Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Review

Cars perceived as tricky to pigeonhole risk being considered less desirable — if would-be customers can’t easily determine a model’s immediate rivals, there’s a danger of it being thought upon as a best-avoided curio. A rare exception to this rule is the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo — not a conventional estate, SUV or grand tourer, yet extraordinarily rewarding as an ownership proposition. Find out why with our full Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo review.

To get a more secure handle on its place in the market let’s first determine what the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo actually. Thanks to its long tailgate, it’s a more practical take on the slinky four-door Porsche Taycan Sport Saloon — an estate version of it, certainly, if not in the sense most people associate with the word. Hang on, though — isn’t that brief the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo fulfils? Yes, although the Cross Turismo with which it shares the majority of its bodywork came along first. 

With the Taycan Cross Turismo, it’s the ‘Cross’ element that’s performing the heavy lifting, aided and abetted by visual cues such as its plastic wheelarch extensions and elevated ride height. Not an SUV in the commonly accepted sense of the term, yet it has a useful degree of genuine off-road driving agility.

If ever the word ‘crossover’ had a right to exist in the automotive world it would be for cars such as this, bridging the void between estate and SUV. Sadly, that's a market few others operate in since the demise of the Audi A6 Allroad and Volvo V90 Cross Country.

As per other Porsche Taycans, the Cross Turismo is fully electric, each of the three current models fitted with a motor at either end providing four-wheel drive, benefitting traction to both enhance performance and maintain momentum on slippery surfaces.

So, which cars could be considered as lateral thinking alternatives to the Taycan Cross Turismo given there’s nothing directly comparable? In its most rapid M60 xDrive guise the BMW i5 Touring out-estates the Porsche but doesn’t provide any off-road prowess. If the latter’s more important to you than how well it behaves on asphalt, the electric Mercedes G-Class with EQ Technology makes a bold statement.

Quicker versions of the Polestar 3 provide a less expensive take on the Cross Turimo recipe, even though the ingredients are more SUV- than estate-flavoured, while the Kia EV6 GT — yes, we did say Kia in the same breath as a Porsche — is a comparable bargain in performance terms, if not troubling the Taycan in most other metrics.

An intriguing one to watch for in 2026 is the Denza Z9GT. Never heard of it? That maybe won’t matter — Denza is BYD’s luxury car brand and that few people knew what a BYD was until a couple of years ago hasn’t stopped its models finding fans very quickly.

Being an EV, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is capable of eye-wideningly rapid acceleration courtesy of its rich seam of torque being available the instant its accelerator pedal’s depressed. Just ponder for a moment that a 3.8-second 0-62mph time is the boast of the slowest version, which packs a 598PS punch. Should you want it — and have pockets deep enough — up to 952PS is available for the flagship model.

Key to the Taycan Cross Turismo’s appeal is that its maker hasn’t lost sight of the fact that this is first and foremost a Porsche, blending those aforementioned virtues with driving characteristics which are as engaging as they are sating. If your mindset is such that an electric car equates to a road-based appliance, mere seconds at the wheel of this Porsche demonstrates how characterful and rewarding they can be.

Rewarding if you have the requisite near-£100,000 starting price to place the least expensive Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo on your driveway — that’s assuming you’ve manifested exceptional levels of self-discipline and avoided raiding the plethora of optional extras available. Spoiler alert — resistance is futile.

For well-heeled wannabes, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo isn’t remotely hard to justify as a purchase, but perfection escapes it. If it didn’t, we’d see far more of them than we do Porsche Cayennes.

Its chief drawback is how little interior space is on offer compared with a more conventional SUV or even a luxury electric limousine in the mould of the Mercedes EQS. Four adults can sit very comfortably within the Taycan Cross Turismo but there’s no escaping how snug it is. A central rear seatbelt is optional, yet nobody would choose to occupy that position even in the unlikely event they could fit.

