Taycan impact on Model S - a theory I hope is not true

[meomyo]

Taycan was designed by Porsche to provide better long distance track performance than current models from Tesla.

It is understandable that they would do this, as racing is part of their heritage.

On the other hand, this results in a much more expensive and heavier car. A poor choice for those not engaged in long distance track driving.

For customers it is kind of a poser thing. Like buying a Mercedes AMG G-Wagon, and only driving it to impress people when you are shopping in Beverly Hills.

track? we are talking city driving and freeways not racetracks. Again reminds me of guys i see with ferrari and lambos having to go 25 in a school zone or 35-40 in city. laughable for all that $$

 

[whitex]

I'm curious to see what concessions Porsche made to their dealers with recommended services on the Taycan. i read somewhere they recommend replacing the brake pads every six years even if not worn out - apparently they get old and brittle? Wonder if they'll dream up other stuff to require owners to visit the dealerships.

Tesla annual services are not much cheaper than my Porsche used to be. Yes, Tesla dropped the requirement for maintenance, but that was because the service centers couldn't handle the load. But, it goes to prove that EV drivers are willing to shell out $500-$1,000 year on annual services, plus of course consumables like tires. And with Porsche I could get an appointment in a week or so (vs. 2 months now from what people are reporting, they took away the button to book an appointment online and the mobile app requires way too many steps to type information on a phone to bother for me to check the wait - it was probably their intent too, make booking harder so only people who really want it will go through the process on their phones), and I would get a guaranteed loaner (vs. Tesla's Uber credits which won't even cover my round-trip home).

 

[whitex]

track? we are talking city driving and freeways not racetracks. Again reminds me of guys i see with ferrari and lambos having to go 25 in a school zone or 35-40 in city. laughable for all that $$

So you laugh at people in Teslas too then? You don't need Tesla performance to go 25 in a school zone, or 35-40 in city traffic either - you can do that with much cheaper cars.

 

[cduzz]

So you laugh at people in Teslas too then? You don't need Tesla performance to go 25 in a school zone, or 35-40 in city traffic either - you can do that with much cheaper cars.

Sigh.

So -- a car that can maintain maximum plaid style speed for an entire tank of fuel requires a bunch of stuff a "normal" car doesn't need.

My prior car, an audi allroad, had a super wacky complex twin turbo v6 that had all sorts of added sensors like exhaust temperature sensors to allow it to run at stochiometric fuel ratios even while under full boost; a comparable mitsubishi with giant honking turbos would simply have cranked up the fuel ratio and pumped out black soot (and fouled the catalytic converter and gotten 2.3mpg) because in *most* countries, if you run at maximum boost for more than 20 seconds you'll run out of country or end up in jail (or maybe run into a kangaroo).

My point is that to safely and efficiently run at 150mph for any amount of time the entire car needs to be radically reengineered in a way that adversely affects the car when driving under "normal" situations. Larger brakes on rubber band wheels on racing donks look kool but the car ends up with crap ride over normal roads *or* ends up with some super super fancy complex suspension system that breaks and is very very expensive to repair (observe that no audi RS6 retains the magnetic shocks). Enormous cooling capacity is essential under maximum load but is just dead weight when going 80mph or below, so you end up with worse aerodynamics and added weight.

And on down the list of things necessary to make a "race" capable car.

I applaud the future 3 motor platform. It is likely almost identical between the truck, semi, roadster, S and X. Loads at maximum speed and loads at maximum hauling are likely similar. The power output and range are just a function of if it gets an 80kwh, 140kwh, or 200kwh battery pack. Maximum velocity around a closed loop like the ring, well, it's interesting but not really something I want to drive the engineering focus of Tesla.

 

[Magellan55]

Pretty cool Taycan ad Porsche plans to run during the Super Bowl: