2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT | UK Review

Two seats, four doors, almost a thousand horsepower and £200k - can we make sense of the Weissach-grade Taycan?

So here we are then, another totally uncontroversial Porsche GT product that won’t attract any ire from enthusiasts whatsoever. Where once upon a time the only question about upcoming GT cars was which numerical suffix was due and what the allocation might be, the scope is a lot broader these days. Following the SUV Porsche GT came the plug-in hybrid SUV Porsche GT, and now we have this: the Taycan Turbo GT. The first electric Porsche GT. This feels quite significant, given the incredible reputation of various GT2s, 3s, RSes, and so on. Maybe it’ll be the 718 GT4 EV next…

Probably you’re aware of this car already, because there was a track launch last year, and nothing quite garners comments like an electric Porsche. Especially a super duper fast one. Now comes the chance to drive a right-hand drive example in the UK, amongst the regular traffic on normal roads. If the GT specialness is really going to shine through, here’s the environment. Because of course 1,000hp and an overhauled chassis feel exceptional on a circuit; if the Taycan feels like just another fast EV on the street, then it’s going to be even harder to justify.

We say ‘even harder’ because, as a Porsche GT product, there is a premium to pay. The RRP is £189,200, or £27,000 more than a Turbo S. Added to which, this test car has a few options - most notably eight thousand pounds’ worth of Taycan Design Vehicle Wrap - to nudge the price over £200,000. That might be enough to send you to the forums already, but please bear with me. Because there’s another important thing on the extras list, and that’s the appearance of the Weissach Package as a no-cost option. So it means that what you’re looking at here is a four-door, two-seat, two-tonne electric Porsche with a huge fixed wing that contributes to a claimed 220kg of downforce.

Which, in person, is hard not to smile at. Taycans are inherently quite sensible cars - the whole genre is, really - so to see one that looks like it’s rolled through a freshly painted zebra crossing with a great expanse of glossy carbon behind two gorgeous bucket seats is quite something. You won’t forget seeing it, that’s for sure. And that tangible sense of purpose in the Turbo is immediate, as is so often the case with more traditional GT cars, seats clamping you perfectly, wheel high and close, pedals pretty much faultless.

Where in those cars there might be a chuntering flywheel at idle, there’s clearly less of a commotion here, although the elimination of a good deal of sound deadening means there are whirrs and buzzes and fizzes coursing through the Turbo GT never normally heard in a Taycan. You can hear Active Ride suspension doing its thing with a twirl of the drive mode dial; it’s a nice reminder of just how crucial sound is to the overall experience of a fast car, even if they’re unfamiliar noises.

As Mike alluded to in the first drive, the Turbo GT steering is glorious; even at road speeds and on the standard Pirelli P Zero R (rather than track loadings and the Trofeo RS), there’s a lovely weighting and precision to the wheel. There’s never any impression of any corrupting influence from the four-wheel steer or four-wheel drive, just a clear and consistent response whatever the corner. Having that confidence in a 2.2-tonne, 1,000hp car from the off is nice. Near enough essential, it could be said.

It’s a shame that the brake pedal doesn’t inspire quite as much faith, given both the vital stats and the peerless nature of GT middle pedals generally. Goes to show just how challenging this tech is when even Porsche can’t quite perfect it. The outright power from the ceramic discs is phenomenal when needed, to the extent that you’d almost want harnesses, but a slight dead spot at the top of the pedal - the bit you’d use for a confidence dab - makes small inputs tricky. It’s an issue compounded by fairly modest regen, so it isn’t possible merely to lift off for the speed to be scrubbed. With a car this ludicrously potent, it would be useful to have more feel throughout the pedal travel. It can be worked around - or you just corner at whatever speed the car is capable - though it’s really the only part of the Taycan Turbo GT package that requires any qualification.

Active Ride works the same magic here as it has done in other Porsches, bestowing the Taycan with otherworldly poise and comfort. This more than any other vehicle makes a mockery of its claimed kerb weight with the way it’s damped and how it changes direction. The Taycan has typically graded very high on both, of course, yet the Turbo GT does better on both counts while making even faster progress, which is some achievement. In Sport Plus it will deliver great comfort; in Normal you still get almost unflappable control. It’s the first electric Porsche, too, where there’s some sensation of the car being taxed by a power output; all it took was twice the power of a 911 Carrera. It’s hard not to be thrilled as it scurries and scoots from a bend, desperately attempting - and mostly succeeding - to get every horsepower to the road. This is a more engaging, demanding Taycan to drive. You can have some influence and not just hold on, just as a GT Porsche should be.

