The Porsche Macan has gone all-electric.
So here are some fast facts.
Number one, they've stuffed the hardware into a boat.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
But more of that in a bit.
There are two models – the Macan 4 and the Macan Turbo.
Both are dual motor and, therefore, four-wheel drive.
And both have a 100kWh battery, of which
95kWh is usable.
That's 95%.
And even I can do that maths.
There's likely a cheaper rear-wheel-drive car on the way, as well as an S.
And probably a GTS because… that's just how Porsche works.
Up to 380 miles for the 4, a little bit less for the Turbo at 367.
And they've both got 800v architecture,
which makes for very fast charging.
Oh, and they're both on a new platform called Premium Platform Electric,
which is the bits of Lego that underpin the Audi Q6 e-tron
and the forthcoming A6 e-tron.
Not a single carryover part from the previous Macan,
not even the badge.
Because that's recently been tweaked as well.
£69,800 for the Macan 4,
which is only £600 shy of a base Cayenne in the UK,
or £95,000 on the nose for the Turbo.
Neither are slow.
You could stop this video now, but you wouldn't get to the good bit.
So this is a Macan Turbo.
And, no, it doesn't have a turbo,
that's just what Porsche calls its faster models.
So you don't need to make that joke, Kelvin12746 on the internet.
This car has 635bhp
and 833lb ft of torque,
which means it will get to 62mph in 3.3 seconds
and run on to 162mph.
So it gets to 62 a couple of seconds quicker than the Macan 4 at 5.2.
I'd just like to let that sink in.
This is a mid-sized electric SUV that will accelerate
as fast as a 911 GT3 from rest to 62mph.
And it doesn't even have the stupid swan-neck spoiler on the back.
Bloody hell.
Yeah, that's… that's properly rapid.
And it's also not going to make you look like a racetrack refugee in Tesco's car park
because the new Macan actually looks like a slightly swoopier version of a…
Macan.
It's not going to shock any current Macanistas out of their golf shoes or
anyone in particular.
From the back and from some of the shapes,
I do get hints of Cayenne from certain angles, especially the coupé,
with this kind of swoopyness to the roofline.
And the big changes really are at the front, because you've got these
daylight-running lights at the top here, like the Taycan.
The four-point ones, which you'll recognise.
And then because there's no internal-combustion engine under the front,
it's actually got quite a low bonnet
with these… They're sort of buttresses that come up the bonnet.
And, for the first time ever in a Macan,
because this is a BEV…
Ta-da! A frunk! And it's opened by gesture control or off the key,
so that's actually quite convenient.
And yes, you can put a decent-sized bag or your charging cables or whatever in there.
Then at the front as well, we've got really tricksy aerodynamics.
So there's some blanking flaps under here
and some air curtains that sort of channel air through here and over the front wheels.
And they basically give this car a coefficient of drag of 0.25.
Now if you go from the old car's 0.35,
it's worth 80km of range,
which is about, dunno, 55 miles, something like that.
As for the wheels, you can have anything up to 22s.
Which, this is a Turbo, so it does get the 22in wheels.
Seems to not really affect the ride, which I was quite pleased with.
And then a Macan thing are these side blades down here,
and you can get those in three different colours.
There's like black, a gloss black and a carbon fibre thing.
They kind of visually lower the car a little bit.
There's the usual 3D light bar at the back, full width.
And you've got two different charging points.
So one side is just AC, for when you plug it in at night.
And the other side is both AC and DC, for rapid charging.
So you can sort of choose for your AC.
Your DC's only on this side, a bit like a Taycan.
It's shorter than the ICE version, but has a longer wheelbase by 86mm,
so there's more room for people and stuff.
And I actually think it looks quite nice.
Let me know what you think.
As for the inside,
it's pretty much as you would expect
if you've ever been in a modern Porsche or indeed, another Macan with an engine.
It's got a vegan leather, non-leather leather,
and you can have either comfort or sport seat.
This is a Turbo, so these get the sports seats,
which are actually very comfortable and really quite good-looking.
