Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Review

There’s a risk that cars which are perceived as being tricky to pigeonhole are consequently considered less desirable. If would-be customers can’t easily determine a model’s immediate rivals, there’s a danger it could be assumed to be a curio and be best avoided. An 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.

Best Electric SUVLet’s determine what the Taycan Cross Turismo actually is to get more secure handle on its place. Thanks to its large tailgate at the back, it’s a more practical take on the slinky Porsche Taycan Sport Saloon — an estate version of it, if not in the sense most car buyers associate with the word. Hang on, though — isn’t that brief what the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo fulfils? It is, although the Cross Turismo with which it shared the majority of its bodywork predates it. 

With the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo, it’s the ‘Cross’ element that’s performing the heavy lifting, aided and abetted by visual cues such as the 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.

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

So, which cars could be considered as alternatives to the Taycan Cross Turismo. In truth, there’s nothing directly comparable. In its most rapid M60 guise the BMW i5 Touring out-estates the Porsche but doesn’t provide any off-road prowess. If the latter trait’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 more value-focused 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 metric.

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. 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, for instance.

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 cosy it is. A central rear seatbelt is optional, yet nobody would choose to occupy the position even in the unlikely event they could fit.

There’s also a huge amount of dashboard screenage which, combined with monochrome grey trims and liberal applications of glossy black interior plastics, can make the Taycan Cross Turismo’s interior feel curiously downmarket. Choosing 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 wildly different, which goes someway to explain the narrow variance between the best and worst driving range figures.

According to the official tests, the Taycan 4S Cross Turismo can travel 379 miles between charges, with the Turbo at 369 miles and the Turbo S one better at 370 miles. Based on our experiences with the 4S over very mixed weather conditions and road types, much of which wasn’t geared towards being efficient, 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 in below 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 times 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 20mm of ride height for the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo compared with the Sport Turismo alternative shorn of all SUV-aping bodywork 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-heavy 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.

Amplifying 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 test driving 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 undulating 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 more firm ride setting is chosen, the additional movement through the car successfully stifling Technicolor yawns inside, but even in the hardest position on a car with enlarged diameter wheels, it 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 bulk and 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 bodywork, 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 location of your choosing where terrain’s rough or there’s an immovable obstacle to contend with.

Manually selecting the maximum 176mm ride height setting and selecting 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 that a Land Rover retailer uses on customer test drives, which the Porsche was more than able to 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 gear.

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 genuine connection between driver and car. Once acclimatised to the steering’s effort, you immediately have total faith in the accuracy of how it will trace around corners, with all the grip you could possibly desire or increasing degrees of rear-end playfulness.

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 in which they’re fitted 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 a throaty, large capacity engine, 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 of many of them can feel 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 it scrubbing off speed.

There’s scope for a further refinement, particularly in conditions where light, gentle braking needs to give 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 as well as the conventional operation. It never feels as though you’re about to run out of stopping distance, it’s just less satisfying.

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

Ordinarily, EVs use a single-speed transmission, but while that’s 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 switch that’s essentially operated as you would a conventional automatic transmission.

Even the gateway Taycan 4S Cross Turismo model 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 ten seconds of additional overboost is activated. During those moments, its maximum torque peaks at 710Nm. With traction-enhancing Launch Control is 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, so instead consider it no more than a euphemism for heightened power and torque outputs.

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. Throttle response is less acute than in Sport or Sport+, although take-off is 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 anything 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.

In terms of its practicality from the perspective of a non-SUV model from the German sports car manufacturer, then 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 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 in place, 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 the boot’s contents shieled from you by roller-style cover.

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 and 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 across all versions, making it useful 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 volume 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 seats, but not the high-level central tunnel from the floor. That Porsche calls this configuration 4+1 seats is sufficient indication that it’s a much smaller, narrower seat than the others, making 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 could fit, the curvature of the seat cushions is such that it prioritises the comfort of those in the outer seating positions, making it the shortest of short straws for a journey of any length. Save your money and don’t bother.

While you feel hemmed-in occupying the front seats, it’s not at all uncomfortable, with a wide range of adjustment directions and angles for them and the steering wheel position. For the driver, there’s little likelihood of not feeling at one with the Taycan Cross Turismo’s controls.

Despite the shallow height of the Porsche’s windows and thickish roof pillars, outward visible doesn’t feel especially restricted, ensuring you feel confident you can see all around you, aided by parking sensors and a reversing camera. Your forward view over the bonnet’s curvature is a constant reminder that you’re in charge 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 up front do look terribly inelegant but are deep and hold beverages securely, while the space on the lower level of the centre console has potential, but really needs higher sides to stop things put there from falling out. That said, access already feels awkward as it is.

The Taycan’s glovebox is a decent size, as are the door pockets — overall, it’s preferable to keep your in-car bits and bobs to a minimum.

We generally favour charging ports being located towards the rear of EVs, as it permits reversing into bays at public facilities. For the Taycan, the front wing plays host to the sockets, neatly hidden by an electrically operated flap, with one on both sides of the car. It’s a nod to the Porsche 911’s filler flap being located in a similar position, but we’d be happy if tradition was dispensed with 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, of course — and most surfaces feel reassuringly expensive and beautifully finished.

Most plastic mouldings have a little give in them so as not to feel downmarket without being super-squidgy, with 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 while the fixed position airvents also reduce the potential for noise and vibrations to develop as the Taycan ages, their size and angles mean your eyeline can’t avoid noticing the gaping holes punctured into the dashboard, which makes you question whether they’re supposed to look like that. They are, but they do appear unfinished.

Similarly a point of personal choice — and budget — are the colours you’d 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, black-heavy dashboard infills and screens manages to make the Porsche’s interior look far less special. Go bolder and specify some colour.

There is a trio of screens forming the driver interfaces within the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo and, to be frank, it feels like overkill. We’d much rather 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 drive selector, placed to the left of the steering wheel. It’s got a pleasingly ridged finish and feels pleasant to use, although it looks rather odd plonked where it is.

Chief screen is the 16.8-inch curved display immediately ahead of the driver, its design mimicking the bank 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, but like the airvents mentioned above, it somehow conspires to look as though there’s a piece of trim missing.

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 dashboard and serves as the access point for commonly used functions without having to dive into the main screen’s menus and remove the wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay connectivity you’ll inevitably use the upper one to display.

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.

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 inexpensive.

Given the positive praise we’ve heaped upon the Cross Turismo elsewhere in this review, 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.

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 more as status symbols, reflecting the fact 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. That will be your portal for accessing various electric car-friendly tariffs, costing in the region of 7p/kWh.

Public rapid charging is pricey and something we recommend using as infrequently as possible, potentially viable with the Porsche’s long driving range. These don’t make for financially viable alternatives if you can’t have a wallbox installed at home.

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 — when they cost £40,000 or more, inclusive of the price of optional extras. Clearly, there’s no escaping that with the Cross Turismo.

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.