Porsche Taycan: interior, dashboard & infotainment
The Taycan’s interior feels as posh and sporty as a Porsche cabin should
The Porsche Taycan’s interior is one of its biggest assets; strong build quality meets the latest technology and premium materials. We love the sporty and low driving position, but there is a slight over-reliance on touchscreen controls. Having said that, everything is generally placed where it should be. Just be prepared to pay extra for some equipment that would be standard fare on lesser EVs – that’s the Porsche way, unfortunately.
Porsche Taycan dashboard
The Porsche Taycan has a curved, 16.8-inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, with a variety of display modes allowing you to select the information you want to see on the move – including full-screen sat nav maps. Either side of the display are a range of touch-sensitive buttons, which operate functions like the headlights and chassis options.
Below the main touchscreen – more on that in a moment – is another touchscreen display which houses all of the climate and seat heating controls, as well as a touchpad for controlling the main screen and writing out sat nav directions. All of this isn’t quite as easy to use as a set of physical buttons on the move, but we like that at least Porsche has provided a solution which means you don’t have to drive into the main touchscreen to access these.
As mentioned, material quality is strong across the board. Porsche offers a wide gamut for customisation, with plenty of different material colours, including vegan-friendly leather-free interior options. Of course, in true Porsche fashion, this all costs extra, meaning you’ll need deep pockets if you truly want to make your Taycan stand out from the crowd.
Equipment, options & accessories
The entry-level, rear-drive Taycan is our pick of the range as it offers plenty of range and performance, despite it being the cheapest model in the line-up by some margin. Prices start from around £85,000, which gets you a 82.3kWh battery, 402bhp power output, 19-inch alloys, Matrix LED headlights, two-zone climate control and eight-way power-adjustable heated front seats. It also has the same curved instrument panel and infotainment system as other models, including wireless phone charging plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity.
If you want to upgrade to the 97kWh larger battery in the base Taycan it’ll cost you around £4,500, but this boosts the claimed range to 421 miles (the highest of any Taycan) and gives you a slight power boost as well – well worth the extra cash if you ask us.
Upgrading to the Taycan 4S doesn't do much for the standard kit list, but the higher purchase price does bring four-wheel drive, a sizable power boost, adaptive air suspension and part-leather seats. You still get the smaller battery as standard in the 4S, but the 97kWh unit is available as an optional extra, again.
The Turbo ramps things up with more grunt and added extras like 20-inch alloy wheels and 14-way power-adjustable sports seats. The Turbo S features a few more luxuries – as it should for over £160,000 – such as 21-inch alloy wheels, larger brakes and greater adjustment for the front seats.
At the very top of the Taycan tree is the GT. At nearly £190,000, this brings 21-inch lightweight alloy wheels, full bucket seats, an aerodynamics package and lashings of carbon fibre.
The list of optional extras on all versions is extensive, covering everything from painted brake calipers to a Burmester surround-sound system and an extra display facing the front passenger which, whilst certainly overkill, adds even more pizazz to the interior for around an extra £1,100.
Something we do think is rather cheeky is the standard alloy wheel choice across the range; we’ve a rather sneaky suspicion that Porsche has chosen perhaps what is the most ugly set of standard wheels in order to force people to fork out thousands for a set that doesn’t look like it belongs on a Toyota Prius.
While Porsche was initially quite tight-fisted with the Taycan’s standard cars, post-facelift models have been treated to some additional kit including ambient lighting, ParkAssist with a reversing camera, electronic folding mirrors with surround lighting, a wireless charging tray and a drive mode switch.
Infotainment, apps & sat nav
In the Taycan, touchscreens are the order of the day: there are just four physical controls on the entire dashboard, namely the ignition switch, gear selector, park button and hazard-warning button. Every model gets a beautiful curved display behind the steering wheel for all your essential driving information, a larger screen in the middle of the dashboard for infotainment and a second screen below that to operate the climate control.
The infotainment system in the Taycan works well, with logical menus and responsive touchscreens making the whole experience feel very upmarket. As mentioned above, the Taycan is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, and you can now even link up your Amazon Alexa, too.