Big 12.6in curved display in front of me, here
and then a touchscreen in the middle,
so that's all fairly standard, with some little rockers down here
and another set of haptic switches for things for the climate.
Then there is an optional passenger screen,
which is basically a duplicate of the one here, so that your passenger
can do things like alter the navigation or indeed watch Netflix
if they don't like you very much. And that's directional,
so you can't binge and drive at the same time.
It's interesting that Porsche has really upped its game with this new Macan.
Much better connectivity,
it's got Android baked into it,
everything's a lot quicker.
So every time you touch a screen, it reacts instantly.
And after that, it's pretty much as you expect a modern Porsche to be,
except with a few extra bits.
I mean, the wheel is still in the right place.
The seating's got really good ergonimics.
And you can switch the drive modes just with this thumb wheel here.
And then in the middle, there is a lot more space
than you would get with something with a transmission tunnel.
So there's cupholders, lots of space down here in the middle of the centre console.
A wireless charging pad here.
And something I really like is that that little shelf is actually cooled.
So my phone always gets really hot if you put it on a wireless charging pad,
that cools it down. There's a bit more storage in here.
And generally, there's plenty of space in the back,
thanks to that longer wheelbase,
a big boot and, obviously, that frunk.
And that basically makes it a 911, right?
Honestly, it's all improvements and good news.
As a practical daily, the new Macan pretty much has it nailed.
There's always the worry with very fast battery electric cars that
the finesse is missing,
that it kind of gets punched in the face by the torque and weight.
But with this particular Porsche electric car, it really doesn't feel like that.
It feels pretty damn solid.
Now, the only cars that I've ever driven that have really managed
to negate that battery weight are four-motor electric cars.
And then you can basically
make the car handle any way you want just through the programming.
And the Macan only has two motors, front and rear,
so it can't be absolutely nailed.
But I think Porsche has done a bang-up job
of very possibly making this the best-handling
mid-sized SUV on the market.
It's really precise.
And these are very twisty, quite narrow roads
and it's got loads of control and confidence.
At kind of 20% through town,
it feels very languid, very calm,
and then feels normal through the mid-range.
Then as soon as you start pushing this car, it comes alive again.
And then when you start going really fast
and you switch modes through this little wheel here
and you go into Sport or Sport Plus,
and this thing changes around the beltline of the car,
everything tightens up.
Throttle response gets more.
It feels like the car really wants to turn.
It's quite aggressive.
Look at that!
That's bonkers for a car like this.
It held its line perfectly.
Now, a lot of these big, fast battery electric cars, they're so heavy,
when you go really quick, they just understeer.
They feel more leaden the faster you go.
But not this. It's the other way round.
It gets more lively and more involving,
the quicker you use it,
the harder you drive it.
And it's actually really good fun.
And I didn't think it would be.
I thought, 100kWh battery?
Probably a bit much.
That 100kWh battery is a decent size.
And while it's not particularly clever battery chemistry,
it's an 800v architecture like the Taycan.
So you're looking at maximum charge rate of 270kW
giving 10 to 80% charge in just over 20 minutes on a big enough charger.
Or that means something like 60 miles every four minutes.
Unless you're road-tripping, that's convenient.
Actually, especially when road-tripping.
And it can bank-charge,
essentially splitting the battery into two parts
so you don't need an expensive booster like the Taycan has for 400v charging stations.
Which means more efficient charging and better heat management.
There's also 11kW DC charging for destination top-ups, which is kind of fine.
And don't forget, that time spent at the charger is actually putting in decent range.
The official figures are 380 miles for Macan 4
and 367 for the Turbo.
That's 4.2 miles per kWh for the Macan 4
and that's a really solid performance.
There's torque vectoring via the brakes,
but apparently that's low on the list of priorities,
because it slows the car down slightly and Porsches shouldn't be slowed down.
There's no active ride control
or any of the really expensive stuff because this is supposed to be
a sort of entry-level Porsche. The gateway drug to Porschedom.
