Why do you need to go through a touchscreen just to adjust the radio volume?
Apparently, nobody at Porsche thought of that when designing the interior of the Taycan. Or more likely, Porsche are heavily targeting Tesla buyers, who are more likely to favor futuristic interior styling over intelligent design. Porsche has just released pictures of the interior of the Taycan, and there are five screens, and very few physical buttons. Let’s take a closer look at each screen
Screen 1: Digital Gauges
As with most luxury cars today, the driver is faced with digital gauges. The dashboard doesn’t cover this screen, so to make sure they’re easy to read in direct sunlight, the screen is made from polarised glass. This screen has four modes- “Classic mode” with 3 gauges (with a power meter centrally located in place of a tachometer), “Map mode” with replaces the power meter with a map, “Full map mode” which replaces everything with a map, and finally “Pure mode,” which only shows essential information along with traffic signs. Oddly enough, the stopwatch on top of the dashboard is analogue, which looks slightly out of place with the rest of the interior.
Speaking of odd, this screen is also how you control the light functions, by pressing icons at the edge of the screen like in the Tesla Model 3. Better hope this screen doesn’t freeze, or you won’t be able to turn on your headlights.
Screen 2: Infotainment system
The next screen is the central infotainment display. It can be controlled by touch or via voice commands, by saying “Hey Porsche.” It comes with Apple CarPlay as standard, and you can use Siri if Porsche doesn’t understand what you’re saying.
While this screen controls your usual infotainment stuff such as navigation and the radio, Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is also accessed via this screen. So, if you’re on a fun twisty road and want to stiffen up the suspension, you’ve got to look away from the road and look at a screen to do so. Yes, it has voice control, but that will only take you to a menu with pre-set options- you’ll still have to look for and press the one labelled “Sport.” Not what you’d call smart design.
Screen 3: Passenger display
According to the press release, the optional passenger display “(allows) them to easily alter settings without distracting the driver.” No further details were given but expect it to control the same things as Screen 2, minus PASM.
Screen 4: Climate control
One problem with some modern luxury cars is that they lack physical HVAC controls. The Taycan goes one step further. Unlike the new Audi RS6, you can’t even move the climate vents manually. If you want to change the direction the air is blowing from, you have to fiddle with this screen.
This screen still has similar functions to Screen 2, with the ability to change music and accept or decline phone calls. It also has handwriting recognition, to make it easier to enter a destination into the navigation system.
Screen 5: Rear seat climate control
This optional 5.9-inch screen controls the rear seat climate controls. As with the front, the climate vents can only be adjusted via this screen.
And let’s not forget that this is a luxury sedan, which means that it will probably have the option of two extra screens for rear seat entertainment.
The Taycan proves that the put-everything-on-screens trend is going too far. Innovation should exist to enhance the car, as opposed to existing for the sake of it. The Taycan promises to be great, but this poorly designed interior undermines the engineering Porsche put into this car.
