So, this is the biggie. I know the all-electric Porsche Macan isn’t the first electric Porsche, but it’s the first electric Porsche with a legacy. That’s why this is the biggie. The acid test. Can Porsche do what Ford arguably failed to with its electric Mustang: build a truly desirable electric car that’s good to drive and upholds the core values of the brand?
Porsche sensibly avoided much of that immediate scrutiny with the Taycan. By making it a standalone model people judged it in isolation. They judged it well, too: the Taycan is a great electric car, and it became even better recently. It was the perfect soft landing but this is different. People love their petrol-powered Macans. They’ve demonstrated their affection by buying more than 800,000 of them worldwide, so the electric version needs to be at least as good if they’re going to carry on buying Macans in the electric era.
And make no mistake, the stakes are high. Screwing the pooch here will be categorically more ruinous than bungling the Taycan, or the forthcoming all-electric Boxster for that matter. Sure, the spirit of Porsche resides in its sports cars, but the bottom line is influenced most heavily by its SUVs. Perhaps that’s why Porsche’s hedging its bets. Why else would it be keeping its past (the ICE Macan) alive and coexisting with its future (the EV Macan)? Answer: because it can’t afford to risk the present.
Sensibly, Porsche hasn’t strayed too far in terms of the styling. The new model is bigger in every way, other than height, so it’s roomier inside, yet it still looks like a Macan, don’t you think? And to my eyes that’s an instant plus. I spied the EV version parked next to an original Macca from a first-floor window of the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone, which we visited during the launch. From up there in the Gods, the new car certainly looks larger and smoother, but you can see the bloodline. It proves something, too. People bang on about Teslas and Mercedes EQs looking bland because ‘that’s the only way to make them slippery’. Really? The Macan’s 0.25Cd proves it slices the air cleanly and it doesn’t look like a homogenous aeroblob.
Inside, it’s also a familiar place to anyone who’s driven a Taycan, an original Macan, or both. It’s typically well made and has the archetypal modern Porsche look. One thing jars, though. I’ve never really cared either way about the Taycan’s unshielded instrument screen, but for some reason it appears odd here. It looks unfinished, like someone on the factory floor had a senior moment. That’s an aside, though. The Macan’s interior is overall classy and functional, even in purple.
Purple, you say? That’s right, I did say purple. One of the cars I drove was painted in Provence (purple) with Blackberry (purple) leather. You might imagine that this magenta medley would look nauseating, but no. I liked it very much. It reminded me of the purple interiors from the 964 era and made me feel all warm and fuzzy – and hoping lunch would involve freshly baked plum pudding.
On the functional side, I like that you can programme the ‘diamond’ button on the steering wheel to turn the speed-limit warning off, while deactivating the lane assist means simply pressing a button on the cruise control stalk. Easy peasy. Elsewhere, there are physical buttons to operate the other important functions, some haptic ones for the less-often-used ones, and everything else is commanded from the 10.9-inch central infotainment screen. And that, too, is a lesson in usability. Rather than make the often-fatal error of thinking ‘We’re not a car manufacturer anymore, we’re a tech company,’ Porsche chose not to do the operating system itself. Sensibly, it outsourced that to Google, so it works. In short, the software’s quick, responsive, has generally sensible menus and crisp graphics. Tick.
The optional augmented reality HUD (£1,694), on the other hand, is a cross. I’m no gamer but I do recall playing Crash Bandicoot on the PS1. This mind-bogglingly expensive option brought that experience back to the fore. The HUD projects an image that appears to stretch 10 metres in front of the car, which is fine, but there are lots of cartoonish blue arrows directing you. The arrows are very animated. Depending on where you are in relation to the next turn they get bigger, whiz up and down, left and right, then all bunch together like you’ve just collected a cache of bonuses. All the whizzing is a distraction that’s likely to cause you to miss your turn, or, worse still, crash-bandicoot through a hedge.
