It is, above all else, fun. Fun in the “turn around and run that good road again” sense; fun in the “take the long route home because it twists and turns a little more” way. A rock-solid reminder that chassis and suspension and drivetrain setup are as much alchemy as they are science.