Porsche Macan Turbo Electric review

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Can the Macan retain its prized driver’s SUV status in electric guise?

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The range-topping 630bhp Porsche Macan Turbo Electric has a lot to prove.

It needs to demonstrate that it’s a real Porsche, for one, as well as show that it is distinct from its Audi Q6 E-tron sibling.

Throughout its history, Porsche has been an expert at taking platforms and components from the wider Volkswagen and Audi family and imbuing them with a certain magic that no one else can replicate. The original Porsche, the 356, has its roots in the Beetle, and the Porsche 968 Clubsport goes back to the 924, which was intended as a VW with an Audi-derived engine.

One of Zuffenhausen’s biggest commercial successes, the Macan, was loosely based on the Audi Q5 but reached heights of driver appeal the latter car could only dream of.

For the new Porsche Macan Electric, Porsche isn’t waiting around, and played an integral part from the start in developing the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture together with Audi.

As the second-generation Macan takes over from the first with a short period of overlap in their production runs, it has quite a job on its hands. For the Macan Electric to maintain its petrol predecessor’s hard-won success will be a big challenge.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Porsche Macan RT 2025 rear detail 3

Porsche could have hedged its bets with parallel electric and piston lines, like Volkswagen did with the ID 3 and Golf. Instead, this Macan EV will go at it alone when the petrol car goes out of production next year. Or at least that was the strategy. The old petrol Macan remains in production for now, even if you can no longer buy one in Europe, and there are reports that Porsche may be reconsidering its choices in light of slowing Taycan sales.

With this bold direction comes a bold new platform. The PPE was developed together with Audi to underpin a new generation of EVs. To deliver the long ranges that customers will expect, it accepts very large battery packs (100kWh in the Macan) and uses 800V to allow very fast charging of up to 270kW.

What looks like the main part of the headlight is actually just the daytime-running light, while the dipped and high beams are in the lower cluster. Matrix LEDs are powerful, but the adaptive function works only above about 40mph, which isn’t ideal on rural roads.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Plenty of chargers still run on just 400V, so to mitigate against that, the PPE uses ‘bank charging’, where the car essentially splits its 100kWh battery into two 50kWh packs, charging each half at 135kW.

Elsewhere, the Macan Electric deploys Porsche’s Integrated Power Box. This combines the on-board AC charger, high-voltage heater and 12V DC-to-DC converter into one 19kg package squeezed between the rear seats and the battery below, freeing up space for a front luggage compartment.

Porsche says that it has also focused on repairability – increasingly a point of contention with EVs. The battery consists of 12 modules. These and other important components can be replaced individually if necessary.

Since the typical Porsche design cues still hark back in some way to air-cooled 911s, with a short bonnet and limited front air intakes, they lend themselves well to EVs, including the Macan. The typical ‘tunnels’ that lead from the headlights to the windscreen are present and correct, and because you can see the edges of the bonnet from the driver’s seat, they make the Macan easier to place on the road than the Audi Q6 E-tron, despite similar dimensions.

INTERIOR

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Porsche Macan RT 2025 dash 16

Platform-sharing can make the interiors of different cars look and feel disappointingly similar – take the Volkswagen Group MEB models and the various Stellantis cars. This is clearly something Porsche and Audi have aimed to avoid. The eagle-eyed might spot that the Macan and Q6 share their column stalks, their pedals and their placement, and their sporting and multi-adjustable driving positions, but that’s about it.

Although the Macan has just as much overall screen acreage as the Q6, digital technology hasn’t likewise been put front and centre in quite the same way. The central infotainment touchscreen is neatly integrated into the dashboard rather than being perched on top. Lower down, there’s also a panel with some physical switches. The knurled rocker switches for the temperature and fan speed feel good, but when you press the buttons (such as for the heated seats), you move the entire gloss black plastic panel and leave fingerprints.

The fully digital instrument cluster is one of the best around, with clear graphics in unmistakable Porsche style and a good amount of configuration freedom.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Overall perceived quality is a slightly mixed bag. The leather-covered surfaces (some of which are optional) and the switches for the windows, gear selector and those on the steering wheel feel appropriately high-quality. Some of the plastics in the centre console don’t live up to the £100,000-plus price that a Macan can easily reach, and the big expanse of gloss black plastic in front of the passenger (which can optionally be filled by an additional touchscreen) looks rather plain. As usual with a Porsche, there is enormous scope for personalisation, with lighter colours, wood trim, extended leather covering up some of the plain plastics and different types of seats and steering wheels all on the menu.