The new Macan utilises the Premium Platform Electric (PPE), which has been developed jointly with Audi. To be clear, that makes the Macan’s platform distinct from the Taycan’s. The 100kWh battery is an integral component of the chassis and its usable capacity is around 95kWh. That’s a huge pool of energy. It means that even this Turbo can officially travel up to 367 miles on a full charge. Like the Taycan, the Macan also draws down electricity to replenish the battery at a very healthy 270kW so, despite the enormity of the battery, a 10-80 per cent charge is technically possible in just 21 minutes.
The Turbo’s relatively efficient, too. Even though it weighs 2,480kg and has peak outputs from its twin motors of 639hp and 833lb ft, it’ll bimble along sucking electrons at a relatively sparing 3.3 miles/kWh according to WLTP. I reckon you could match that figure easily in the real world, too. Why? Well, I wasn’t always sparing the electrons and, for the most part, the Turbo was averaging 3.2 miles/kWh. Even after a damn good thrashing around the Porsche Experience Centre’s handling track the end-of-day average had dropped only to 2.9 miles/kWh. I thought that was impressive.
You may remember that Mike D drove the Turbo and the Macan 4 at the international launch earlier this year. Well, since then the range has doubled in number to include the entry-level Macan, which is rear-wheel drive, and the 4S, which isn’t. I haven’t driven either newcomer I’m afraid – they weren’t available for the UK launch. It was the 4 and the Turbo for me, too, and while we’re focusing on the Turbo here I need to reference the 4 as well. Why? Because Mike thought it was better and I disagreed – at least initially. Before Mike challenges me to duel to the death over this rare disagreement, I had my reasons. Good ones, too, and they’re the same reasons I also ended the day thinking he might be right. It’s all about the different options that differentiated the cars we drove and the huge differences they make.
To summarise Mike’s thoughts, he said the Turbo’s oomph was a little over the top and its optional rear-wheel steering overwrought. He gelled more with the 4; felt its power was more appropriate for the road and, because it didn’t have the optional RWS, he concluded it steered more intuitively, too. Now, the UK press cars didn’t align with those German launch-spec cars. This next bit gets a bit convoluted, for which I apologise, but it’s important you’re aware of the differences.
Both the 4 and the Turbo I drove had the RWS option ticked (£1,445), so I never got to try the standard steering. The other key difference was that Mike drove the 4 with air suspension – a £2,064 option, but it’s standard on the Turbo. The default suspension on the 4 is passive dampers and steel springs, but the one I tried had steel springs with optional PASM (£899), or adaptive dampers in non-Porsche speak.
The reason for explaining all that is because I disliked the way my 4 rode, but I’m comparing apples with pears. The Macan’s meant to be sporty, I get that, but primarily it’s a family SUV, and without air suspension the ride is too firm. And that’s with PASM, remember. Heaven knows what it’s like on the standard passive set-up but I suspect you’ll be on first-name terms with your osteopath. Even with the adaptive damping set to Normal – the most humane setting – it jostles constantly over anything that pushes the springs past their initial few centimetres of travel. It’s not as if it settles at speed, either. There’s blatant – to the point of annoying – head toss on the motorway and the suspension’s also quite noisy. I’m not sure whether the boom from the back axle was peculiar to the 4 I was in, but it was definitely there and pronounced.
Then I swapped to the Turbo and all was well. With its standard air suspension the ride was an oasis of calm. Wherever the 4’s ride was boisterous, which was almost everywhere, the Turbo’s was supple and controlled. Not quite as well controlled as a Taycan’s, sure, but you wouldn’t expect it to be. The Macan’s so much taller, of course, but you can still take out much of the unwanted vertical movement by switching to Sport, or even Sport+. Even then it’s a pleasingly limber thing, just with a bit less body lean. It’s quiet, too. As I’ve mentioned, the Turbo had less suspension noise but both versions were quiet up to and including motorway speeds. I didn’t much care for the Porsche Electric Sport Sound, mind. This fake noise generator is standard on the Turbo and a £353 option on the 4, but it sounds too sci-fi for my taste.
