ELECTRIC JUGGERNAUT

As we found on an epic getaway up the West Coast, the Taycan Cross Turismo is best appreciated if you try not to pigeonhole it

- Ray Leathern

We've all had that meeting with the school guidance counsellor. Being of misguided youth, you might have confessed your wildest dreams about being a racecar driver, fighter pilot or samurai swordsman. Then came the aptitude test, and, voila, the counsellor's decree: You can do anything you put your mind to. Wow, thanks for that, Sigmund Freud ... now I've got it all mapped out.

Except, in Stuttgart, Porsche engineers who had the same experience must've taken that pep talk to heart. How else do you explain the existence of the Taycan Cross Turismo? A zeroemissions, electric scud missile that lays waste to the open road as if it exists in a world with no physical limitations. A practical off-road family wagon that's as luxurious, nuanced and techladen as its title is dy. We've blatted the Taycan Turbo S from zero to 100 km/h (November 2020 issue) till its battery ran dry and can vouch its quickness is in the 911 Turbo S bracket. We've hypermiled a base Taycan (October 2021 issue) and found it can best even its claimed energy consumption, so what to do with the mid-grade 4S Cross Turismo? Simple really. We'll pack a surfboard, book some overnight accommodation and take it on a typical getaway up the West Coast to corroborate its leisure-lifestyle credentials ... electric range anxiety and all.