Also very Porsche-typical is that the ergonomics and usability are carefully considered. More buttons would naturally be a good thing, but the Macan strikes a pleasing balance, with up-to-date digital tech that works well, and plenty of physical controls for frequently used functions, including toggling various ADAS functions. Likewise, the driving position is excellent, with a very generous range of adjustment in the steering column and seat height.

The amount of space available in the Macan is slightly less than in the Audi Q6. There’s just as much leg room as in the Genesis GV60, a little less than in the Polestar 3, but rear passengers have no cause for complaint, with a comfortable seating position. Again, that’s assuming the buyer has ticked the right option boxes, since separate rear climate control and rear heated seats are not standard.

Boot space is class-typical, with an even shape and a good selection of hooks and levers. Porsche has done well to include a frunk that will swallow the charge cable and a small bag, and it can be opened via a button on the key, so you needn’t fumble for a physical release.

Multimedia

The bones of the Macan’s infotainment system are another thing shared with its Audi sibling. Just like the Q6’s system (and those used by Renault and Volvo), it runs on Android Automotive. You could never tell by looking at it, mind. This is a flexible architecture and, apart from a few minimal differences, the interface in the Macan looks and functions just like the Porsche-exclusive system in the Taycan.

It works quickly, there’s a permanent shortcut bar and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are well integrated into the native system. The smartphone app is fairly full-featured and intuitive too. Our test car was fitted with the mid-spec Bose hi-fi system, which was outstanding, with unusually clear instrument separation.

The Google-based navigation is clear, well informed of traffic and lets you customise your route. It can plan a route via rapid chargers, but if this option is turned on, it won’t explicitly tell you it has added a charging stop and will sometimes use notoriously unreliable networks that an experienced EV driver would know to avoid.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Porsche Macan RT 2025 rear corner 38

Porsche has a habit of doing more with less, and so it proves with the electric Macan Turbo. A power output of 576bhp (630bhp with launch control) is an enormous amount, but it is outgunned by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N (641bhp on overboost) and the Mercedes-AMG EQE 53 SUV (617bhp). Nevertheless, if you want the fastest electric SUV (short of the left-hand-drive-only Tesla Model X Plaid) in the UK, this is it.

Despite cold conditions, our test car exploded to 60mph in 3.0sec, half a second faster than the Ioniq 5 N, and it doesn’t let up at autobahn speeds, maintaining its lead over the Ioniq all the way, and even reaching its 162mph limiter before the end of Horiba MIRA’s mile straight. In a weird way, it doesn’t feel quite as spectacular as the numbers suggest, but that’s more thanks to the unimpeachable control than any lack of thrust.

A bit of synthesised noise can do wonders for involvement in an EV, but Porsche’s ‘Sport Sound’, which turns on automatically in Sport mode, is too much.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

It was somewhat surprising, then, that the Macan lost a lot of performance when its battery had drained to below 10% of charge. During the first run at around 6% remaining, it was a full three seconds slower to 60mph. For the return run, at 4%, the tortoise icon appeared on the dash and added another 0.2sec. While it managed 100mph on the first run, it struggled to do 80mph on the return.

Porsche has a firm philosophy when it comes to regenerative braking: it doesn’t believe in one-pedal driving. If you agree, you will find the Macan very intuitive to drive, because as standard it freewheels when you release the accelerator, and the ‘high-regen’ mode is still very mild. However, it’s disappointing that the brake pedal feel, while better than on the Taycan, is not as reassuringly firm and predictable as on the best EVs, and that drivers who do enjoy one-pedal driving are simply ignored.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Porsche Macan RT 2025 pan 31

Rarely has the importance of tyres become more evident than during our road test of the Macan Turbo Electric. Conditions were not ideal, with temperatures generally between freezing and 5deg C, accompanied by the usual winter damp. Porsche GB supplies its press cars on summer tyres – Pirelli P Zero PZ4 in the case of the orange car we spent most of the week with – but the inevitable lack of grip is something we can normally set aside in our evaluation when a car still behaves predictably.

Whenever the road surface is anything other than bone-dry, neither the ride nor the handling is up to the standards we are used to with Porsches. Low grip conspires with an over-active (optional) rear-wheel steering system and a four-wheel drive system that’s somewhat unpredictable in its torque distribution to create a car that inspires little confidence.

Few cars are as spec-dependent as a Porsche, and this Macan in particular. I imagine a single-motor car or a Macan 4, with coil springs and adaptive dampers, but without rear-wheel steering, would be a very appealing sporty electric SUV. Winter or all-season tyres would still be a good investment for the cold months, though.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Although the steering has the usual uncorrupted, smooth feel typical of Porsches, it doesn’t have the feedback that normally comes with it. Meanwhile, the rear-wheel steering tends to counter-steer too much at medium speeds, resulting in slightly nervous responses. In combination with the lack of steering feedback, this makes it easy to overload the front axle and find the Macan washing into understeer.