I’m minded to agree with Mike about the rear-wheel steering. I didn’t drive a car with the standard set-up, sadly, but it’s my view that if you’re going to add rear-wheel steer it should be the equivalent of a saintly child – seen and not heard. The best set-ups, like Porsche’s very own on the 992, for instance, work away in the background; they aren’t front and centre of your mind every time you turn the wheel. I was very aware the Macan had RWS every time I turned the wheel. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s terrible. You just find yourself misjudging your inputs ever so slightly until you’ve reprogrammed your brain to its mildly exaggerated manner. Otherwise the steering is good. In typical Porsche fashion it’s nicely weighted off-centre and progressively hefty thereafter. Mike said that without RWS the Macan feels ‘much more natural in tighter corners’ and I can well imagine it does.
While we’re on the topic of handling, there’s another important difference between the 4 and the Turbo that I should mention. As you’ll no doubt know, both are four-wheel drive with motors front and rear. But, unlike the Taycan, which has a two-speed gearbox at the rear, the Macan has a single-speed transmission at both ends. What makes the Turbo distinct from the 4 is the former’s electronically locking rear differential.
On the road I didn’t drive the cars hard enough to qualify the difference, but on the Porsche Experience Centre’s handling track the Turbo’s handling certainly is an experience – in a good way. It tucks into apexes with helpful yaw angles and you can feel it squirming agreeably at the rear under acceleration. I wish I’d have been able to try the 4 on track – just to see how the regular rear axle changes its behaviour – but sadly that wish wasn’t granted. Still, there’s no doubt the Turbo is agile and fun when required. I’d also like to praise the brakes. They feel like a step on from the Taycan’s, which aren’t bad other than being a tad grabby when you hit them hard. Not so the Macan’s. On road or track they were dependable and predictable.
Is the Turbo’s colossal performance too much for the road? Well, in any sensible realm, yes, of course it is. Just look at the stats: 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds; 100mph in 7.4 seconds; tops out at 162mph. And those numbers are for a 2.5-tonne SUV, don’t forget. It’s unconscionably quick on track, that’s for sure, but I didn’t find it overwhelming on the road. That’s because the accelerator isn’t a switch, it’s a potentiometer – and a well-adjusted one at that. It makes the power delivery – whether you use all of it or not – very easy to manage.
Okay, as you may be able to gather, it’s hard for me to state categorically that the Turbo is better than the 4, or visa versa, when I haven’t driven the 4 in the spec that Mike enjoyed. I suspect strongly, from what I’ve gleaned and what Mike said, that the 4’s likely to be the pick, but only if you tick the box for air suspension and leave the RWS off. I hate offering half-baked conclusions but what can I do? For me, the Turbo, on this day in history, was better.
While I’m highly likely to end up changing my mind and concluding a well-spec’d 4 is the way to go, if you do plump for the Turbo there are plenty of reasons to be happy. The Turbo is a great car. I enjoyed it on the road and had fun hooning it around the track. My advice is to go and test-drive both versions to see what you think. If the 4, with the options I’ve described, is better, do let me know. Oh, and enjoy the £20k saving. It won’t change my overall conclusion, though. The all-electric Macan, as a whole, isn’t just an accomplished electric car, it’s a worthy Porsche Macan. I have a hunch they’ll carry on selling a few – and I’ll have mine in purple, please.
SPECIFICATION | 2024 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric
Engine: Permanently-excited electric motors (front and rear)
Gearbox: Single-speed (front and rear); all-wheel drive
Power: 639hp (with overboost)
Torque: 833lb ft (with overboost)
0-62mph: 3.3secs
Top speed: 162mph
Kerbweight: 2,480kg
Combined range: 367 miles (WLTP)
CO2: 0 g/km
Price: £95,000
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