At a glance, one would say there's nothing in common between the Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo and a monster truck, save for wheels, tires, and accommodations for people. And actually, the truck only has seating for one, whereas the Taycan has room for five. The Porsche also features ample space in the back to carry ear protection and giant foam fingers for enjoying an evening of car-crushing action at a Monster Jam event.
However, Porsche looks at this comparison differently. Yes, we're talking about a road-legal EV versus a methanol-burning monster truck that can jump over buses and keep going. But the dual-motor powertrain in the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo gives the long-roof Porsche a power-to-weight ratio similar to a monster truck. In this case, we're talking about 750 horsepower hauling 5,199 pounds for the Taycan Turbo S versus 1,500 hp in the 12,000-pound monster truck. It works out to 6.9 pounds per hp in the Porsche, with the racing truck carrying 8 pounds per hp.
Gallery: Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Monster Jam
Apparently, that's enough for Porsche to set up a race in a 72,000-seat stadium against Monster Jam driver Linsey Read. She holds a slight advantage here, considering the course consists of massive jumps that the truck can take with ease. Porsche also reminds us the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo has rear steering like the monster truck, but it doesn't really matter on the dirt floor of the arena. A quick boot of the throttle has the Porsche neatly drifting behind the truck, keeping up without any issue despite the speedometer getting close to triple-digit speeds in the confined area.
Predictably, everything goes sideways when the truck gets to a jump. We don't mean that literally (though monster trucks often end up sideways in freestyle events), but as the truck sails over the big jump, the Taycan driver obviously pulls up short. Instead, it's a perfect opportunity to grab a sweet video of the monster truck jumping the Porsche. We bet you didn't see that coming. That was sarcasm, by the way.
Porsche describes the contest as "chaotic fun" and we can't disagree there. It's a neat way to remind us just how capable the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo is when the pavement ends. Just don't try to follow monster trucks over jumps. Somehow, we doubt such a situation will ever come up during daily commutes.
Looking for more fun content on off-road Porsches? Check out the Rambling About Cars podcast, available below.
