Porsche’s first-ever EV the Taycan has been lauded by motoring journalists and enthusiasts alike for its incredible performance both on the road and on the track. Porsche fine tuned the Taycan for speed and handling on the ferocious Nurburgring, this is the reason why the Taycan unlike many electric cars isn’t just good in a straight line but also handles brilliantly. The sports car pedigree of Porsche is certainly seen in the Taycan. But in a recent face-off with a Tesla Model 3 which is far cheaper and less powerful car than the Taycan, the baby Tesla has managed to triumph over Porsche’s halo EV.
Proud Porsche Taycan Turbo gets humbled on the track by Tesla Model 3
One of China’s top motoring site, Dongchedi, conducted a 24-hour test with the Porsche Taycan Turbo, they pitted the new kid in the block with its already established rival the Tesla Model S Performance and even threw in the Model 3 Performance with Track Package into the mix. The site conducted three main tests with the Taycan, these were a drag race and an endurance test between the Model S and after that a time attack track battle with the Model 3 Performance.
The Drag Race
As per Dongchedi, the Taycan Turbo did not disappoint and performed excellently during the test. A professional driver who tested the vehicle over the 24-hour period had nothing but high praise for the Taycan. They were impressed by how well the Taycan handled, making it worthy of wearing the Porsche badge. However, it did not perform better than the Model S performance in the drag race, the Model S ran the standing quarter-mile in a lightning-fast 10.56 seconds while the Taycan was a tad slower. it covered the quarter-mile in 10.99 seconds which is still extremely impressive. The major take away from this is that these two electric four-door sedans can run the quarter-mile quicker than most supercars, and if you happen to owe someone a 10-second car, get them one of these EVs.
MIC M3P costs ¥419,800 while Taycan Turbo starts at ¥1,498,000. Taycan T costs 3.57 times more than MIC M3P. Ouch. pic.twitter.com/RLaYzRUsMy
— Ray4️⃣Tesla⚡️?☀️? (@ray4tesla) July 16, 2020
Endurance Test
In the battery endurance test, the Taycan turbo performed well and was able to cover 452 km before it ran out of juice. This figure is close to its NEDC rated range of 462 km. The Tesla Model S however covered even more distance than the Taycan, it clocked out at 505 km, but this is 145 km less than its NEDC claim of 650 km.
Timed Lap
The final timed lap run between the cars was conducted by Dongchedi in a closed circuit, for this test they decided to bring an additional competitor for the Taycan Turbo, the Tesla Model 3 Performance with the track package. The grown-up Tesla Model S set a time of 1:19:26 around the lap, the Taycan showcased its ‘Nurburgring developed’ credentials by shattering the Model S’s time, it completed the lap in a staggering 1:15:97. While Porsche was celebrating this victory, it was celebrating too soon, because the Tesla Model 3 came to its big brother’s rescue and beat the Taycan’s time by a narrow margin, it did a 1:15:78, this is impressive because the Tesla Model 3 achieved this feat despite its power disadvantage and it lacked the famed motorsports pedigree of Porsche. Tesla, even though it’s a very modern auto manufacturer seems to have an excellent grasp of making outstanding cars.
The Taycan Turbo is one of the most expensive EVs made in China; it has a hefty price tag of RMB 1,489,000 (around $ 214,238) in the domestic market. This makes the Taycan Turbo three times more expensive than the Model 3 Performance, which has a price tag of RMB 419,800 (around $60,038). The higher price tag doesn’t really translate into a faster automobile, but Taycan does feel more expensive than the Tesla with its much more premium interior and built quality.
