Panamera has dropped its wagon variants, but Taycan keeps up the good fight
Recommended Videos
Fast wagons offer their adherents a tasteful alternative to the usual conspicuous luxury buys. Parked along a high-street peacock pen of secondhand Bentleys and local leasing lot plate frames, these models eschew typically high-polish bravado in favour of a quiet self-assurance. They’re still plenty nice of course, but their unassuming profile can be passed off to the layperson as a responsible utilitarian purchase, as ‘just a car’ within another tax bracket. Outwardly modest to all but those who know, then, they slip about in indulgent self-satisfaction — and rightly so.
This Appalachian mountain run in the GTS made no effort at such economy. Instead, that lively suspension was set for a relatively sedate wet-weather cruise punctuated by occasional bursts of power and a few stops to soothe an uneasy stomach. Seasickness [or was it E-sickness –Ed.] gets the best of us.
Given a burst, the 2025 Taycan GTS steps its performance toward the last-gen Turbo’s. Acceleration to 100 km/h drops nearly half a second for a figure as low as 3.3, and output hikes to peaks of 690 hp and 583 lb-ft. Two motors, all four wheels, and the usual top-shelf rubber play their usual role, while the Taycan continues to employ two-speed gearing on the rear axle for takeoff torque and high-speed efficiency. Mechanical torque vectoring matches this to ensure that torque finds the right bias, so all good back there.
The cabin experience is incrementally stepped from the J1 cars, which is to say tight in a secure-feeling way. Porsche’s excellent 18-way sport seats are standard in the GTS with the option of 14-way for those so inclined. Option-sheet aficionados can throw massagers or other treats in there, but there’s more interesting hardware to spend that money on.
Atop that list is Porsche’s available night-view camera, a nifty bit of kit that projects a low-angle thermal image of the road ahead into the cluster and which can highlight wandering critters or pedestrians in bright yellow boxes. Matched with Porsche’s Mercedes-beating HD Matrix LED headlamp upgrade, this is a highlight feature for rural drivers and urbanites alike.
Rear headroom is a little squishy under the sedan’s fastback roofline, but remains plentiful in the wagon. Sedan boot space is 30 percent less than the Panamera, and at just 42 litres more than that, even Turismo capacity is almost a fifth short of the sedan. This means a fair bit less Herman-Miller hauling than a full-shouldered wagon like the RS 6 Avant or M5 Touring, but you’ve probably a service for that anyway.
Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X, Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.