There’s also a huge amount of dashboard screenage which, combined with monochrome dark grey trims and liberal applications of glossy black interior plastics, can make the Taycan Cross Turismo’s interior feel curiously downmarket. Choosing bolder interior and exterior colourways from the extensive assortment available carefully restores a more fitting degree of classiness.

Yet such is the magnificence of the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo in all other considerations, these are niggles rather than red lines.

Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo: Range and charging times

Despite the sizeable steps in power and torque as you progress up the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo hierarchy, on-road performance isn’t spectacularly different, which goes someway to explain the narrow variance between the best and worst driving range figures.

Based on our experiences with the 4S Cross Turismo over mixed weather conditions and road types, much of which wasn’t geared towards efficient driving, a real-world 300 miles should be easily achievable. 

Storing the Taycan Cross Turismo’s electrical energy is a 97kWh useable capacity battery pack slotted beneath the Porsche’s floor. Most UK residences can only charge at a maximum rate of 7.4kW, so times for a flat-to-full recharge will take longer than the 13 hours Porsche quotes using a 9.6kW AC connection.

For those occasions when using a DC ultra-rapid public charging facility is necessary, your stop needn’t be too long. With a maximum on-board charger flow rate of 320kW, a 10-80% top-up could be completed in just 18 minutes.

There’s an additional 19mm of ride height for the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo compared with the Sport Turismo alternative shorn of all SUV-aping addenda. For a more conventional model using regular metal coil spring suspension, that could prove more than enough additional elevation to make it feel top-heavier and amplify its propensity to lean this way and that through sweeping bends. Not here.

Taycan Cross Turismos benefit from the standard fitment of Adaptive Air Suspension permitting varying levels of ride height and suspension firmness, operating both automatically and via driver-selected overrides. Such is the degree of its sophistication that there’s not enough space available in this review to describe its multifaceted brilliance, so treat this as a highlights package.

Augmenting the system’s credentials further still is the optional Porsche Active Ride system, a package for which no superlative seems appropriately adequate, although at £6476 extra, we would recommend you test drive models with and without it to determine your preference before signing on the dotted line.

In its most supple level of compliance the Porsche has an uncanny ability to smooth-out the roughest and most rippled of road surfaces, the only clue to those on-board being the change in tone generated from its ultra-wide tyres. Those who suffer from motion-induced queasiness may well prefer a firmer ride setting is chosen, the additional sensations through the car successfully stifling occupants' Technicolor yawns. Yet, even in the hardest setting on models fitted with enlarged diameter wheels, the Cross Turismo remains on the cossetting side of sportiness.

Whether plying mile-upon-mile of arrow-straight motorway or threading the Taycan Cross Turismo along tightly winding and undulating B-roads, despite its heft it feels wholly assured and planted, encouraging you to eke out a little more speed here, braking a shade later there, your confidence inspired by its dynamic brilliance.

It’s here that the Active Ride option particularly comes to the fore. It doesn’t simply reduce the Porsche’s natural readiness to roll left and right in corners, or rock to and fro with hard acceleration and braking respectively, it immediately tweaks the suspension’s damping to counter those movements, ever so subtly tilting the car into bends as well as levelling-out pitching and diving. It’s surreal how nimble the Taycan feels, almost as if it’s somehow shed several hundred kilos of weight, yet it quickly feels natural and rather addictive.

Opening any of the Taycan Cross Turismo’s doors results in an almost instantaneous lift from its pressurised air suspension, aiding more graceful ingress and egress — although it still feels lower than the vast majority of estates you’ll encounter. That automatic ride-height increase can also be logged in the Porsche’s memory to activate in any geographical location of your choosing where terrain’s rough or there’s an obstacle to contend with.

Manually selecting the maximum 176mm ride height setting and choosing the Gravel driving mode that’s appropriate for maximising all-wheel drive traction on loose surfaces, enables the Cross Turismo to flex its off-road muscles. We sampled a rural byway used frequently by a Land Rover retailer for customer test drives, which the Porsche was more than able to impressively negotiate up until the point where a greater degree of wheel articulation than was possible scuppered its progress. Unruffled, it proved just as able over the terrain in reverse.

