Test-Driving The Impressively Efficient 2025 Porsche Macan Electric

Forbes

6 days ago

The entry-level Porsche Macan is a surprisingly efficient electric SUV
At last, an electric car that goes as far as it says it will. That's the Porsche Macan in a nutshell. Crucially though, this is the base, entry-level, bottom-of-the-food-chain Porsche Macan. It's the cheapest one. Not the Turbo or the 4S or even the 4. It's simply the Macan Electric.
It isn't hugely powerful or particularly quick, but it goes well enough when you put your foot down and, most importantly of all, it goes a very long way. More than that, it reliably goes a long way. Its range indicator is truthful, and it always covers more than three miles per kWh; sometimes even four.
To contextualize that one, I borrowed a Genesis GV60 for six months last year and, as lovely as it was, I very rarely saw more than 3.0 miles per kWh. After a week and 500 miles with the Macan, many of them at 70 mph on the motorway, typically where EVs struggle to drive efficiently, it never once fell below 3.0. Most of the time, even after three hours of highway driving, it was returning around 3.5 m/kWh. Multiply that by the capacity of the 95 kWh battery, and you get an approximate real-world range of 332 miles.
Porsche estimates 315 miles of range in the US using the EPA test cycle, while here in the UK it states between 333 and 398 miles.
Unlike pricier models, the base Porsche Macan has a single motor and is rear-wheel-drive.
When you finally have to visit a charger – which I didn't until driving from London to Devon and part-way back – the Macan fills its battery quicker than almost any other EV on the road. Porsche claims a maximum charge rate of 270 kW, but in typical Porsche fashion that figure is conservative. Within seconds of plugging in, my Macan shot up to 274 kW. A top-up from 15 percent (47 miles indicated) to 60 percent (190 miles indicated) took just 15 minutes.
This is how electric cars should work. They don't need to distort their driver's face every time he or she presses the accelerator. They should provide a satisfying surge of power and torque at low speed – enough to raise a smile when exiting a junction, overtaking or joining a highway – then settle down and return many, many miles per kilowatt-hour.
What else? Performance aside, the base Macan is just like every other model in the range. It looks the same, inside and out, and that means typically smart, sophisticated and thoughtful Porsche design. The interior is a triumph, neatly blending technology and tactility so that the driver can keep their eyes on the road while adjusting key controls, like interior temperature, by feel. It's not a particularly exciting cabin, but it's one that feels smart, premium and reassuringly well-made.
The interior features a mix of modern tech and tactile switchgear.
There's adjustable ambient lighting (but not too much), a bright, sharp and responsive touchscreen in the middle, an all-digital driver display that can be made to look like a classic Porsche instrument cluster, and a secondary display that gives you physical toggle switches for the climate control. There are even proper, physical buttons on the steering wheel too. No haptic track pads, and it's all the better for it. In a world where some automakers are obsessed with equipping cars with low-quality iPads instead of proper switchgear, at Porsche common sense prevails.
I said earlier how this base-level Macan isn't particularly quick. But it still has 360 PS in European-speak (about 355 old-fashioned horsepower), 563 Nm of torque (415 ft-lb) and can sprint to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds. That's about the same as a 996-generation Porsche 911 Carrera.
To spend a long, meandering paragraph on how the entry-level Macan handles on a tight and challenging road would be to miss the point. It's fine. More than fine, in fact. It handles surefootedly, steers precisely, rides comfortably and never breaks traction.
There's a dial on the steering wheel for changing drive mode, but in reality you'll leave it in the default setting. Sport mode is there if you really want it, and technically the quoted 0-60 time is only achievable with launch control enabled (press both pedals when stationary and release the brake like you've stood on a Lego brick). But in the real world you'll drive about knowing you're in a high-end, German electric SUV. You'll occasionally glance down at the Porsche badge on the steering wheel and smile, then you'll look at the range and efficiency readout, and smile even more.
Although not remarkably quick, the entry-level Macan still drives nicely.
I'd also like to praise the UK's EV charge network, which in just a few years has grown and matured significantly from the days when chargers were slow and frequently broken. Both top-ups with the Macan were completely painless, with no queue at either station and no faulty chargers either. This seamlessness is aided by Porsche's charge network subscription, which gives drivers access to a wide range of chargers, and its route-planning app, which creates a charging strategy for every long journey. I particularly like how Porsche offers a branded key fob with an integrated RFID chip; tap this on the charger instead of using the charge station's own app, and the top-up will be billed to the credit card on your Porsche account.
Tesla has offered such a service for a decade with its Supercharger network, but it's nice to see other manufacturers offering a similar service now too, and in many cases providing access to many more chargers than those installed by Tesla.
Porsche isn't alone, of course. Electric cars are quickly becoming ever-more efficient, and charging faster than ever. Public charging is still expensive, especially compared to plugging in at home, and depreciation is still a concern. But the whole infrastructure is finally starting to work as promised – and the Macan, even in entry-level form, is a prime example of an EV done right.