Porsche Taycan review: interior, dashboard & infotainment
The Porsche Taycan's interior is finished to a high standard, and there's plenty of space for four passengers
Inside the Porsche Taycan, the only physical buttons are on the steering wheel and doors, with touchscreens dominating the rest of the cabin. Whether or not you think that’s wise is up to you, but there’s no denying that it all looks stylish and premium-quality.
Comfort is great in the front, with plenty of space and little in the way of road or wind noise. However, there are a few compromises in the rear: the back seats rest on the rear axle, which means it's noisier there, while it’s impossible to tuck your feet under the front seats.
This doesn’t mean knee and legroom are bad by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone over six feet tall may be less comfortable in the rear on a long journey than in the front. The sloping roofline also introduces challenges: getting in and out of the rear is made harder by the shape of the car, and while headroom will be adequate for most, it’ll be snug for tall adults.
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. Either side of the display are a range of touch-sensitive buttons, which operate functions like the headlights and chassis options.
Meanwhile, the dashboard houses at least one 10.9-inch touchscreen, with menus for sat nav, smartphone connectivity and charging information, to name but a few. You can add another 10.9-inch unit on the passenger side, allowing them to operate the system’s functions conveniently.
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 a little over £75,000, which gets you a 79kWh battery, 402bhp power output, 19-inch alloys, LED lights, 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, plus wireless phone charging and Apple CarPlay, plus Android Auto smartphone connectivity.
If you want to upgrade to the 93kWh larger battery in the base Taycan it’ll cost you just over £4,000, but increases the range to over 300 miles and gives you a slight power boost as well.
Upgrading to the Taycan 4S doesn't do much for the standard kit list; the higher purchase price brings four-wheel drive, a sizable power boost, adaptive air suspension, part-leather seats and sat-nav. You still get the smaller battery as standard in the 4S, but the 93kWh unit is available as an optional extra, again.
The GTS gets 'Race-Tex' upholstery in keeping with its sporty attitude, along with 'GTS' logos and unique black alloy wheels, plus the larger battery, more power and a bespoke setup for the adaptive air suspension, which includes Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management.
The Turbo ramps things up further, with even more grunt – also adding things like 20-inch alloy wheels, 18-way power-adjustable sports seats and LED matrix lights. The Turbo S features a few more luxuries – as it should for over £140,000 – such as 21-inch alloy wheels, larger brakes and greater adjustment for the front seats.
TrustpilotThe list of optional extras on all versions is extensive, covering everything from ceramic brakes to a Burmester surround-sound system and an extra display facing the front passenger, which feels like overkill to us. There are even two versions of the steering wheel available, with a standard variant that’s customisable with coloured inserts, plus a ‘GT Sports’ option.
Numerous colour packs are available, with Black-Lime Beige, Blackberry and Meranti Brown all exclusive to the Taycan. Buyers can add matte black, dark silver or neodyme highlight packages, while the doors and centre consoles can be specced with wood, carbon, embossed aluminium or fabric trims. You can also choose between leather, tanned leather or recycled, microfibre upholstery for the seats.
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, with a six-month subscription to the Apple Music streaming service included together with in-car internet roaming for three years.
A 2021 software update saw the sat nav tuned to improve the amount of information on the screen. Extra functions were also added for Apple users, including Apple Podcasts and Apple Music Lyrics, plus wireless CarPlay. These upgrades can be added to pre-March 2021 cars by visiting a Porsche dealer.