Predictably, though, it’s the performance that leaves the most abiding impression. Cards on the table, the Turbo GT was approached with a fair amount of trepidation; any Taycan is an incredibly capable car, but the headline power figure is preposterous. At half throttle, it feels almost GT3 fast, numbers flying through the speedo like a slot machine; with faith in the traction, you go for more and then a little bit more, acceleration continuing to build in intensity yet throttle seemingly no closer to reaching the stop. We tend not to focus on the stats too heavily, though the headline numbers are astonishing; it’s hard to know whether 0-124mph in 6.4 seconds or 49-74mph in 1.1 seconds is crazier.

Those fleeting moments at full throttle require a genuine recalibration of your reference points because they’re coming up so much faster than ever before. The additional ‘Attack Mode’ boost, activated by a right-hand paddle, brings another level again of cascading, torrential acceleration for 10 seconds. It’s utterly wild; in combustion terms, a McLaren P1 is the only thing from recent memory that comes close on the road, and it’s not this violent. The Taycan Turbo GT, along with whatever accolades it’s already scooped up, can now claim to be the only car— road legal or otherwise— to make this writer feel sick. Its powers of acceleration and deceleration are unprecedented.

Not unexpected, perhaps, though it remains pretty extraordinary to witness. The Turbo GT’s greater achievement is probably not being overawed or dominated by that formidable level of performance. The tools are at your disposal to exploit and enjoy the flagship model, even on the public highway. Naturally, it’s most memorable at full pelt, though it’s also fantastic at saner speeds thanks to those suspension and steering changes that so often mark out a Porsche GT car. There’s additional sensation and tactility that makes any kind of driving a more vivid experience.

Be that as it may - and even by the standards of limited-run Porsches - the Turbo GT is a hard one to justify. Particularly as a Weissach’d model: two seats but more than two tonnes (and £200k) are probably some of the less impressive stats associated with this Taycan, along with less than two miles per kilowatt-hour on this test drive. But when justifying and rationalising every single line-up on sale has left us without so many interesting models, perhaps it’s time to celebrate cars like the GT for what they are rather than what they aren’t. Nobody will have a Turbo GT to do their bit for the environment or cut a tax bill; they’ll have it because they want to be blown away by what Porsche’s best minds can do with an electric car. And that feels absolutely guaranteed in this experience. More so than any other Taycan, more perhaps than any other EV, the flagship is a staggering achievement, obscenely fast, and a joy to drive with it. A credit to its badge, in other words.

SPECIFICATION | PORSCHE TAYCAN TURBO GT WEISSACH PACK

Engine: Double electric motors, all-wheel drive, 97kWh usable battery
Transmission: Single-speed reduction (front), double-speed (rear)
Power: 1,108hp (system peak for two seconds, 1,034hp Launch Control, 952hp Attack Mode, 789hp Normal)
Torque: 988 lb ft (Launch control system peak)
0-60mph: 2.2 seconds (Weissach Pack: 2.1 seconds)
Top speed: 180mph (limited) (Weissach Pack: 190mph (limited))
Kerbweight: 2,290kg (Weissach Pack: 2,220kg)
MPG: 2.9-3.1mi/kWh, 336-347 miles range
CO2: 0g/km
Price: £189,200 (Price as standard; price as tested £202,609 comprising GT interior package with Race-Tex and leather items, including contrasts in GT Silver for £565, 3D Printed Bodyform full bucket seats with Degree of Hardness - medium | Guards Red for £2,082, Taycan Design Vehicle Wrap | Matt Black for £8,239, Model designation painted in exterior colour for £231, Light strip with illuminated ‘PORSCHE’ logo black for £352, Pedals aluminium for £259, Inner door sill guards and belt outlet trims Race-Tex for £1,565, Fire extinguisher for £116)

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BlackTank

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