While selecting a more comfort-biased steering setting is possible in the Taycan Cross Turismo, even then its wheel has not only a heavier weighting than many cars have in their sportiest selection, but a welcome degree of connectivity between driver and car. Once acclimatised to the steering’s effort, you immediately have total faith in the accuracy of how it traces around corners, with all the grip you could possibly desire or increasing degrees of rear-end playfulness should you so request.

In fact, the Taycan’s steering is one element of common to all of the driver’s touchpoints which feels somewhat unusual for an EV — unusual but characterful and appreciated. By their nature, electric motors are smoother, more refined and less vibratory than combustion engines, which means the cars they’re fitted to tend to display those same traits. Yet, there’s a comforting resonance transmitted through the Porsche’s structure which is reminiscent of that generated by throaty, large capacity engines, as though easing drivers from the ICE age with a flurry of familiar sensations. Clever.

Due to the regenerative activity common to electric cars’ brakes, the feel experienced in many earlier EVs can seem weirdly unconventional. This isn’t a gripe that can be aimed in the Taycan Cross Turismo’s direction, as the pedal action is appropriately weighty and swift at scrubbing off speed.

There’s scope for a further honing, particularly in conditions where light, gentle braking gives way to a more immediate stop — it’s almost as though there’s a momentary dither from the software as it decides how much regenerative braking can be applied in in addition to the conventional operation. It never feels as though you’re about to run out of stopping distance, it’s just less satisfying.

All three current Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo derivatives are fitted with two electric motors — one each at the front and rear — working in unison to provide four-wheel drive traction. 

Ordinarily, EVs use a single-speed transmission and while that’s also true of the Taycan’s front motor, the rear one has a two-speed gearbox, benefiting high-speed efficiency. Both are operated via a single dashboard-mounted drive selector switch that’s essentially operated as you would a conventional automatic transmission.

Even the gateway Taycan 4S Cross Turismo version is blessed with extraordinary levels of performance and, in truth, the only reason you’d opt for one of the punchier choices is for status reasons and associated bragging rights. 

In normal conditions the 4S’s twin motors produce 517PS, rising to 598PS when the additional overboost is activated, its maximum torque then peaking at 710Nm. With traction-enhancing Launch Control activated the 4S is capable to darting from a standstill to 62mph in just 3.8 seconds, running on to a top speed of 149mph.

Purists and pedants alike still wince at the next Taycan Cross Turismo up the performance ladder being labelled Turbo. Given turbochargers cannot be installed on electric motors, the name is misleading — instead consider it no more than a euphemism for heightened performance.

For the non-turbocharged Turbo there’s 707PS of power normally and 884PS with the overboost, while torque’s expanded to 890Nm of accelerative force. With Launch Control switched on the 0-62mph benchmark’s shrunk to 2.8 seconds while the Porsche’s top speed is electronically capped at 155mph.

Should those numbers sound triflingly inadequate, Porsche will gladly usher you towards the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo. Ordinarily, it serves-up a 775PS platter, with a garnish of overboost providing a gluttonous 952PS. Torque? Now we’re in four-figure territory at 1110Nm, seeing a fractional drop in the 0-62mph time of 2.5 seconds. Top speed is identical to the S-less Turbo.

When pottering around town, the Taycan’s at its best with Comfort driving mode selected, using the steering-wheel mounted dial to access it. Throttle response is less acute than in Sport or Sport+, meaning take-off is reduced yet nevertheless super-sharp, but it’s far smoother to modulate in this setting.

Even on the open road when you want to access the Porsche’s wealth of urgency, it still doesn’t feel like it’s lacking by remaining in Comfort, with plenty of torque to assist swift and safe overtaking manoeuvres. 

Should you wish to up the ante there’s always the Push-to-Pass button located in the centre of the driving mode rotary controller. Dab that an a 10-second countdown begins with outputs zapped up to the maximum, hauling the horizon towards you in a barely comprehendible pace. 

