2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric first drive review
Porsche’s incredibly popular mid-size SUV is going electric. Does it retain its charm?;
Look let's get something clear right at the start. This is an all-new car. We’ve gotten used to first-gen EVs sharing platforms with ICE cars and you might think that is the case since the older Porsche Macan with the petrol engines is still on sale. You’d be wrong. The Macan is based on the electric-only PPE platform. A clean sheet. A fresh start. Which means a new platform, a radically different drivetrain, fresh styling and a new interior.
2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: Dimensions and design
Porsche doesn’t make radical changes very often — look at the incremental evolution of the 911 over the decades. This, then, is a departure from Porsche’s norm. More departures start with the styling. A new face with split lamps? Not to everyone’s taste but nice looking in my opinion. You get staggered tyres front to rear, frameless doors and a raked roofline, just like you would get on a 911. There’s even a Carrera-like active wing.
It is still “compact” but the wheelbase has grown by 86mm, the car is 103mm longer overall and 155mm wider. Being a new-gen EV, plenty of attention has been paid to aerodynamics, with active cooling flaps, air curtains, a flat underbody and a diffuser.
2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: Cabin and comfort
The insides are more evolution than revolution: a 12.3-inch digital cluster sits in front of the driver, with twin 10.9-inch screens for the infotainment screen and passenger display. There’s an optional augmented reality head-up display as well. I like that the ’wheel hasn’t changed. Porsche’s “if it ain’t broke…” attitude is still visible somewhere. The AC gets physical controls and you don’t need to dive into the screens to adjust the vents like on the Taycan. Phew. The backseat is not going to impress anyone — it’s a compact SUV after all. Knee room is adequate but under-thigh support isn’t the finest and you’d be much happier in the driver’s seat. 1130Nm of torque. Just let that number sink in.
2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: Power and performance
Yes, this is the Turbo that sits at the top of the range but even then, this is a mental figure. Power output stands at 576bhp and can be bumped up to 621bhp with launch control. And this amounts to a 3.3 second 0-100kmph time. We didn’t really get to experience this face-ripping performance on the street, Dubai’s speed cameras being omnipresent, but I felt it in the passenger seat ride I got in a prototype Macan a few months ago. Sucks the wind out of you, I promise. What I did get to experience is that this performance is not unidimensional. If you want to kick back and relax, just be smooth with your inputs and the Macan is well-behaved at regular speeds. Overtaking is effortless, as is expected. What I’m blown away by though, is the fact that you’re getting genuine supercar rivalling performance in your average family SUV. The e-motors made this possible, even the older Macan GTS with its wonderful V6 could only manage 4.3 seconds. Sure, this loses some of the emotion that the older car had, but the gains in performance are unquestionable.
2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: Range and dynamics
In the floor is a 100kWh battery pack. This gives you a claimed range of 590km on the WLTP cycle, which should mean a good 450-480km in the real world. Unlike the Taycan which gets a two-step transmission, this one gets a single-speed driving the wheels. And despite this being a platform shared with the Audi Q6 e-tron, Porsche has done things differently. They have flipped the rear motor around 180 degrees so it sits behind the rear axle. This allows for better weight over the rear and better traction. Where have we seen that before...
Handling should be mega too. Again, the roundabouts in Dubai hardly shed much light on its dynamic capability but the passenger seat ride I had was plenty enlightening. The Turbo gets rear wheel steer which tightens things up, plus an e-diff on the rear axle which allows for insane drive out of corners, and also allows you to break traction if you’re feeling particularly brave. The test drivers at the Leipzig track were sending it sideways at every opportunity they got. But a word of advice: go to a track if you want to fool around. The speed and the commitment you need to unstick it from the road is a lot and the road is not the place to try.
This loses some of the emotion that the older car had, but the gains in performance are unquestionable.
Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: Pricing for India
India prices for the Macan electric are out — they start from ₹1.2 crore for this base version and go up to ₹1.6 crore for the Turbo. This makes the EV a lot more expensive at the entry level than the older Macan, and slightly more expensive at the top end. As a product, it is hard to poke holes in — it does everything it is supposed to while packing more than enough firepower. I think we will get a much clearer picture of performance, ride, handling and comfort once we drive it on more familiar roads in India and put it through the paces. Which won’t be long — the Macan Electric will debut in India at the Bharat Mobility show!