I don’t normally recommend drag racing, running top speed, or panic braking while it’s raining out, but that didn’t stop the CarWow folks over in the UK from giving it a go. They had three high performance electric sedans on hand, so why not compare them to each other in equal conditions? Given that the specifications between Porsche’s Taycan Turbo and Audi’s E-Tron GT RS are pretty similar, and the Tesla Model S Performance is just a bit more powerful than that, the three cars are fairly comparable when it comes to straight line performance. All three cars run 10-second quarter miles right out of the box.
The Tesla had the slight advantage in the standing quarter mile, as it is both the lightest car of the three (weighing about 4950 pounds) and the most powerful with 778 horsepower. The Audi and Porsche are based on the same platform and have near-identical drivetrains, with each weighing about 100 pounds more than the Tesla. The Audi is the least powerful of the three with 646 horses and the Porsche has a twinge more at 687 electric ponies. In practice, unlike on paper, the Porsche delivered a slightly slower time than the Audi and the Tesla. Across three runs, the margin was so tight, however, that it would be impossible to feel a difference in the ability of these cars to build speed from behind the wheel.
In the rolling drag race event, the Porsche did a much better job. Thanks to the Taycan’s two-speed rear axle gearbox, it is able to provide power at speed in a more efficient manner. That’s why it was able to walk the Tesla in this test. The Audi has Porsche’s same two-speed, so it was able to keep up, but slightly down on power it was slightly behind. Interestingly, the Audi’s efficiency mode apparently doesn’t hard stop the car at 85 mph like Porsche’s range mode does.
As usual, in the braking test, Porsche totally blew the competition out of the water. With Porsche’s new Surface Coated Brakes, the Taycan managed to haul itself down from speed in a far shorter distance than the Audi or the Tesla. Impressive!
Of course, all of this testing is only in a straight line, and the Taycan doesn’t really begin to shine until the roads get twisty. If this had been a track battle on a road course, the Taycan would have walked away from both of these cars, I have a feeling. Mid-corner speed is where the Porsche prevails!
