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Jonathan M. Gitlin-November 30, 2021 11:01 PM UTC

Los Angeles-A few weeks ago, we tried out the Carrera GTS, Porsche's latest 911 model. The naming conventions of car manufacturers may be incomprehensible to ordinary observers, so in Porsche's parlance, GTS stands for "Gran Turismo Sport". It is basically the "Have your cake and eat it" model in the series because it has more power and sharper handling than standard cars, but it is not as good as Turbo or the more professional GT-plus- a- The powerful (and cheaper) 911 number.

But today, we will talk about Porsche's Taycan, because the company has now applied GTS processing to pure electric vehicles. Anyone who mistakenly asked me what my favorite car is would know how deeply I feel for Porsche electric cars, so when Porsche asked us if we wanted to test the $131,400 2022 Taycan GTS on the Willow Springs circuit in California, It is an easy decision.

To be honest, Porsche did not do a lot of redesign work to create the Taycan GTS. The car uses the same front and rear drive units as the Taycan Turbo, but they are calibrated to produce less power. The launch control allows a burst of 440 kilowatts (590 horsepower) and a zero to 60 time of 3.5 seconds. For the rest of the time, the nominal output power of the Taycan GTS is 380 kW (509 hp). However, the maximum torque is the same as the Taycan Turbo, at 849 Nm (626 lb-ft).

The two permanent magnet motors are powered by a 93.4 kWh lithium-ion battery pack (83.7 kWh usable capacity). Like all Taycans, it has an operating voltage of 800 V. This enables fast charging of the car; when the Taycan GTS is connected to a DC fast charger capable of powering the car up to 270 kW, 5-80% of the charging time is less than 22 minutes.

Compared with Turbo, Porsche has also re-adjusted the suspension of Taycan GTS. The front brake disc is slightly smaller, but the added part is mainly decorative-new air curtains on the front, new side skirts on the sides, and It has smooth black trim.

As part of the GTS process, you can also get lovely interiors, including acres of Race-Tex fabric, embroidery on the seats, and brushed black aluminum trim, compared to the "piano black" plastic commonly found in new cars today , This is a good change. The USB-A port on the center console is now a USB-C port to match these two ports for the rear passengers.

But the Taycan still performs all the right functions, with a 911-like driving position, a 911-like view formed by a curved front wing, and a curved digital main instrument display in the front. (Unfortunately, this car also contains too many touch screens; Audi’s selection of the button on the e-tron GT shared with Taycan’s J1 platform is the right choice.)

Porsche has always emphasized that the Taycan is still a suitable Porsche, so it makes sense for GTS to have a long and potentially expensive list of options, including rear axle steering, better adaptive suspension, and some RS Spyder Design 21-inch alloy wheels. It looks great, and a total of 11 pounds (5 kg) of unsprung weight has been reduced (but this will compromise the car’s aerodynamic efficiency).

Not so rashly, it makes sense that the Taycan GTS can maintain its position on the track day, because any Porsche should be able to do it-therefore, in the morning on the track, we grind the European-spec GTS imported for the occasion.

Of course, Taycan GTS is not a natural track car. Porsche engineers are not shy about this-their idea for electric rail cars is Mission R. However, as mentioned earlier, the design of the Taycan is first and foremost a Porsche, so if someone wants to ride a Taycan for a few laps, if they want to wear the GTS badge, the vehicle should perform well. If Cayennes and Macans can do it, after all...

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