2025 Porsche Taycan 4 Winter Drive: Finnish Donuts and Playing with AWD

When the Porsche Taycan 4S with all-wheel drive was introduced in 2019, the idea of a drive program in Finland, above the Arctic Circle, for media to evaluate the sedan was raised. At the Porsche Arctic Center in Levi, north of Kiittila, customers pay thousands of dollars to drift cars on the ice and snow. But the Taycan is an electric vehicle, raising the debate as to whether it was a good idea to tout a performance vehicle that might not, ahem, perform, in the cold. In the end, the program went ahead.

Fast forward to 2025. Porsche has added an entry-level all-wheel-drive sedan to the lineup, the Taycan 4, and when it came time to plan a media drive program, there was no debate about heading back to Lapland. The ready decision shows how far the tech has come and the Taycan has evolved, execs tell us.

For the first-generation Taycan, you needed to opt for the higher trim 4S sedan or get the Cross Turismo wagon if you wanted its standard dual motors for all-wheel drive. The entry-level Taycan had a single motor in the rear. The 4 denotes the addition of a second motor in the electric saloon and it is expected to be a volume model, especially in states prone to snow, rain, and other slippery weather conditions where the extra traction and control will be appreciated. Adding the extra traction makes the Taycan 4 more of a comfort vehicle for the commuter who wants an extra dollop of control with their performance.

For the 2025 model year, the Taycan changes pretty much everything, with new battery packs, motors, underbody, panels, even the number of screws holding the frunk in place. And it expands the lineup to add the entry-level AWD sedan with more torque, quicker acceleration, better handling in slippery conditions, and more energy recuperation with a second motor. It means the Taycan 4 is a bit quicker than the Taycan 2, going from 0-to-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. It has 429 horsepower with launch control with the larger battery; 402 hp with the smaller one. The horsepower is the same as the rear-drive Taycan with the performance battery, but the torque goes up to 449 lb-ft from 309 lb-ft. The 4 uses the same rear motor as the RWD Taycan and the same front as the 4S.

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All About the Range

The key improvement: greater range and performance in cold temperatures with new standard and Performance Battery Plus versions. The new batteries are smaller and denser.

Improving range was a priority: Porsche was roundly criticized for having a range of 188-240 miles when the Taycan debuted. The brand mistakenly thought performance was paramount and did not realize how important it was to have a high range number, as well. The improved batteries for the 2025 model year increase the range by as much as 35 percent, and the rear-drive Taycan now gets more than 300 miles from a single charge. For context, today’s standard battery can go further than the old car with the larger battery.

EPA figures for the Taycan 4 are expected in March but it should fall between the rear-drive Taycan and the Taycan 4S. The Taycan gets 274 miles on a single charge with the standard battery and 318 miles with the larger one. The 4S gets 252 and 295 miles. The Taycan 4 is expected to get about 260 miles with the standard battery and 310 miles with the larger one.

Better charging was a main goal. The original Taycan needed a battery temperature of over 86 degrees F for fast charging and a state of charge of 10 percent or less. Now there is a wider window for fast charging, starting at 59 degrees for an ideal range up to 73 degrees. You no longer need a low state-of-charge so it is more robust, resulting in more instances where the driver can fast charge.

With the 800-volt electrical architecture allowing a fast-charging speed of up to 320 kW, the Taycan 4 can go from 10 percent charge to 80 percent in 18 minutes. A standard heat pump was among the key changes for better performance in the cold, while 19-inch aerodynamic wheels and air suspension to lower the vehicle also help.

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Fun in the Snow and Ice

We spent a day on snow-covered ice courses in northern Finland, doing assorted drifting exercises to play with losing and regaining control to evaluate the impact of the all-wheel-drive system. Our evaluation vehicle had the longer-range battery and was equipped with 20-inch Turbo Sport Aero wheels with winter tires. Our Taycan did not have the Porsche toque vectoring system.

We put the Taycan 4 through its paces in extreme situations to assure you the car will perform if you find yourself in a dicey situation. It was a day of testing the limits of driving physics, playing with load change reactions and lateral acceleration. To get the grip on the front axle needed to drift, a touch of the brakes and steering in the opposite direction gets the rear to swing out. The beauty of the all-wheel drive is when you start to lose control, a quick flick of the wheel in the opposite direction pulls the car back under control and then fast hands on the wheel keep the drift going. Learning the right feel, the light steering inputs, the counter-intuitive pull on the steering wheel, and the steady acceleration all come together in a controlled drift in this fine piece of engineering excellence.

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Slalom, Circles, and Figure Eights

We started with a slalom course on snow-covered ice where the goal was to drift around each stick without spinning around completely. There were inadvertent donuts aplenty, but the real feasting was on learning the car’s capability—not to tame it, but to delight in it.

From there it was a giant ice patch around a mound of snow. The goal: continuous circles around the snow pile with the car’s nose as close to the snowbanks as possible, the car sideways and constantly circling. Then onto the figure eight for longer, driftier (yes we are making up a word), connected turns.

Basically, we spent a picture-perfect snowy day in Finland on extreme surfaces to confirm that the AWD Taycan 4 performs adroitly when things start to go bad. The traction that comes from the load change is impressive. Trying to steer in the opposite direction tells the car you want to pull out, the motor kicks in a bit, and the driver can balance the inputs to impart the will of the human over the machine. A delicate dance. And an absolutely bonkers way to spend a day.

If you feel like trying this yourself, Porsche opens its Arctic Experience to about 1,000 people each winter, with 150 cars available to improve your driving skills. A five-day program with three days of icy track driving costs a cool $7,250 roughly or go for the Ice Ultimate package driving the 911 GT3 Cup 992 racing car through the forest for about $28,500, the price of a non-Porsche economy car.

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2025 Porsche Taycan 4 on Sale Now

The Porsche Taycan 4 starts at $105,295 with the standard battery, $111,075 with the Performance Battery Plus. Orders are being taken now with deliveries expected in March. The Taycan skews 81 percent male; higher than the 74 percent for the brand overall. Most buyers are married, average age is 52, and 74 percent use their Taycan as their daily driver, surprisingly higher than the brand average of 63 percent which includes the family-oriented Macan and Cayenne.

The Taycan is made at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen plant that makes the 911 and some 718 Caymans and Boxsters. The RWD Taycan has been the volume model for the family, with a 41 percent take rate, showing the appeal of the entry-level sedan. Next most popular is the 4S with 34 percent of Taycan buyers opting for additional performance and AWD. These figures suggest the 4 could be a sweet spot and the new volume leader. Porsche spent a lot of money on the J1 platform that underpins the Taycan, so we can expect the brand to keep using it for a long time, and to continue to find ways to broaden the lineup.