It would be an understatement to say that the Porsche Taycan has been a raging success. In just two years, this svelte four-door electric sport sedan has already begun to outsell the vaunted Porsche 911, the iconic heart and soul of the brand. It has also proven wildly successful even when compared to Tesla, the established EV juggernaut. Through the first three quarters of 2021, Taycan sales far outstripped those of the Model S and Model X combined. Porsche is keeping up the pressure by introducing the new-for-’22 Taycan GTS, a stunning driver-focused variant that neatly slots into a price and performance gap in the Taycan lineup.
Until now, the step up from the dual-motor all-wheel-drive Taycan 4S to the Turbo has been a humongous one. The price gap is nearly $42,000 after you equip the 4S with the 83.7-kWh Performance Battery Plus option that’s standard on the Turbo, but your big-battery 4S will still give up 108 horsepower and 147 pound-feet of torque to the Turbo’s 670 horsepower and 626 pound-feet of maximum output. This leaves a lot of white space for the Taycan GTS, which slots in about midway between the two in price while delivering a stout 590 horsepower and a Turbo-matching 626 pound-feet. Range figures are not yet available, but Porsche hinted that the GTS could better the 227-mile range of the 2021 4S. But the best part may be what happens—or doesn’t—when jawing with folks at your local Cars & Coffee. No one is going to be needling you about the word Turbo on the ass end of your electric Porsche.
Besides, there will be far more interesting things than badges to discuss when your GTS is parked, simply because it looks far more purposeful and menacing than any of its siblings. This begins up front with a blacked-out SportDesign chin spoiler and enlarged air-curtain ducts below the black-background headlight buckets. Along the sides, there are blacked-out side-glass surround moldings and deeper SportDesign side skirts with gloss-black inserts replacing body color. The rear diffuser is likewise accented with gloss black instead of body color, and the word Porsche in the translucent taillight band is accented in black. The GTS rolls on satin-black wheels with sizable red calipers peeking through—20-inch Turbo S Aero Design wheels in standard trim or our sample car’s racier 21-inch forged RS Spyder design wheels with massive 265/35R-21 front and 305/30R-21 rear tires. And yes, there’s a Taycan GTS badge on the tail, also in black.
The blacked-out theme continues inside, where you’ll find a GTS interior dominated by black Race-Tex, Porsche’s faux-suede material. It’s the primary treatment on the standard 18-way adaptive sport seats, the headliner, roof pillars, and sun visors. It covers the horizontal design axis below the dash top and the central spine that divides the cockpit. It’s also the grippy wrapping material on the multifunction GT sport steering wheel, which is equipped with a prominent driving mode dial because the Sport Chrono package comes standard on the GTS. The cabin also features red stitching throughout, and dark-finish brushed-aluminum trim—unless you opt for matte-black carbon fiber, as in our car. As an option, there’s a panoramic sunroof with a new Variable Light Control system, an embedded array of nine massive car-spanning LCD segments that can be manipulated using a touchscreen interface.
We’ve driven many flavors of the Taycan, and they’ve always impressed. But the GTS takes it to another level, with an intentionally more driver-focused setup that delivers the kind of fierce capability that’s implied by its no-nonsense looks. The same adaptive air suspension and Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) systems are present, but they’ve been thoroughly recalibrated with the aim of creating a more neutral cornering attitude and better turn-in response. The tweaks extend to the standard Torque Vectoring Plus and Power Steering Plus systems, as well as the optional rear-steer system and PDCC adaptive anti-roll bars. The engineering team has absolutely succeeded, as the front end feels far more responsive when pushed hard in tight bends. The buildup of steering effort in all types of corners is especially authentic because the electric power-steering system utilizes a unique feedback loop that considers the road forces pushing in from the tie-rod ends and tweaks the level of assist according to the GTS playbook.
A good deal of our driving occurred on the Big Willow track at Willow Springs, and here the Taycan GTS proved to be a potent track car with predictable and approachable limits. This venerable track needs repaving, but the cracked surface only served to show how tenacious, unruffled, and downright smooth the GTS can be when pushed hard on a less-than-perfect surface. We nudged the limits of the stability-control system on a tight right-hander that crests a hill, but a one-second press of the Traction Management button toggled the system to Sport mode and expanded the intervention limits enough to get through the same section with our foot hard on the accelerator the next time around.
Afterwards, we were fully able to review and break down the game film via the Porsche Track Precision app for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Controlled via the main touchscreen, these apps integrate data streaming from the car’s onboard systems with a smartphone camera or Bluetooth-connected GoPro to produce detailed driving traces that are fully synchronized with video. The Taycan GTS represents the first integration of this app in a Porsche four-door, and it can absolutely produce performance worthy of this level of track-day nerdery.
Once again, Porsche has proven that the GTS trim level is the one that driving enthusiasts should slaver over. The 2022 Porsche Taycan GTS does not have as much ultimate horsepower or straight-line punch as the Turbo and Turbo S, but it’s no slouch, and you can absolutely wring it out when the road turns twisty. It starts at $132,750, but as with any Porsche, you can inflate that quite a bit with options. Our sample car was priced at $180,070. Deliveries are set to begin in early 2022, but the order books are open now. If you have the means, we suggest you get cracking, because Taycans of all stripes are in increasingly high demand. The Taycan GTS will only add more fuel to the fire.
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