Matters are not helped by the enormous amount of power, which makes it easy to break traction at either axle. The Porsche Stability Management (PSM) ensures things never get out of hand, but the car doesn’t reassure its driver that it will go where it’s pointed, even if it probably will.

With the PSM switched off on MIRA’s wet handling track, the Macan was downright unpredictable – sometimes gripping, sometimes understeering, sometimes snapping into oversteer, but never signalling clearly which it was going to be. Things were better on the dry handling course, where the handling became more precise, and the car could be drifted through the hairpins. However, it lacked the sweet balance of even the standard Audi Q6 E-tron Quattro, and there was always a great sense of weight when turning in to corners.

You wouldn’t call this car fun to drive, then. The trouble is that the ride isn’t great either. The Macan Turbo Electric has adaptively damped air suspension as standard, but on bumpy roads it suffers from an excessive amount of pitch and head toss, as if the individual wheels never quite move independently.

The secondary ride is quite average as well. It feels fundamentally stiff-legged, and the 22in wheels of our test car (20in is standard) thunked through potholes and over corrugations.

This behaviour is so out of character for a Porsche that we suspected something might be wrong with our particular car and asked the press office if we could try its other Macan Turbo Electric, which is mechanically identical apart from running on Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport tyres in exactly the same size. Whether a car wears one of these tyres or a Bridgestone Potenza Sport is largely chance.

Based on a short back-to-back drive, the car was improved. Grip levels were noticeably higher and the steering feel was better, which inspired more confidence and seemed to calm the car’s various systems down. When grip ran out (these are still summer tyres in suboptimal conditions), it did so more gradually. The ride over low-amplitude, high-frequency imperfections improved a tad too.

Some fundamental issues remain. The primary ride isn’t affected by the tyres, and the rear-wheel steering and four-wheel drive lack the transparency of the best such systems.

Despite running on the same Pirelli tyres, albeit a different size, we found the Macan 4 we tested (on steel springs with adaptive dampers and standard steering) to be miles ahead of the Turbos for involvement, with more communicative steering and a more predictable handling balance that was mostly sure-footed but allowed some throttle-adjustability when pushed. On its smaller wheels, it had a better secondary ride, but still quite a busy primary one.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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Porsche Macan RT 2025 front corner blur 37

At the time of publication, the Macan range included a single-motor car called simply ‘Macan’ as well as three dual-motor versions: the 4, 4S and Turbo. It would be a safe bet that other versions, such as a GTS and a Turbo S, will follow. With such a wide variety of powertrain variations and Porsche’s sprawling options list, there is a wide gulf between the cheapest and most expensive Macans. A single-motor Macan costs £68,500, rising to £96,900 for the Turbo.

Go wild with the options, and it’s possible to add £30,000 to that. While that seems a lot, it simply reflects the additional scope for personalisation that Porsche offers. As standard, the Macan is rather sparsely equipped, but also undercuts most rivals. Instead of a one-size-fits-all trim level structure, you add the various options yourself.

We were rather disappointed with the Macan Turbo Electric’s energy efficiency. Over the course of our test, we rarely saw over 2.5mpkWh. Based on our overall average of 2.3mpkWh, the Turbo Electric has a winter range of just 219 miles.

It’s a good thing, then, that it does charge very rapidly indeed. Since it shares its battery and peak charging speed with the Audi Q6 E-tron, we expected their performances to be nearly identical. Instead, the Macan managed to maintain over 200kW for much longer, resulting in the third-highest weighted average speed we have ever tested, behind two versions of the Taycan. 

VERDICT

Porsche Macan RT 2025 front static 27

If you take one thing away from this road test, let it be that the Macan 4 Electric is a much better car than the top-rung Macan Turbo Electric in nearly every way. All Macans share an appealing cabin, rapid charging and ample performance, but the cheaper car shines with its handling and range.

In itself, that’s not a surprising conclusion, since so far only Hyundai has truly managed to give the sporty version of its mainstream EV a clear USP.

However, we hadn’t expected the gulf between Macans to be this wide. The Turbo’s performance is impressive but largely irrelevant on the road, and the penalty it wreaks on energy efficiency and therefore range is not compensated by added involvement. Meanwhile, the air suspension and four-wheel steering don’t deliver an especially appealing or intuitive ride and handling balance.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.