The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Lets You Drive On More (Off-)Roads

As it currently stands, the Taycan Cross Turismo erases the sport saloon's dramatic sloping roofline for a falling roofline of a station wagon. By the way, Porsche designers call this the flyline. The redesigned roofline allows more headroom for rear passengers and more than 1,200 litres of boot space.

Yet, lest you think that a more generous rear-end is what the Taycan Cross Turismo is about, Porsche has seen fit to machine off-road worthiness into the electric vehicle. Not-so-subtle hints of its newfound talent are displayed on the wheel arch trims, unique lower aprons at the front and rear, as well as the side sills.

And if that isn't enough, having the Taycan Cross Turismo with the Off-Road Design package adds special flaps at the corners of the front and rear bumpers and at the end of the sills. As good as it looks, these add-ons protects the Taycan scratches, chips and dents from stones.

The Off-Road Design package also adds a compass to the top of the dashboard. Apart from that, the interior remains unchanged. The EV's interior features a free-standing, curved instrument cluster. Its central 10.9-inch infotainment display and an optional front passenger display, all integrated into one glass back for a black-panel look.

The design features should complement the new Gravel driving mode, which is standard in all Taycan Cross Turismo. While it may not be suitable for the hardcore jungle, Gravel allows light off-roading over gravel tracks or muddy road surfaces. Engage Gravel to raise the EV's ride height by another 30mm. This driving mode also controls the Taycan's chassis systems to give the car maximum traction, power and control with minimum effort. These systems include Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), Porsche Traction Management (PTM), Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV+), Porsche Stability Management (PSM) and rear-axle transmission.

Put the Taycan Cross Turismo back on the tarmac, and it will lower itself closer to the road as speeds get higher. Out of the box, the Taycan Cross Turismo claims a Cd value of 0.26, a figure that goes down in two stages as the speed goes up. Two technologies influence that drag coefficient — the adjustable air intakes at the front and the air suspension. The only aerodynamic fixture that can't move is the roof spoiler.

Moving on, the Taycan Cross Turismo runs on a system voltage of 800 volts, 400 more than standard EVs. Porsche's Performance Battery Plus is a standard two-deck that contains 33 cell modules. Each module has 12 individual cells, which gives the Taycan a total of 296 cells. The total battery capacity is 93.4kWh.

Two permanently excited synchronous electric motors move the Taycan Cross Turismo. One motor in the front axle and the other in the rear gives the EV all-wheel drive capability. The electric motors are part of Taycan's compact drive module alongside the two-speed transmission and pulse-controlled inverter.

Porsche claims that Taycan Cross Turismo can recuperate up to 290kW of power, which is higher than its competitors. Nonetheless, the EV can be recharged at home with up to 11kW of alternating current (AC) as standard. The Taycan can be optioned with an on-board charger with a capacity of 22kW.

Interestingly, the Taycan Cross Turismo features a sophisticated temperature management strategy for the battery that heats up the cells when the EV approaches a high-power charging station. The cells' controlled heating allows the batteries to be rapidly charged with direct current, zapping it with a range of up to 100k in about five minutes.

Thanks to the Taycan sports saloon, the Taycan Cross Turismo launches with its variants ready to go. Here's what you can expect:

• The Taycan 4 Cross Turismo with 280 kW (380 PS), overboost power for Launch Control 350 kW (476 PS), acceleration 0-100 km/h in 5.1 seconds, top speed 220 km/h, range (WLTP) 389 – 456 km
• The Taycan 4S Cross Turismo with 360 kW (490 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 420 kW (571 PS), acceleration 0-100 km/h in 4.1 seconds, top speed 240 km/h, range (WLTP) 388 – 452 km
• The Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo with 460 kW (625 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 500 kW (680 PS), acceleration 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds, top speed 250 km/h, range (WLTP) 395 – 452 km
• The Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo with 460 kW (625 PS), overboost power with Launch Control 560 kW (761 PS), acceleration 0-100 km/h in 2.9 seconds, top speed 250 km/h, range (WLTP) 388 – 419 km

Malaysians can expect to drive the Taycan Cross Turismo on our dirt and mud in the second half of 2021. While its newfound practicality and rear headroom should attract more enquiries, we suspect that it is the Taycan Cross Turismo's shape that draws the signatures.