I would say, though,
for me, the best part of this car
is the steering.
Now, I like the size of the wheel,
I like the fact it's got Alcantara on it.
But more than that,
it's got different physical properties to the steering in the Audi version of this platform.
And some electric cars,
they feel like simulators
or like the steering column's made of old socks and spit.
And this doesn't. It's connected.
You can really feel your way around a corner.
It feels like there's a relationship between the front motor and the rear.
You can sense the grip.
It's not perfect, it's not as good as a good analogue system,
but it's really quite accurate.
And for a car of this size, it's just like… Look, you just turn.
The more aggressive you are with it,
the better it gets.
It's wicked.
Why? Well, it's really about the spread of the Macan's abilities.
One, it's properly quick.
Overtakes are blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff,
squirting into gaps or across junctions is super safe.
But it's not just fast.
It's a bit of a Swiss Army knife of a thing.
There's air suspension that's standard on the Turbo
and optional on the otherwise steel-sprung 4,
and body control is tight as a drum.
Two-valve damping that allows for a bigger distance
between full squishy comfort and more response,
well-thought-out modes that do what you actually expect.
Rear-wheel steer that makes it a doddle in car parks,
but also actually very stable in a high-speed corner.
And then there's the other Porsche stuff.
So there's no regen braking,
no one-pedal driving. All the regen comes off the actual brake pedal,
so you have to press the pedal.
But that suits the car. Suits a Porsche.
Like, the brakes are absolutely solid, they're consistent,
they're not too aggressive.
Again, this is a car that you're probably going to daily,
so you don't want something that's got a rock-hard pedal that you can't modulate.
And it makes this cool noise as well.
And when you turn it in…
Whoa…
Yeah, you see? It's rear biased.
It feels like a Porsche.
That sounds a really stupid thing to say, but it's true.
A 911 driver could drive this Macan being pure electric
and know it was a Porsche.
And that is a hell of a trick to pull.
What I think I'm basically saying is that you are looking
at the new benchmark for this kind of thing.
Porsche has just made the new boss.
Though, the caveat I would make
is that the Turbo
only really starts to show itself as being
so classy and so performance-orientated
in the higher end of its performance envelope.
So if you're not going to drive the car like this ever,
then maybe the 4, that's a bit slower,
would be more appropriate.
Oh, what am I saying? Just get a Turbo, it's mega.
This is wild.
So is the new Porsche Macan actually any good?
Well, when I first saw this car static,
I did ask the question whether it would be worth buying an electric Macan
or just buying a GTS and using it until it broke.
Well, I have to say, I still think the GTS is a fine automobile,
but this car is absolutely brilliant.
If there was a car that's going to convince you of the whole EV thing,
then the new Macan is probably it.
I think the Macan 4 is probably the more sensible purchase, but it feels a bit heavy.
This Turbo, though?
I think Porsche's just made a new benchmark.
It's expensive, but at least you know where they spent the money.
Oh, yeah. And as for that boat you saw earlier…
Well, this is it.
So this is a Frauscher x Porsche Fantom 850 Air.
And the interior, what there is of it, is a bit like a 911.
So it's got the five dials,
it's got different modes, like Range and Sport and Sport Plus,
it's got a Porsche steering wheel.
But better than that, it's got the new Macan Electric's full drivetrain.
So, the same 100kWh battery.
It's got the rear motor from the Turbo,
so about 600-ish horsepower,
and it means it's quite nippy as an electric boat.
It makes you feel
like you're in Miami Vice.
It can DC fast-charge, plus it seats nine
and has a top speed of 46 knots, which is about 53mph.
And it can bobble about for an hour without needing to charge.
So it's not for transatlantic crossings.
This is a Porsche experience like no other.
I've just remembered that
I don't know how to drive a boat!
But as little as I know about boats, it does look pretty cool.
And people tell me it handles well.
But you'll need a bit more cash to afford one.
It's €560,000…
plus taxes.
It makes the Macan look like a bargain.