Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo estate breaks cover

• Features raised suspension and bodywork cladding
• Four-wheel drive 4, 4S, Turbo and Turbo S powertrains available
• Prices start from £79,340 for entry-level model

The new 2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo estate has been unveiled. It’s essentially a more practical version of the standard Porsche Taycan model, with slightly increased ground clearance, bodywork protection and extra space inside. It’s available to order now with a starting price of £79,340, with first customer cars arriving in the summer.

Unlike the standard Taycan saloon, the Cross Turismo is only available with four-wheel drive and Porsche’s larger 93.4kWh battery. For the moment, it’s unique in offering such impressive electric performance in an estate body style. Most of its rivals have thirsty petrol engines, such as the Audi RS6 and Mercedes-AMG E63 estate, while the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo is available as a 671bhp plug-in hybrid.

2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo: styling, interior and practicality

While Taycan Cross Turismo shares parts of its design with the Taycan saloon, the styling also incorporates the rakish roofline of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo. While it looks similar to a regular Taycan from the front, the additional black and silver bodywork cladding and a 20mm raised ride height make it more resilient on poor and uneven road surfaces.

The sides of the car feature the same contrasting bodywork cladding on the wheel arches and side sills. The Cross Turismo also gets a higher rear window line and the rear quarter panels sharply flare out into the wide rear arches to give a wider stance. The sloping roofline leads to a narrow rear window, with a slim tail light housing that runs across the entire rear end of the car. The rear bumper features an unpainted lower section and a silver coloured diffuser surrounded by additional black plastic cladding.

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The interior of the Taycan Cross Turismo is nearly identical to the standard Taycan, with a freestanding digital instrument cluster and a 10.9-inch infotainment display. An optional display screen for the passenger is also available, along with an integrated compass mounted on top of the dashboard with the optional Off-Road Design package.

The car’s higher roofline improves practicality, with Porsche claiming it offers 47mm more headroom for rear passengers. The 4 and 4S models offer an 84-litre front storage compartment, and 446 litres of boot space with the rear seats in place, which expands to 1,212 litres with them folded flat. Turbo and Turbo S models have a slightly smaller 405-litre boot, with 1,171 litres available with the rear seats folded down.

Performance, range and charging

The base Taycan 4 Cross Turismo kicks off the lineup with a power output of 375bhp. When using the car’s launch control system, overboost increases power to 469bhp with 0-62mph taking 5.1 seconds. Officially, Porsche claims a range of up to 283 miles.

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The Taycan 4S Cross Turismo upps power further to 483bhp, with overboost increasing output to 563bhp for a 0-62mph time of 4.1 seconds. Overall range is only impacted slightly by the additional performance, with a claimed figure of up to 281 miles.

The Turbo model is even faster, offering 616bhp, with 671bhp on overboost for a 0-62mph time of 3.3 seconds, and a range of up to 281 miles. The flagship Turbo S offers the same 616bhp power output but gets an increased overboost figure of 751bhp for a 0-62mph sprint time of 2.9 seconds. Range is reduced slightly to 260 miles.

The Taycan Cross Turismo’s 93.4kWh battery can be rapid-charged at up to 270kW, meaning that 62 miles of range can be added in around five minutes, with a 0-80% top up taking around 23 minutes. When connected to a 50kW destination charger, charging from 0-80% takes around one and a half hours. Using an 11kW home wallbox charging point, a full charge takes around nine hours.

All versions get adaptive air suspension and an additional Gravel driving mode for light off-roading, which alters the car’s throttle response to cope with loose surfaces. The optional Off-Road Design package enhances the car’s mild off-roading capability further still, increasing ground clearance by a further 10mm over a regular Taycan, meaning it should be capable of traversing muddy tracks.

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The Cross Turismo model also features what Porsche calls Smartlift, a function that allows the driver to programme the suspension to raise up at recurring locations such as speed bumps or a steep driveway. Locations can be stored by pressing the chassis button.

Specifications and prices

The Taycan Cross Turismo can be specced across four different models, with the base 4 spec car starting at £79,340. It gets 19-inch alloys, LED headlights and Porsche’s Active Suspension Management with air suspension. Inside, comfort seats with half-leather trim feature, with dual-zone climate control and Porsche’s Sound Package Plus. Owners will be able to purchase additional features after they’ve bought their cars via the Porsche Functions on Demand system, with tech such as Porsche’s InnoDrive semi-autonomous driving assistance and Active Lane Keeping assistance. The 4S Cross Turismo model starts from £87,820 and gets tweaked exterior trim plus Porsche’s adaptive headlights.

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Opting for the Turbo model increases the starting price significantly to £116,950. The Turbo comes with leather upholstery, powered comfort front seats with a memory function, heated front and rear seats, electrical adjustment for the steering wheel and a premium BOSE stereo system. It also gets an upgraded chassis with Porsche’s Torque Vectoring Plus setup, larger 20-inch alloy wheels and minor styling tweaks.

The flagship Turbo S car starts from £139,910 and has leather-free sports seats, Porsche’s Sports Chrono package, upgraded ceramic brakes and rear-wheel steering.

Will you be adding the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo to your EV shopping list, or even placing it ahead of the Tesla Model X and Jaguar I-Pace? Read our reviews to help you decide.