It’s always harder to tell an engineer to their face that a product is kind of… nonsensical. Thankfully, it’s a rare occurrence. But when it does happen, I always struggle to find the right words to explain it to the poor guy who has to answer for it.
The 2027 Porsche Taycan’s “E-Shift” fake engine program was one of those times. Not because it was bad. On any objective level, it was very good. This is Porsche, after all—masters of execution and subtle excellence. The young German engineer was emphatic about the project goal: increase driver engagement while sacrificing zero performance. His emphasis was on not sacrificing performance, not on fun.
After driving it for a couple of brief loops around Zuffenhausen, I declared to the engineer that it was an exercise in Porsche Whimsy; that it wasn’t quite as silly as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, and that despite the program being entirely optional, E-Shift was very serious in relative terms. He was satisfied. I was not.
Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
When Even Is E-Shift?
Technically speaking, E-Shift is a limited simulation of a gasoline engine and dual-clutch transmission. Porsche says that the entire gearbox logic and calibration is directly lifted from its PDK, which is fed information from the fake E-Shift engine.
That engine sim offers up a few different parameters. A torque curve and a corresponding power curve, which is shaped like an actual gasoline engine’s curve, help form the backbone of the exercise. Porsche then added a simulated surge of power at low RPM and high load, as if the powertrain were turbocharged. Finally, an element of inertia helps make the “engine” feel more real and alive by adding some drag to its RPM changes.
Porsche created a unique Taycan sound, with distinct variants for each Taycan grade: Base, S, GTS, and Turbo. A Porsche representative said it was a “special opportunity” to create a unique sound without any historical baggage, so it created a futuristic tone with a few different layers of gasoline engines. I heard the trills of four- and eight-cylinder engines mixed in with some bassy six-cylinder overtones. You can listen to it yourself below.
As I understand it, Porsche simulates this much like a real engine, with lookup tables and projected torque output, which it then sends to the electric motor ECUs. Then, the electric motor outputs torque as if it were a gasoline-powered engine. At least, in theory.
Electric motors, by nature, are much cleaner and smoother in terms of output than a gas engine. Thus, most of the undesirable factors of a gas engine must be simulated in—stuff like the powertrain rocking under power, slight stumbles in response, or even the interruptions in torque caused by shifting.
These are all things the Ioniq 5 N simulates, even if it’s at the expense of performance. Porsche refuses to make such compromises. Instead of interrupting torque, E-Shift spikes torque after shifts to make up the lost horsepower. It also has a broad, flat torque curve, with a gentle surge to “redline.”
As such, Porsche claims that the Taycan has the exact same performance in E-Shift and in normal EV mode. I cannot emphasize how much they drove that point home. Even though something like E-Shift is supposed to be silly, it isn’t in Porsche’s culture to do anything that compromises speed. There’s a beauty to that, but as I found out, it also hamstrung the experience.
How Does It Feel?
In practice, E-Shift is too perfect. It’s too refined. It’s too… Porsche. Because of that steadfast refusal to compromise, it comes across as incredibly polished and unbelievably well executed. But it almost doesn’t feel like a gasoline engine simulation. It’s more like an EV with gears and a rev limiter.
Below 2,000 RPM, there’s nobody home. Above that, it accelerates with the ferocity of an EV regardless of RPM. There is a tiny increase in power toward redline, but the powerband feels flat in practice.
Shifts are seamless—more seamless than any PDK I’ve ever felt. And more instant too. Downshifts can be had in rapid clusters, faster than I can even process. But there is precious little sensation of the shifts, almost none of the drag and drama that comes with PDK, and it just always feels like a simulation rather than a convincing gas engine.
Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Even the sound is synthetic and odd. I suggested they do a V8, a flat-six, or hell, even a V10, but Porsche wanted to create a new sound rather than lean on heritage. I say that was a missed opportunity.
I mentioned the Ioniq 5 N a few times to the engineer, and how purposefully unrefined it is, and he acknowledged the execution. Without saying Porsche benchmarked the Hyundai, he said it. But again, he was steadfast that this was not the Porsche way.
The Ioniq 5 N does an incredible job of simulating the best and worst of a gas engine. The way the engine moves around when you snap off the throttle, the slightly dull throttle response, the lack of power at low rpm, and a certain roughness to the shifting and power delivery were all there in the Hyundai. None of that was in the Porsche.
Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Needs More Whimsy
E-Shift, objectively, is perfect. But the objective of simulating a gas engine in an electric car is, by its nature, to chase imperfection. This is the fundamental point that Porsche missed.
If you’re going through the trouble and conscious thought of turning E-Shift on, you want that experience. You don’t care if you lose a few tenths, or even a second off of your 0-60 time in your 952-horsepower uber-EV. Maintaining performance, though it is deeply ingrained in Porsche’s culture, is a foolish thing to chase when you’re purposely chasing theatre in simulating a gas engine.
Is E-Shift better than not having a fake engine at all? For someone like me, who loves an engine and loves having gears to shift through, yes, it is. I prefer E-Shift to nothing. But I just want to see Porsche let loose a little bit.
With just a dash more whimsy, E-Shift could be great. For now, it’s just fine.
