The Macan’s drivability in everyday environments is first-rate. The car’s combination of steering speed, weight and accuracy, the gentle heft in its intuitively sprung accelerator pedal, and the way in which it takes up what limited roll is permitted result in a cohesive whole that does have the hallmark of a Porsche.
This makes the car, which is 103mm longer and 15mm wider (but also 2mm lower) than the ICE model, supremely easy to place and control.
Some may rue the lack of adjustable regenerative braking modes. It certainly denies this car one extra avenue towards driver engagement – and, as well come on to, it could use every avenue open in that respect. But there is an enjoyable consistency and purity about freewheeling on a trailing throttle, and feeding in any regen with the ‘brake’ pedal.
This is a modern Porsche, though – and so, at some point, you will want to uncork the thing. How does the 883lb ft of the Turbo feel? Unsurprisingly quite lively, as the 3.3sec 0-62mph time suggests. It’s not as discombobulating as you might expect, though, and there’s little to no drama in the form of wheelspin or, even more impressively, torque-steer. The car’s new electronic architecture allows the torque-split between the axles to adjust in response to wheel slip in just 10 milliseconds, and you can believe it.
Combine this with remarkable discipline in terms of vertical body movements and wheel control, plus that accurate steering, and you have the makings of one a seriously fast and composed passenger car – although not perhaps the most engaging or entertaining one.
For those who dream of Alpine switchbacks, the PTV+ differential in the Turbo (optional on the 4S) is worth having. In slower bends, it lends neatness and predictability to the car’s accessible throttle-adjustabile handling; but if you want a cheaper route to something comparable, stick with a single-motor car, whose sense of cornering balance and poise is as clear to appreciate without going so fast.
The 403bhp Macan 4 is less theatrical than the Turbo but, for most people, offers more than enough pace and composure. In fact, the 4 we tested, on air suspension and the basic 20in wheels, was a standout highlight.
It felt less tightly wrought than the Turbo, on good roads finding a flow more easily, and if anything this makes the Macan Electric’s rear-biased torque-split shine through more clearly in the handling. If it’s true that the Macan Electric’s 2.3-tonne mass never truly leaves your consciousness, it’s also true that this weight is supremely well-managed, and in the sensibly powered 4 especially you’ll find a car that can really be enjoyed and even goaded a little on the right road. It reminds me a little of Audi’s RS3.
The 4S is feels a good deal quicker than the 4, and a shade more grippy and composed (PASM adaptive dampers come as standard here, but for the best outright body control go for that air suspension), but if it is any more involving depends a lot on how much you’re spending on options. A 4S with optional air springs, four-wheel steering and PTV+ should certainly have plenty of tricks up its sleeve; but, in our experience so far, a purer Macan single-motor still feels decently brisk, can be just as much fun when cornering, and is probably slightly more refined with it.
If there’s a chink the armour of a what is a roundly convincing family performance EV, it concerns ride quality. The Macan Electric’s motorway gait is superbly supple, but there’s a reactivity on smaller, choppier routes, and a vulnerability to road noise specific to models on bigger wheels and with air suspension, that could yet prove tiring in the UK.
