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The electric Porsche for keen drivers – but why not just buy a petrol one?
The latest version of Porsche’s perenially popular Macan family SUV is powered by batteries, although the existing combustion models continue. Andrew English sees how it compares
Wherever you look, governments, institutions and car makers are backing out of ambitious zero or low-carbon commitments because they find them too expensive, not popular and not very practical. Not least Porsche, which at one time was saying that this new Macan EV would replace all the combustion-engined examples of its family SUV, which since its launch in 2014 has sold more than 850,000 units, with a high proportion of young women among those buyers.
Then came the volte face. Around the time of the combustion Macan’s mid-cycle facelift in 2020, Porsche realised it was in danger of running out of EV early adopters, that rivals were beginning to hedge their EV bets and that it could be left out in the cold as one of the few sole EV suppliers in one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing markets. Tesla might manage to shift huge amounts of its Model Y, but legacy car makers aren’t quite so convinced as to completely disband their petrol SUVs just yet.
So, the facelifted combustion Macan would continue. But how long will you still be able to buy a Macan with pistons? Some pundits are quoting the end of 2025, others three years after the start of sales of the Macan EV, which is already a year late because of software issues at parent company Volkswagen (the Macan EV is based on Audi’s forthcoming Q6).
Nevertheless, the Macan EV is on sale now, for first deliveries this autumn. It’s priced from £69,800 for the 381bhp/479lb ft Macan 4 with a 367-mile WLTP range. With the overboost function, which also includes launch control, that power is extended to 402bhp and the top speed is 137mph and 0-62mph in 5.2sec
The £95,000 top-model Turbo delivers 576bhp/833lb ft (630bhp on overboost) and has a 381-mile range, a top speed of 162mph and 0-62mph acceleration in 3.3sec. Combustion-engined Macans start at £54,900. In case you were wondering, there’s no turbocharger on an EV, Porsche is simply using the nomenclature of some of its famed petrol-powered sports cars.
The Turbo has air suspension and active damping as standard (optional on the Macan 4). It’s also the first Macan to be offered with rear-wheel steering, which hydraulically jacks the rear wheels against their suspension bushes to give up to 5 degrees of turn at low speeds (to aid manoeuvrability) and less than a degree at faster speeds (to aid stability). It has the effect of virtually decreasing the wheelbase at low speeds and increasing it at high speeds.
There’s also the usual litany of clever Porsche engineering including its
‘The power delivery encourages you to push a bit harder, and the steering doesn’t say no’
torque vectoring system on the Turbo model, a system that electronically manages how the power is distributed to each wheel. Porsche Active Suspension Management adjusts the suspension rate and damping in tiny measured amounts, featuring twin-valve damping that separately adjusts the bounce and the rebound.
The battery-electric model is a bit larger than the combustion Macan but its style is very similar. Aerodynamic tweaks including active cooling shutters, wind-cheating wheel designs and a flat floor mean the coefficient of drag has dropped from the combustion Macan’s 0.35Cd to only 0.25Cd, which equates to a range benefit of 53 miles.
The interior is a case study in understated Porsche quality, with the touchscreen set into the facia rather than being the usual “iPad jammed into the dash” style of the opposition. Instead, you get a Porsche stopwatch in the upper centre of the dash to make you feel as though you’re about to lap the famed Nürburgring circuit when in reality you are on your way to Waitrose.
The three-dial digital instrument binnacle is clear and there’s a head-up display that can provide speed, satnav directions and battery state of charge. It’s all rather lovely, but it does require learning, with some difficult and complicated sub-menus to get what you want on the displays. The satnav will consider traffic conditions and topography to get you to the next charging station and you can select how much charge you’d like when you get there.
The seats are comfortable and supportive, although you can obviously buy more supportive and racier versions at a cost. In the back there’s head and leg room to spare for the six-foottall me to sit behind myself in comfort and the boot has a false floor to provide a large hidden storage area for charging cables and the like.
While the price seems dear, the options list seems like daylight robbery. Our Macan 4 test car started at £69,800, but by the time it had been sprayed with Papaya Metallic paint (£1,185) and fitted with 14-way comfort seats with a memory package, heating and ventilation (£899 + £324 = £704), Isofix childseat mountings on the passenger seat (£140) and air suspension, along with a host of other options, it was £94,522.
Likewise, the Turbo starts at £95,000 but our test car had £15,828 of options, taking the retail price to £110,828.
On the road the entry-level Macan 4 felt pregnant with unused potential; a bit stiff, but with decent progression to the major controls. The undemonstrative facia is pleasingly free of gimmicks, but not the steering wheel which is covered in buttons so it’s easy to inadvertently change the display or the radio channel when you turn a tight corner. And some might find the low seating position not to their liking.
All the test cars had the optional air suspension. So equipped, there’s an element of low-speed fizz to the ride and certainly the 20in wheels (the standard wheel and tyre size) tell you all about the road surface in urban driving.
