You may recall earlier this month when German T.V. show Auto Mobil pitted the new Porsche Taycan Turbo Selectric sports car up against a slightly outdated Tesla Model S P100D. Well, Top Gear just snagged a brand new Tesla Model S Performance—the quickest production Tesla ever built—and pitted it against the newcomer from Stuttgart. Here’s what happened.
Some folks were upset about Auto Mobil not using the most current Tesla Model S for its Taycan comparison, but now Top Gear has done just that, and the result? The top-spec Taycan still wins, both when it comes to acceleration and handling. “The Tesla’s been dethroned,” the car publication’s deputy editor Jack Rix says after the drag race in the YouTube video embedded below:
According to Top Gear’s testing, zero to 60 took the Taycan 2.61 seconds, or seven thousandths quicker than the already absurdly-quick Tesla, which put up a quarter-mile that The Fast and Furious’ Dominic Toretto would find unacceptable. The Taycan, however, is a true “ten-second car,” rocketing through the quarter-mile in 10.69 ticks—that’s nearly four-tenths of a second quicker than the Tesla.
Rix lauds the Porsche’s sporty 911-esque seating position, its steering feel, and its brakes. “The steering in the Taycan is superb,” he says. “The stopping power and the braking feel is in another league to the Tesla.”
As for handling, he says the Tesla rolls and pitches quite a bit, and that it leaves some to be desired in terms of steering feel. The Porsche, however, seems quite a bit more fun in the corners. “The way this thing goes around the corner is just magic,” Rix says.
But of course, the Tesla offers lots of advantages over the Porsche. For one, Rix points out, it’s significantly cheaper. Plus, it offers much more range, cargo volume, and rear-seat comfort. And perhaps most importantly, it comes with Tesla’s impressive charging network.
So as a daily driver, the Tesla seems like the better choice, and it even rides quite nicely. “Driving along in this Tesla is quite serene really,” Rix says. “It really is a properly good GT this car. Road tripping this thing is a breeze.”
None of this is particularly surprising. The Porsche costs quite a bit more, and it’s built by a company with many decades of experience engineering cars specifically designed to kick butt on the track. Still, since the Tesla only has one car that can be remotely considered a “competitor,” everyone is naturally curious to see how the Taycan and the Tesla compare, so there you have it. Definitely watch the full video if you get a chance.
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