Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo first drive review: One of today's most alluring sports cars post-refresh

The idea of a performance car is no longer what it once was.

The two-door, lightweight coupe may still be the traditionalist's ideal, but the shape/form of what can go like the wind — and not just in a straight line too — has been diversified quite a fair bit over the last decade.

On this note, look no further than the House of Porsche, which — apart from the unabashed Macan and Cayenne SUVs — continues to count this among its players today: The refreshed Taycan Cross Turismo.

Extra pizazz

If the standard 'sports sedan' body style boasts the most traditional coupe-silhouette for Porsche within the Taycan lineup, the Cross Turismo puts on the most imaginative spin — by not just adopting the wagon form of the Sport Turismo (unavailable in Singapore), but also with its slightly raised ride height.

It's hard to imagine would-be buyers not ticking the Options box for the Offroad Design package, too, which amplifies the car's softroader-styling with added cosmetic touches.

These broader strokes are already old news, though — it's not like the Cross Turismo body style wasn't already offered on the pre-facelifted Taycan too.

On the whole, the car endures as a calibrated masterclass in distinctive design; the Porsche-DNA transfused seamlessly into rugged-lite wagon-form. Credit is due especially to the rear end, which doesn't feel too bulky and clumsy despite the extra heft.

What is notable, however, is that the front fascia of this particular car hasn't simply been updated, but sets itself apart slightly too from the updated 4S Sedan we also drove. Here, its front is more aggressively framed by the retention of black surrounds around the new headlights, which connect them seamlessly to the new intakes on the front bumper.

That's not where the differentiation ends.

The average Joe may not realise it at first — but longtime fans will certainly be intrigued to find the Porsche logo on the car seemingly washed over with a cool, greyish-copper filter, which you'll also find on the car's steering wheel. Specific to the Cross Turismo are inserts on the lower sections of the front and rear, finished in the same metallic shade.  

This, after all, is the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo - where performance (and pricing, naturally) are taken to a different level. Said metallic shade has gotten a fittingly cool name too — 'Turbonite' — and comes as Porsche makes an ostensibly concerted push to sharpen the image of its range-topping variants. Expect this to trickle down to other models in time to come (the all-new Macan Turbo Electric we recently drove has these flourishes too).

If the visual separation between Turbo/Turbo S and lesser variants felt too minimalist in the past, this round of updates certainly answers the call to make the former two a bit more distinct. The sum of all these parts is that the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo likely holds the honour as the most visually engaging permutation within the Taycan family you can buy today.

Porsche hasn't tinkered much with the interior this time, save for the infotainment updates. (This also gets the Sport Chrono package, and thus new Push-to-Pass function/button as standard; the 4S Sedan we drove was specced out with the option). But it hasn't had to.

As expected from the brand, the exact degrees of luxury offered by the cabin will depend on how liberally you tick out the options list - but the baseline level of quality is in itself impeccable and sumptuous.

With its raised roof, the Cross Turismo remains a slightly better passenger-carrier and luggage-hauler than the Sedan — though it also stays firmly in the realm of being a more natural four- rather than optional five-seater.

The (insanely quick) all-rounder 

It's unclear where exactly Porsche expects you to be hauling a wagon away with neck-breaking speed — but the updated Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo also raises the roof even further in terms of power.  

It wasn't as if the original car was lacking in power, but thanks to a newly-developed rear axle motor now, output has been bumped even further to 697bhp, from 613bhp previously. With Launch Control, that surges to an even more incredible 872bhp and 940Nm (!) of torque.

Consequently, the car's century sprint timing has been shaved by a not-insignificant 0.5s, too, to land at 2.8s. (If you must know, the new Taycan Turbo sedan, tipping the scales at 30 kilos less, is one-tenth of a second quicker.) 

Admittedly, any other experience feels less visceral when it comes in the immediate wake of driving the Taycan Turbo GT — as was the case for our drive. Still, even the immediate comparison doesn't alter the reality that the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo is ludicrously quick.

The moment it finds its way out of the narrower, poorer-paved roads and out onto the expressway, the car takes off, eating up the tarmac en-route to downtown Seville with effortless ease. Every prod of the accelerator pedal ostensibly activates a motion-blur effect on the grey clouds outside of its sleek glasshouse.

In those moments of rapid repetition, this relentless eagerness can be numbing, but retrospection always puts the car's immense capability — and one's consequent respect for it — back into focus.

Worth noting too is that the Turbo variants of the new Taycan are fitted with Porsche Active Ride as standard.

With our scenic drive with the 4S Sedan curated to show off what the tech does to the car around bends (expecting similar alacrity, sharpness, and handling prowess on the Cross Turismo isn't unrealistic), this expressway-heavy leg is the perfect foil, illuminating its comfort-biased magic.

Cruising with superb composure, the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo is whisper-quiet even as the digital speedo reads out unpublishable numbers.

As mentioned previously, with this specific update bringing more range and higher charging capacities to the entire Taycan family, the car promises to be easier to live with too. Despite this being the most powerful variant, it still gets up to 597km of WLTP-rated range.

Above all, however, it is the versatility of the Cross Turismo body style that lies at the centre of its multifaceted allure. For something so wide, the car is surprisingly easy to place on the road, with the great frontward visibility and pronounced fenders marking the car's corners out naturally.

As with the pre-facelifted iteration, the Cross Turismo also continues to offer an additional driving mode not available on other body styles within the family — Gravel Mode — which, with the car's air suspension, can raise its ride height when activated.

Truthfully, even with all-wheel drive and this added capability, it's unlikely any Cross Turismo owner will take their car for some serious off-roading — but the slight edge in go-anywhere ability (not just the smaller, poorer-paved roads out of Circuito Monte Blanco; less forgiving carparks too) is easy to appreciate. 

Singular vision

Unsurprisingly, the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo isn't the most blistering car Porsche makes today. Contrarily, however, it's also not exactly the most practical. That accolade would go to the Cayenne, or even the Macan, both of which are more adept at ferrying five around in comfort.

Nonetheless, the firm seems to have recognised exactly the sort of customer that would appreciate this unusual machine.

We've previously noted that the Taycan Cross Turismo has always felt like a novelty proposition. No owner in their right mind would take this anywhere further beyond a dirt path (although you can't deny that a bit of wet mud doesn't look half-bad on this Oak Green car); nor are they likely to be launching this any chance they get, especially in Singapore.

Instead of practicality, however, exclusivity — and uniqueness — reign supreme in the rarefied field of hyper-performance, hyper-expensive sports cars. By every conceivable token, the Taycan Cross Turismo already fits this bill, but this very Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo, doubly special because of its amplified Turbo badging and atypical silhouette, feels like the perfect performance wagon for those already won over by electric power. Not everyone will recognise or understand its air of quiet, cool luxury — but not everyone has to.

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This article was first published in sgCarMart.