Photo: Jade NelsonPhoto: Dennis ArdelYou can fit a longboard in a Taycan if you
drop the rear seats and scoot the front seat
up, leaving just enough room for a passenger.I
t’s called the California Double: surf
and snowboard in the same day. But
what if we could make it the California
Trifecta and throw in a great drive, too?
Let’s make it a challenge, even, and do it
in a California-approved electric sports
car, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
The Double is every Silicon Beach early
retiree’s dream: Surf at dawn at El Porto
then swing by the house in Manhattan
Beach and exchange the surfboard and
wetsuit for the snowboard and beanie.
Dried and ready, zip up the interstate to
the bottom of Angeles Crest Highway.
From there, it’s 33 miles of glorious moun-
tain road to the base of the lif ts. Total
distance from the beach: 66 miles.
From beach house to surf break, it’s 5.5
miles, so by the time I make it back home
to swap boards, my estimated range has
dropped from 239 to 226 miles, and my
batter y is down to 94 percent.
Cruising up the interstate at L.A.’s
standard pace of 80 mph with the A/C
on, my range is down to 193 miles and the
battery to 80 percent when I reach the
foothills and begin my ascent toward the
Crest. No matter, it’s only 64 miles each
way from the house to the lifts at Mount
Waterman, well within the Taycan’s EPArange, which says this car will go 192 miles
on a full charge. If you drive like the EPA.
I don’t. The Taycan is fitted with Conti-
nental all-season tires, not the ultra-
sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, so it
(probably) won’t get stuck in the snow.
The Contis don’t grip as hard, and they
complain a lot, but I’m still able to race up
the mountain like I’m driving a Porsche.
It comes at a price. By the time I’m
done snowboarding, my battery is down
to 24 percent and my range just 42 miles.
No matter, it’s all downhill from here.
Letting the car coast as much as
possible, which is still enough to break
the speed limit without trying, my battery
stabilizes at 21 percent, and my range
actually goes up to 64 miles once I’m
back to the interstate. Halfway home,
I’m out of the foothills, my range up to 70
miles, and I’ve had the heat and then the
A/C going the whole time.
Pulling into the driveway, my battery
is down to just 13 percent, but I still have
51 miles of range left. I’ve driven 154 miles
from sea level to the top of a 7,000-
foot mountain and back, I’ve driven it
hard, and the car still thinks it’ll beat its
EPA-estimated range. Trifecta complete.
Scott EvansMAY 2020 MOTORTREND.COM 63Yet these McLarens are street-legal cars.
The same holds true with Ferraris because
they are also rear-wheel drive.
But all-wheel drive further changes
this acceleration equation. Just ask the
video operators who have ridden along
on occasion. On the first run, I always warn
them, “Put your head and camera against
the head restraint. You’ll thank me in about
a half-second.” The response is always
the same: “Holy guacamole, you weren’t
kidding!” OK, maybe a bit more industrial
language, but this is a family show.
Including the Taycan Turbo S, there are now
eight AWD cars on the list. The “slowest” to
30 mph, in 1.23 seconds, are the quad-turbo
16-cylinder Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and Porsche
918 Spyder. The rest leap off the line like a
cat seeing a cucumber (trust me, look up
the videos).
Our 911 Turbo S pointed its frunk to the
heavens and even did a teeny wheelie after
I had softened the dampers for better rear
weight transfer. By contrast, the Taycan
was unusual in that it remained eerily flat on
launches, with virtually no weight transfer.
This really heightens the sensation of the
Taycan’s acceleration, as your body senses
the seat back with the same force as your
weight. This is truly unusual—especially
because your surroundings are otherwise
quiet. One sense (hearing) is diminished,
and the other (touch) is heightened.
All four P Zeros were scrambling for
traction—on the brink of wheelspin—and
the Taycan was literally dancing and
bucking under its own power. It reached
the point where I needed to make steering
corrections to keep the car pointed straight
during those first 1.7 seconds. At about
2.5 seconds, I could barely detect the 1–2
gear change happening at the rear motor,
guessing at 63 mph.
It’s interesting that our three quickest
quarter-milers are, to this day, hybrid-
electric hypercars, but the previous
battery-electric vehicle record holder
was the Tesla Model S P100D (aka “Plood”)
Ludicrous+ with its 10.51-second pass at
125.0 mph. The Taycan Turbo S, carrying 218
pounds more curb weight, did not reach
30 or 60 mph as quickly as the Model S, but
because of its rear two-speed transmission
and higher combined output, it did reach
100 mph 0.12 second earlier. It also crossed
the 1,320-foot finish line 0.04 second sooner
going a significant 5.7 mph faster with a
10.47-second, 130.7-mph pass.
Congratulations, Porsche, on your slim
victory. If the Teslarati are correct, though,
a 2020 model year over-the-air firmware
update to the newest Tesla Model S Perfor-
mance Raven might have something to say
about that. Chris Walton
Surf and snowboard in the same day with
a single charge and an electric Porsche