Porsche Macan Tubro Electric First Drive Review

Whenever someone asks me about the best sportscar for Indian roads, my answer is always the same, without hesitation – the Porsche Macan. You see, Porsche might have marketed and sold it as an SUV, but they didn’t fool anyone with this. The Macan was essentially a high-riding sportscar. The way it steered, stopped, sounded, and thundered along – it felt every bit as thrilling as any other Porsche. The only difference? You didn’t have to care about road imperfections. In other words – it was perfect for India, period.

But Porsche has now done the unthinkable, or so feel the purists. They have discontinued the Macan that we so loved and adored. Instead, they’ve come up with an all-new version that feels like an antithesis to everything the original version stood for. The latest iteration of the Macan is electric only – plain blasphemy, some might say. And given that the Macan has long been Porsche’s cash cow – the company’s best-selling product for nearly a decade – the move to the EV version raises the stakes even higher.

Here is the thing though: while Porsche seems to be swimming against the tide, it’s not their first rodeo. Time and again, they have proved the naysayers wrong. After driving the new Macan Turbo Electric, all I can say is that it’s another foot-in-the-mouth for the usual Porsche cynics. Because goodness gracious, this thing is phenomenal to drive!

Refined Aggression

The Macan Electric is an all-new vehicle, built completely from the ground up. Based on the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE), built in collaboration with Audi, the electric Macan shares nothing with the ICE version except its name. Now, having a dedicated EV platform is like starting with an empty canvas, which means that it allows you to reimagine everything, from the engine bay and the floor to the cabin, without any constraints or limitations.

The design is unmistakably Macan, with a coupe-SUV shape, but the EV version is curvier and bulkier compared to the ICE version. It’s also much longer – the wheelbase is up by 86mm – and it looks fresher, thanks to new design elements, like the four-point LED lamps, seamless lightbar at the rear, and, of course, the massive 20-inch gloss black ‘aero’ wheels. Our test car came with a lot of gloss black enhancements – all of them optional extras.

Inside, the Macan EV is very much sportscar-like, which is to say that the interior has a minimalistic approach and sporty ergonomics. You won’t find disco lights or huge tablets here – or anything that distracts you from the joy of driving. The 18-way electrically adjustable sport seats offer exceptional comfort and support, and the thin-rimmed Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel is as sporty as it gets. The fit-and-finish and quality levels are extraordinary, and everything you touch and feel is simply superb. The only irritants are the gloss-black panels on the centre console, which are fingerprint magnets.

Features-wise, you can load your Macan to the gills with creature comforts, depending, of course, on how deep your pocket goes. Take the ‘Club Leather Truffle Brown’ interior of our test car, for example – alone is a ₹3.88 lakh optional extra. Want seat ventilation at the front? That’d be another ₹1.31 lakh! The Sport Chrono Package with Porsche Design watch is just ₹2.65 lakh more, and so on. The sky is the limit, really.

What you do get as standard are the new digital screens – a 12.6-inch driver display and a 10.9-inch infotainment touchscreen. In typical Porsche fashion, the screens are superb and offer high-definition resolution, along with crisp and lag-free touch response. The UI is intuitive, but what’s a bit of a downer is that there’s no wireless Apple CarPlay. Perhaps, Porsche is saving it to be offered as an optional extra in the future. Speaking of extras, if you think your driving will bore your co-passenger, you can also add a 10.9-inch touchscreen for their entertainment for just another lakh!

At the rear, there’s generous room, but it’s not the most comfortable or feature-laden rear-seat compartment. Plus, the seats feel hard, and thanks to the battery pack mounted underneath the floor, you sit in a slightly knees-up position. But, then, if you’re looking for a plush and comfortable rear-seat experience in a Macan, well, you’re barking up the wrong tree. In a Macan, you are supposed to be in the front seat, hands on the wheel, grinning ear to ear!

High-riding Sportscar

And trust me, taking the wheel of the Macan Turbo Electric won’t disappoint you, not even for a second! Sure, it’s a bit silly to call an electric vehicle ‘Turbo’, but considering how gut-wrenching its performance and acceleration are, all can be forgiven. For starters, the Turbo Electric version features a dual-motor setup, churning out a peak power output of 630bhp and an earth-shattering twisting force of 1,130Nm! Put it in Sport Plus or Sport mode, press the brake and accelerator pedals simultaneously, and the ‘Launch Control’ and ‘Overboost’ will get activated for maximum performance. Now, let go of the brake, and watch yourself being teleported into another dimension! The frenzy with which it takes off is simply mind-numbing. There’s no drama, no tyre squeal – it just grips and shoots forward while subjecting your internal organs to the fiercest of g-forces. In terms of numbers, that’s a 0 – 100km/h sprint in just 3.3 seconds.

But what truly bowls you over is the Macan’s handling and balance. For a girthy 2.5-tonne SUV – an EV at that – the Macan Electric’s body control is almost supernatural. Be it the directness of the wheel, the precision of the nose, or the alacrity with which the rear end rotates, it beggars belief how tremendously the Macan EV drives. To me, this right here is the Macan Electric’s mic drop moment, for you can’t wrap your head around the fact that this is an EV with a heavy 100kWh battery pack lurking somewhere underneath. It doesn’t make its presence felt at any moment. I think one should launch an investigation into the way Porsche EVs defy the laws of physics, really! There’s definitely some voodoo magic involved here.

It’s supremely refined without a doubt, but comfort and luxury do take a back seat in the larger scheme of things. Irrespective of the drive mode the ride is firm and shaky. Even on the slightest of undulations, you will experience vertical movement from the suspension at all four corners. The low-profile rubber does little to absorb the bumps, and over sharp bumps, you can hear a thud from the suspension in the cabin. Again, this isn’t going to deter any Porsche customer because nobody buys a Macan, or any Porsche for that matter, expecting a magic carpet ride. Now, if there’s one thing that I sorely miss, it is the glorious noise of the V6 motor. Even though there’s no dearth of performance, it’s still not as viscerally engaging as the ICE version.

As for its range and charging time, the Turbo Electric offers a claimed range of up to 591km on a full charge, but if you want to get anywhere close to that figure in the real world, you have to stop driving it like a Porsche. In other words, about 400 – 450km would be a more realistic figure. On the upside, it features an 800V architecture, which means a superfast charging time of less than an hour, provided you get your hands on a 60kW (or higher) DC charger.

Verdict

The Macan Electric had some seriously big shoes to fill, and it’s fair to say that it has successfully done that. The Macan hasn’t gone green and quiet just for the heck of it. In its transition from ICE to EV, it has also become an even more potent driver’s car, er, SUV, while retaining its Porsche sportscar ethos. In fact, Porsche is so pleased with the new Macan that they don’t want to put the ICE version of the Macan back on sale in future.

But, what about customers – will they accept the change? Well, here is a fact for a kicker – Porsche sold twice as many Macan Electrics as they did the Macan ICE version in the last quarter of 2024. Long story short, as long as a Porsche drives like a Porsche, who cares whether it runs on fossil fuel or vegan volts?

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Inside, the Macan EV is very much sportscar-like. You won’t find disco lights or huge tablets to distract you from the joy of driving

The design is unmistakably Macan, with a coupe-SUV shape, but the EV is curvier and bulkier compared to the ICE version.

The frenzy with which it takes off is simply mind-numbing