Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo review: A high-performance electric estate

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo was updated in 2024. Not that it needed extensive revisions, but Porsche delivered them anyway, giving it an even longer range, even better infotainment and even more polished driving dynamics.

The facelifted styling tweaks aren’t huge, but they do give the Taycan Cross Turismo a cleaner look. What’s more, it now charges more quickly and is an even more satisfying car to drive – both key selling points for this high-performance electric car.

All Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo feature all-wheel drive, giving grippy traction whatever the weather. Even the standard car has impressive performance, while the Turbo versions are fast enough to see off supercars away from the traffic lights.

It’s a surprisingly practical car as well. It’s a bit awkward to get in and out of, due to its low-slung profile, but space is ample once there, and the boot is a surprisingly useful size, too. However, as you may expect, all this certainly comes at a price, for this is a very expensive electric car.

The Goodwood Motor Circuit seems an unlikely place to review the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo, but the performance of this elite electric car soon justified it. I got the chance to extensively drive it in the undulating Hampshire countryside, too, before coming back to earth with a real-world test in the Chichester traffic.

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Independent rating: 8/10

All Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo use a 97kWh battery, which Porsche calls its ‘Performance Battery Plus’. This means that all four versions have surprisingly similar ranges, of between 372 miles and 381 miles. Efficiency for such a fast car is decent, and a futuristic 800-volt charging system means it can use 320kW DC rapid chargers, taking the battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in just 18 minutes.

There are four Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo versions, all with two motors and all-wheel drive. The Taycan 4 has 435PS for 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds, while the Taycan 4S has 598PS for 0-62mph performance in 3.8 seconds. Need even more performance? The Taycan Turbo has 884PS for 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds, and the Taycan Turbo S has 952PS for 0-62mph in just 2.5 seconds.

All Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo drive beautifully. Standard adaptive air suspension, combined with 20mm more ground clearance than the regular Taycan, means the ride is excellent, while it also handles in that uncommonly glorious way all Porsches do. Because it’s all-wheel drive, it handles all road conditions with aplomb, and if you want to go even further, an optional off-road design pack gives an extra 10mm of ground clearance. Similarly, an optional Porsche Active Ride system adds even more polish to its on-road performance.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo may be a shooting brake-style estate car, but it still has the low-slung driving position of a sporty Porsche. This means you drop down quite far when getting in, which can be awkward. It’s a little bit like getting into a coupe. However, once there, the driving position is superb, with firm, supportive seats and a perfectly-placed, sporty-feeling steering wheel.

Electronic displays dominate inside, but there are still some haptic feedback-style buttons to act as shortcuts. The sense of luxury has been enhanced yet further in this facelifted version, and you can customise it to your heart’s content – albeit at a price.

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The rear is awkward to get into as well, due to the extra-thick door sills. But again, space is reasonable, and there’s a good amount of headroom. You can take four adults fairly easily, and five at a push. And while the boot, again, has a small opening, its 466-litre space is bigger and more practical than you might think (although it shrinks to 405 litres in Turbo models, due to their upgraded stereo). Just watch the steep rake of the rear window before slamming it shut on large loads.

As with the Porsche 911 sports car, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo has a front boot, or frunk, which is surprisingly deep and spacious. At 84 litres, it’s big enough for more than just charging cables, so could prove more useful than you may expect.

The Porsche Taycan has a beautiful oval-shaped driver display, whose wraparound design tips its hat to the Porsche 911. It’s packed with information, even down to a display that shows the battery temperature, so you can work out how to get peak charging rates from a DC fast charger.

There’s a supplementary touchscreen infotainment display in the centre console, and an additional smaller touchscreen for the climate control. The system has been upgraded, so it integrates more deeply with Apple CarPlay. It feels less like you’re using two different operating systems, and should also encourage more use of the array of Porsche technology built in, rather than just relying on Apple CarPlay.

The Porsche Taycan 4 and 4S Cross Turismo have a 10-speaker stereo producing 150 watts. In Turbo models, it is upgraded to a 14-speaker Bose system, delivering 710 watts. However, as mentioned, the subwoofer does take up a fair bit of boot space.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is a car with a six-figure price tag. Yes, the regular one is £96,800, but adding just a few options such as special paint and a smarter set of alloy wheels nudges it into six figures. The one most people will go for is the 4S, which is £100,400, and we’d expect most to be ordered with a price tag of at least £110,000.

Oh, and did we mention the range-topping Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo costs from an eye-watering £162,500?

This is a reasonably efficient electric car though, officially delivering around 3.3 miles per kWh of electricity. A standard heat pump should help efficiency in winter weather, too. Insurance ratings, however, are the highest-possible group 50.

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The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo has a really rapid 320kW DC charging speed. Find a powerful enough public charger, and it will go from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in just 18 minutes.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is undoubtedly a very expensive car. Some may prefer to stick with the standard Sport Turismo, but others will rate its extra abilities (and more rugged looks) as well worth it.

Porsche will replace the Taycan Cross Turismo’s batteries, if necessary, up to eight years or 100,000 miles from first registration.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo, extensively updated for 2024, is a brilliant concept, combining the electric Taycan’s performance with estate-style practicality and rugged crossover styling. It’s a great all-round performer and an extra-cool car to boot – but an expensive one, too.