The Porsche Taycan has now dipped under RM529k

By topgear, 15 October 2019
The Porsche Taycan has now dipped under RM529k

Hurrah! It’s a Porsche Taycan whose price doesn’t comprise six figures. Savage depreciation already? Nope: meet the Taycan 4S and yup, it’s not wearing any Turbo misnomers like its pricier stablemates.

It still has twin motors, one on each axle (for four-wheel drive) producing a total of 523bhp on overboost. That’s down notably on the 671bhp Turbo that sits above it, adding almost a second to the 0-100kph time which now sits at four seconds dead. Hardly slow, mind, and that Turbo does sit a whole 169 grand above it.

This 4S is the entry-level Taycan – for now – and costs £83,367 (approx. RM441,000) before government subsidies, and before you’ve inevitably scoured the Porsche options list and ticked lots of boxes.

The Porsche Taycan has now dipped under RM529k
The Porsche Taycan has now dipped under RM529k
The Porsche Taycan has now dipped under RM529k

One of which is for the £4,613 (approx. RM24,000) Performance Battery Plus, which replaces the 4S’s 79.2kWh battery with the 93.4kWh unit from the Taycan Turbo, lifting the 4S’s power output to 563bhp in the process.

It also lifts the range; 405 kilometres as standard, 462 if you’ve upgraded, a smidge more than the Turbo itself claims. Both figures will need judicious use of the Taycan’s mighty handling prowess to prove realistic, we suspect.

The exterior styling is simpler – again, before options – but all of Porsche’s clever chassis systems remain intact beneath.

Like what you see? Is the Taycan a more convincing Tesla rival with a sub-£100k (approx. RM529,000) price tag?