Somewhat unusually for an expensive, more specialist car, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo does have a Euro NCAP safety rating. Although it was a four-door Taycan Sport Saloon sampled in 2019, its five-star score is applicable to all Taycan derivatives.

Adult occupant protection was scored at 85%, the child equivalent being 83%, while vulnerable road user protection was rated at 70%. For the Taycan’s then-fitted driver assistance systems a score of 73% was achieved.

Today’s Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is fitted with an array of safety-related kit as standard, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and lane-changing assistance.

Towing with a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo isn’t an option. If you were planning on using an optional towbar to attach a rear-mounted bike carrier, Porsche can instead offer a Taycan-specific attachment that connects to the car without using a tow bar.

From the practicality perspective of a non-SUV model from the German sports car manufacturer, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo offers flexibility and carrying capacity that outshines its four-door Taycan Sport Saloon sibling.

An estate version of the Taycan, certainly, but not an estate in the conventional sense of the term. If one considers its taller hind quarters, accessed via a long, narrow, electrically operated tailgate as more of a hatchback than an out-and-out wagon, it makes considerably more sense. 

With the 40/20/40-split folding rear seatbacks upright, there’s 446 litres of boot capacity at your disposal in the 4S and 405 litres in the Turbo and Turbo S, the load area being finished to a high standard with thick carpeting and its contents shielded from external view by a roller-style cover which rises with the tailgate.

Dropping the rear seats creates an impressively flat extended loadbay, although the space isn’t as wide as you will find in more conventional estates or SUVs. Measured to roof height, the Taycan 4S Cross Turismo will swallow loads of 1212 litres with two people on board, dropping to 1171 litres in the Turbo and Turbo S. 

For broader context, the BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring will handle loads of 570 litres with the rear seats up and 1700 litres when they’re folded. Those numbers are trumped by the Mercedes G580 with EQ Technology at 620 litres and 1990 litres respectively. 

In traditional Porsche style there’s a further luggage area beneath the bonnet, with a capacity of 81 litres in all versions, making it a useful space for more than just charging cables. 

In standard form, the Taycan Cross Turismo is a comfortable four-seater, albeit not one where there’s a wealth of relaxation space around any of the occupants. Its snug but there’s enough margin for heads, arms, legs and feet to not feel cramped.

That’s providing you don’t tick the box for the optional £370 fifth seatbelt for the rear centre position. Having it removes a storage tray between the outer seat cushions, but not the high-level central tunnel from the floor.

Porsche calls this configuration 4+1 seats, a sufficient indication that it’s a much smaller, narrower place to sit than the others, rendering it only potentially usable for petite adults and kids of an age and size where they no longer require a car seat.

Even for those who can fit, the shape of the seat cushions is such that it prioritises the comfort of those in the outer positions, making it the shortest of short straws for journeys of any length. We advising saving your money and not bothering.

While you feel securely hemmed-in up front, it’s not remotely uncomfortably tight, with a wide range of adjustment directions and angles for the seats and the steering wheel position. For the driver, there’s little likelihood of not determining a position to make you feel at one with the Taycan Cross Turismo’s controls.

Despite the shallow height of the Porsche’s windows and its sturdy roof pillars, outward visibility doesn’t seem especially restricted. You wil feel confident that you can see all around, reassured by the standard parking sensors and a reversing camera. Plus your forward view over the bonnet’s curvature is a constant reminder that you’re in command of something special.

In-cabin storage for pocket detritus is okay at best. There’s a lidded armrest on the front centre console, but the cubby beneath is small, the cupholders ahead of it look terribly inelegant but are deep and hold beverages securely, while the space on the lower level of the centre console is useful but really needs higher sides to stop larger items placed there from falling out. That said, access already feels awkward as it is.

The Taycan’s glovebox is a decent size, while the door pockets are adequate for smaller things — overall, it’s preferable to keep your in-car odds and ends to a minimum.