Up in the Alpes-Maritimes mountains, however, something remarkable happens. The progressive power delivery encourages you to push a bit harder and the steering, so well weighted, doesn’t say no. There’s a bit too much body movement in Normal mode, so you switch to the first level of Sport via the steering wheel-mounted rotary control. The air suspension sharpens its watch on the dampers and the body control picks up the drift.
Travelling briskly into open corners, most rival SUVs of this size feel big, unwieldy and uncommunicative; you turn in on trust rather than feel or instinct. But the Macan’s steering is not only precise, with a first rate response, it also imparts a degree of feedback. All round, this cheaper version of the Macan feels remarkably agile and wieldy considering its size and weight.
“We spent a lot of time on the steering,” says Robert Meier, the Macan EV’s head of development. “It’s an allnew system and one of the differences between our car and the Audi Q6.”
The top model features all the bells and whistles including rear steering as welll as significantly more power and torque. On 22in tyres, the ride is a lot worse than on the 20in items of the Macan 4. The wheels clunk and crash through town and it tramlines along the edges of road repairs.
Farther up in the mountains, you’ve got to admire the extra power and torque, but also learn not to overdrive it and ease the nose through bends to maintain stability. But the rear steering set-up really gets in the way and there are times when the rear wheels seem to be reacting to bits of road that the front wheels never saw.
In addition, the torque vectoring system didn’t do much for me on the undulating, high-friction roads of the famed Route Napoléon in the south of France. Certainly, you travel faster in the Turbo model, but the penalty is a lack of communication and fluency.
Meier conceded that perhaps the Macan 4 is the sweeter chassis, especially on the smaller wheels and tyres, but Porsche owners will drive harder, especially in Germany where the roads are smoother than even those of the Alpes-Maritimes. The Turbo, with its stiffer body control and high-tech dynamics, is the bruiser they want for those high velocities. And in those circumstances, the rear steering and torque vectoring will keep you safe and planted.
Whichever you choose, the brakes are brilliant, with a sensitive pedal and a confidence-inspiring grab at the top of its travel. There are no gimmicks, no one-pedal operation, no steering wheel paddles to increase the regeneration effect, as Porsche thinks these common EV additions get in the way of driving purity and have a negligible effect on the amount of recovered electricity.
Apart from the dubious marketing strategy of selling similar looking cars with different chassis and drivelines but with the same name (apparently E-Macan was rejected), the Macan stands alone in its responsiveness and, in the cheaper Macan 4, the sheer pleasure of driving it. But it’s a family SUV that weighs 2.3 tonnes, for Pete’s sake, it does 137mph and 0-62mph in a scorching 5.2sec and against a quoted 367-mile range I only managed 283 miles going up and down to the mountains on a warm sunny day.
And there’s the problem. If you want a Macan, Porsche produces a perfectly adequate one with a piston engine. For some folk lucky enough to run a car through a business, or with a choice of company car, the battery Macan makes sound financial sense and drives supremely well. But for the rest of us who actually buy our cars, the choice is a lot less clear cut.
QWe downsized our BMW X1 for an Ford Puma ST-Line Vignale two years ago. However, over time we have realised that it’s a bit too small for us, while we dislike the harsh ride from the upgraded 19-inch alloy wheels. We need a petrol or hybrid with a comfortable ride and an automatic gearbox; no bigger than the X1 but roomier than the Puma, with heated front seats and steering wheel, front and rear parking sensors, a rear camera, an electric tailgate and a boot big enough for our small dog. Our budget is £30,000 and we would consider a nearly new car. What do you suggest? –KM
AThe Puma is 4.2m (13ft 9in) long and the BMW 4.5m (14ft 9in), so we need something between the two. You will need a high-specification used model to get all the equipment you’ve listed; buying new is an option, but chances are these requirements will push the price above your budget.
The exception to that rule is the
Honda HR-V. You’ll need the Advance trim to get the items you want, which costs £33,160 brand new. However, several Honda dealers are offering delivery-mileage HR-V Advances, in stock and available immediately, for £29,995.
The HR-V is only a little longer than the Puma and the boot is rather small at 319 litres – although, since your dog is a small breed, it should be large enough.
Of course, that doesn’t leave much boot space for anything else, but here’s where the HR-V’s trump card comes in; with Honda’s “Magic Seats” you can flip up the rear seat bases and stow your luggage there instead. The HR-V’s comfortable ride should be a breath of fresh air after the Puma, while its full hybrid powertrain will be more economical.
By setting such strict equipment requirements, though, you restrict your options. Could you, for example, forgo the electronic tailgate?
If so, you could afford a Kia Niro 3 Hybrid that’s a few months old with 1,000 miles, which would tick all your other boxes and have the majority of a seven-year warranty remaining.