What we miss about our Taycan Turbo S

After a few weekends with our new 911 Targa, here is what we're missing about our Taycan Turbo S.

The quiet ambience of driving electric – road trips often have long portions of boring motorway and on the Taycan you arrive simply more refreshed.

That said the noise in the 911 is very dependent on the road surface which transfers into the cockpit more than it did on the Taycan despite the quietness of the electric drive.

On a modern well maintained surface at 120 km/h in eighth gear and at about 1500 rpm – the 911 is very manageable.

Likewise with the noise from the flat-six engine, you have to listen to music much louder to hear it. This means you are more actively listening to it – music on at a background level in the 911 is mostly inaudible.

Brake dust is real on the 911 with standard discs. On our Taycan the combination of regenerative braking and carbon ceramic discs meant it was non-existent.

Re-fulling hits the pocket to a much greater extent. We had become experts at getting destination charging out of hotels – and would often go for days without paying for energy.

Haven't heard of a hotel going out and putting petrol in your car overnight!

The lack of climate controls when sitting in traffic or sitting with the engine off. On road trips, you do tend to sit around in your car a little more. And with the Taycan you can have full air conditioning and heated/cooled seats in total silence. With this 911 however, the engine needs to be running – and it ain't subtle to anyone near your car. Sitting at ports in the snow with this car is going to be much less pleasant.

Similarly, the Taycan is a much nicer experience when sitting in traffic. The start/stop system on the 911 is a total pain. The engine stops much too quickly and leaves you with no engine at the most inopportune times. For example, you pull up to a roundabout and yield to the car that is already on it – the engine cuts out – right at the time you want it on to pull out after the car passes.

And while it does re-start reasonably quickly, there is still at least a one second delay added while doing so.

I found myself programming the "diamond" button on the steering wheel to deactivate the "turn off start/stop" system.

Of course there are many things that we also prefer about our 911.

It is much, much easier to fit into parking spaces here in Europe. It actually fits in between the lines and doesn't stick its nose out of the space. Easier parking means we'll go to more places.

Loading luggage still surprises people – some assume we're having engine problem – and we've had a few assume its electric as it has "no engine".

Its historical linage with classic Porsche's is much clearer to see and feel.

And my Chronograph 1 reminds me of it when on my daily train commute.

Despite the 911 shape being around for decades, it seems to evoke positive reactions from the public everywhere it goes. Less conversations about range anyways! Btw, we're getting about 710km out of a fill with a mix of motorway and twisty routes.

The open top motoring encourages us to enjoy ourselves when the weather co-operates and connects us more to the environment than when we were in the Taycan. It is surprising how much bird song you hear driving along.