We generally favour charging ports being located towards the rear of EVs, as it enables reversing into bays at public facilities — try that in the Porsche and you're likely to find the heavyweight tethered cables come up short. For Taycans, both front wing play host to the sockets, neatly hidden behind electrically operated flaps. They're a nod to the Porsche 911’s filler flap being located in a similar position, but we’d happily trade tradition for convenience in this instance.

Fit and finish within the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo’s interior is largely exemplary. Close your eyes and use your hands to explore around you — while you’re parked or a passenger, natch — and most surfaces feel reassuringly expensive and beautifully finished.

Most plastic mouldings have a little give in them so as not to feel rigidly downmarket, albeit without being super-squidgy, with the majority of other surfaces swathed in leather — genuine and a decent imitation — faux suede or densely woven fabric. It all feels substantial and rattle-free.

The exceptions being the areas of glossy black plastic which cheapen the look somewhat, not remotely appearing to resemble highly lacquered piano black wood. Porsche — and all other manufacturers, for that matter — stop it.

A matter of taste, certainly, but overall the Porsche's interior could be considered on the plainer side of minimalism. We weren't struck by the appearance of the fixed position airvents, either. They reduce the potential for noise and vibrations to develop as the Taycan ages with fewer individually moving components, but their size and angles mean your eyeline can’t avoid noticing the gaping holes punctured into the dash, resulting in an unresolved appearance.

Similarly a point of personal choice — and budget — are the colours you can choose for the Taycan Cross Turismo, both outside and, more pertinently, within. The standard hue is a suite of dark charcoals which, combined with the glossy and black-heavy dashboard infills and screens manages to make the Porsche’s interior look far less special. Go bolder and specify some colour to uplift matters.

A trio of screens form the driver interfaces within the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo — to be frank, this feels like overkill. We’d much rather Porsche's previous banks of physical buttons and switches to adjust the climate control and various other settings.

In fact, the most obvious switch on the Taycan’s dash is the gear lever-replacing drive selector, placed to the left of the steering wheel. It’s got a pleasingly textured finish and feels pleasant to use, although it looks rather odd plonked where it is.

Chief among screens is the 16.8-inch curved display immediately ahead of the driver, its design mimicking the array of circular, analogue instruments of the Taycan’s forebears. Sharp, easy to read and configure, it’s not fitted with a cowl to shield it from the sun’s reflections. This in itself didn’t create any problems in various light levels at different times of day, but like the previously mentioned airvents, it conspires to look as though there’s a piece of trim missing to shroud the screen's edge.

Just off-centre on the dashboard’s main horizontal plane is a 10.9-inch multimedia touchscreen used to access all manner of detailed settings relating to how the Taycan Cross Turismo functions. It’s very easy to navigate in spite of the complexity potential, although you’ll find yourself using the supplementary 8.4-inch one beneath it even more.

It's angled from the centre console up to the main dash and serves as the access point for commonly used functions without having to dive into the main screen’s menus and switch away from the wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay connectivity you’ll inevitably display on the upper one.

Should you require further display panels, a further 10.9-inch item can be installed immediately ahead of the front passenger. At £1060 it’s an expensive way of replacing that glossy black plastic infill which would otherwise occupy the space.

Either way, the Taycan Cross Turismo's dasboard surfaces are such that they'll be constantly blighted with smudged fingerprints, so keep a supply of fresh microfibre cloths on board.

That the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is expensive should be a surprise to nobody. The German sports car brand has built its reputation on world class engineering and high performance, all of which requires technology that isn’t exactly run of the mill.

Given the positive praise we’ve already heaped upon the Cross Turismo, whether or not it can represent good value is something of a moot point given its pricing. From the perspective of the Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo there’s a sense of it not feeling price-inappropriate at £99,200. Yes, it’s a huge amount of money, but which other car comes close to matching its array of talents?

Where the argument for value is harder to justify is with the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo at £138,200 and even more so for the £165,200 Turbo S. You would be hard-pressed to use their incremental performance gains readily on UK roads, while the fixtures, fittings and kit levels are broadly similar to the 4S.

