Car Long Term Tests
Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: 1-month test
A month with the Macan Turbo Electric reminds us that life is better with a Porsche
Yes, we did test the range of the Macan Turbo Electric, but this is not a range test. This story is a lot more. What’s it like to live with a Porsche? To wake up every day and have that key on your bedside table? To have that crest sitting proudly in your parking lot? We’ve spent plenty of time with the Macan before. It was a mighty competent support car on our 911 road trip from Delhi to Pune last year. We put it through the wringer there, but this test was different: this was a test to see how well it fit into daily life.
Task one and probably the most important for an EV in my life – can it take me from my home in Pune to my parents’ home in Goa on a single charge. The door to door distance is some 470km. The Macan’s range read out at a 100 per cent SoC was over 500km. Shouldn’t be a problem, I thought. And I was right. Heavy traffic for the December holidays meant there was very little room to exploit the 576bhp and when there were open spaces, my speedaverse partner ensured I was behaving myself. The downhill sections of Anuskura ghat helped with some regen and I rolled into Dona Paula, Goa with some 70km of range left. Not bad, I say. With no top-ups needed enroute, the first order of business in Goa was to find a charger.
I thought I was being big brained when I opened the frunk and pulled out the portable home charger only to find a three different cables link up, a touchscreen interface and a 600 page manual – just for this charger – in the bag. Clearly needed a much bigger brain than mine to put together. I set out looking for a public charger instead. The Tata Power unit closest to home refused to charge the car. I wasted an hour on my first day in Goa there, and annoyingly, I still have ₹2000 just sitting in that app’s wallet now. The second charger, a 60kW Statiq unit was much more effective. It linked up with the car on the first go and piled in the energy without trouble. Which brings me to the economics of running this Porsche: a 470km drive cost me a grand total of ₹1893. That’s all of ₹4/km, and would have been a fraction of that had I charged at home.
Couple of notes I made during the drive: comfort is top notch. You’d think a Porsche with Turbo slapped on its bum would be properly firm to deal with the firepower it comes packing. Not true. It’s compliant and pliable, and deals with our roads very competently. Even the broken sections. You’ve got air suspension if you need a little extra clearance, but I barely needed to activate it. Plus it hasn’t forgotten that it’s a Porsche. Hustling it in the bends reminds you of how good their EPAS system is, how flat it corners and how insane the traction is coming out of bends. Proper fun!
Once in Goa, plenty of friends wanted a joy ride. And my definition of a joy ride was giving them the full launch control experience. Dial it up to Sport Plus, foot on the brake and on the fast pedal, and release brake. In launch control conditions, the Macan Turbo bumps power up to an eyewatering 621bhp and 1130Nm, and yes, it made plenty of eyes water. Friends who’d never really felt g-forces like this before were sucker-punched in the gut and slammed into the seats. Some begged for more. Others refused to sit for another run. All of them let out some sort of expletive.
Other practical considerations? Space in the boot is adequate: it fit two suitcases, two backpacks and two ortho pillows for your aging writer. Space in the rear seat is fine for short trips but not ideal for longer ones – especially with the front headrests pretty much obscuring views out of the front. The front passenger screen remained largely ignored by anyone that sat beside me, no one cared about it and even when I pointed it out, they fiddled with it for a few seconds and then just got on with their lives.
Product planners, take notes. An evening cruise with cars on the opposite end of the spectrum reminded me how modern cars are. The Macan is supposed to be a ‘compact’ car. It was anything but in the company of a Padmini and SS80. But then again, it was a reminder of really how far cars have come in the last half century. It also made me wonder if the Macan will age with the same grace as its company for that evening…
Did I mind the fact that this was an EV? Did I miss an engine? Yes, but only because Porsche also happens to make the best engines in the world. From flat sixes that rev to 9000rpm, to V8s that breathe life into the cars they sit in — their ICE cars have raised the standards for thrills and engagement so high that even other ICE cars can’t compete. An EV, even one made by Porsche, would have a hard time keeping up.
That said, the Macan Turbo does feel special. That perfectly thin steering wheel in your hand, a driving position that feels natural, acres of rich leather and Alcantara, the crest sitting pretty on the steering wheel – all of it adds layers to the already brilliant driving experience. I judge how special a car is by one simple metric: how excited am I to drive it, and right up until it was picked up from us, that excitement didn’t fade. It might be missing a beating heart but it was resolutely a Porsche.
