Many people continue to have a love-hate relationship with Porsche for venturing into segments where the German automaker didn’t dare to tread back in the good ol’ days. However, the naysayers fail to understand that a jacked-up utility vehicle or comfy sedan with the Porsche badge is more special than meets the eye.
Take, for instance, the Taycan Turbo S. It may not feature a force-fed engine as the name would lead you to believe, but the most potent EV from the Stuttgart-based brand is extremely fast in a straight line and the twisties. Not that long ago, Porsche set the lap record for electric vehicles and sedans at the Road Atlanta track with a blistering time of 1 minute and 33 seconds.
Records are meant to be broken, though, and the Panamera did just that in Turbo S specification. With professional racing driver Leh Keen behind the wheel, the lap time dropped to 1 minute and 31 seconds with the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 ND0 high-performance tires. The Panamera Turbo S is also equipped with go-faster goodies such as carbon-ceramic brakes, torque vectoring, rear-axle steering, and active roll stabilization.
Facelifted for the 2021 model year, the five-door liftback is available to order in the United States from $87,200 before options and destination charge. Even in the lowliest spec offered, the Panamera still is an impressive luxury GT thanks to 325 horsepower and a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.3 seconds. Executive is how the long-wheelbase version is called, and it comes standard with all-wheel drive for the princely price of $98,500.
Family-oriented customers may be interested in the Sport Turismo, which blends the aesthetic qualities of a shooting brake with the practicality of a station wagon. At the very top of the spectrum, the Turbo S E-Hybrid is a plug-in hybrid that rockets to 60 miles per hour (96 kph) in 3.0 seconds thanks to 690 horsepower and 642 pound-feet (870 Nm) of torque.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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