That conveniently ignores the point that choices such as the Turbo and Turbo S aren’t supposed to represent value — quite the opposite, in fact. They exist as status symbols, reflecting that they’ve been bought because they can be. Should Porsche launch a Taycan Cross Turismo with more power and a higher price than today’s most expensive version, there’d be takers for it, no doubt.

How do the Porsche’s prices compare with the irregular selection of alternatives? Well, the range-topping BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring is close at £100,095 but will accommodate loads far larger than the Taycan will. Dwarfing both is the Mercedes G580 with EQ Technology which, in sole AMG Line Premium Plus guise costs £154,870.

For the flagship Polestar 3 Long Range Dual Motor with Performance Pack you’ll need upwards of £81,510, although the bang-for-buck champion is the Kia EV6 GT — close to 650PS for £59,985.

In order to minimise the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo’s running costs, it’s vital to have a home wallbox charger installed, if that's at all possible. That's your portal for accessing various electric car-friendly tariffs, costing in the region of 7p/kWh during the designated time slots.

Public rapid charging is pricey and something we recommend using as infrequently as possible, a feat which is potentially viable with the Porsche’s long driving range. They aren’t sensible alternatives if you can’t have a wallbox installed at home, even if the high cost of using them isn't a concern for your finances.

Since April 2025 electric cars have no longer been exempted from VED car tax, with their owners having to stump up £195 annually from the first anniversary of the car being registered. They are also liable to pay the Expensive Car Supplement — the so-called luxury car tax — from years two to six should they cost £40,000 or more. Clearly, there’s no escaping that here.

Electric cars are still subjected to low Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax rates making them especially attractive for company car drivers who can take advantage of their 3% levy for 2025/26. Whether the Taycan Cross Turismo appears on the list of models you can choose from likely depends on whether or not you own the company.

There are three versions of the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo available. Their names reflect performance steps rather than trim levels in the conventional sense, labelled 4S, Turbo and Turbo S.

Standard equipment for the Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo includes:

• 19-inch Taycan S Aero alloy wheels
• Cross Turismo-specific wheelarch extensions, side skirts and front bumper
• Adaptive Air Suspension
• High gloss Black roof spoiler
• High gloss Silver side window trims
• Electrically adjustable, folding and heated door mirrors
• Matrix LED headlights with automatic adaptive main beam
• LED tail light strip
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Heated, 8-way electrically adjustable Comfort front seats with driver’s side memory function
• 2x individual Comfort rear seats
• Leather-wrapped multifunction sports steering wheel
• Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity
• Integral navigation with charging planner function
• DAB radio
• Sound Package Plus 10-speaker audio system
• Smartphone wireless charging pad
• Advanced Climate Control (2 Zone)
• Interior ambient lighting
• Brushed aluminium door sill tread plates
• Adaptive Cruise Control
• Driver Awareness Detection
• Lane Change Assist (Blind Spot Monitoring)
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Warn and Brake Assist including pedestrian protection

Additional features for the Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo include:

• 20-inch Turbo Sport Aero alloy wheels
• Rear Axle Steering
• Ceramic-coated brake discs
• Turbonite side window trims
• HD Matrix LED headlights with automatic adaptive main beam
• Heated, 14-way electrically adjustable Comfort front seats with memory function
• 2x heated individual Comfort rear seats
• Heated, leather-wrapped GT multifunction sports steering wheel
• Bose Surround Sound System 14-speaker audio package
• Sport Chrono Package

Further features included with the Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo are:

• 21-inch Aero alloy wheels
• Carbonfibre-reinforced ceramic brake discs
• High-gloss Black wheelarches
• Heated, 18-way electrically adjustable Sports front seats with memory function
• 2x heated individual Sports rear seats
• Interior Package Carbon (matt)

There is a vast array of optional extras to choose from but it's worthwhile consulting your Porsche dealer to get a handle on which stand a chance of bolstering your Cross Turismo's value at the end of your finance deal. If you're planning on keeping your Taycan for the long-term, then throw caution to the wind, going with both what you fancy and what your budget permits.