When the boss lobs you the keys to a Porsche, your day gets a fair bit sunnier. It doesn’t really matter that it’s an SUV or that it’s the electric Macan GTS. It’s not even important that it tips the scales at a not-so-dainty 2,395kg.
That’s because this thing can still hoof it from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds, which is the sort of number that makes your brain quietly ask for a lie down. Then there’s the colour. Our example looked like it had arrived wearing a high-vis vest, in Carmine Red.
It still has the Porsche stance we know and love, with those big arches and tidy lines, only now it hides a secret: no petrol station visits are required. In a world where fuel prices can make your wallet squeal like a galah, that’s not a bad thing.
For some Porsche buyers, three letters still mean more than any kilowatt figure: GTS. Gran Turismo Sport. It’s the badge that usually brings a bit of extra menace, the sort of thing that once came with a snarling turbo V6 and an exhaust capable of waking neighbours.
This time round, the only thing it’ll be waking is your inner child, helped along by a speaker. But don’t stomp off to the comments section just yet, because after spending a week with it, we reckon this might be the sweet spot of the electric Macan range.
Yes, even over the Turbo. Especially over the Turbo. We’ll get to that. Righto, numbers people, gather round. The GTS sits between the 4S and Turbo, as tradition demands, with a motor on each axle for all-wheel drive.
In regular running it serves up 380kW, but prod launch control and it jumps to 420kW and a faintly silly 955Nm of torque. Porsche says it’ll do 200km/h in 13.3 seconds and run out at 250km/h. We’ll take their word for it.
Unless you’ve got your own private autobahn tucked behind the shed, it’s mostly a pub trivia figure. The shove comes from a 100kWh battery, with 96kWh usable. Porsche reckons a 10-80 percent DC fast charge takes 21 minutes.
An 11kW home wall box is an overnight job at about 10 hours. We managed around 500-540km, although let’s be honest, the right foot kept getting a bit cheeky because that instant punch is hard to ignore.
Driving the GTS is, to use the technical term, an absolute ripsnorter. Where the Turbo feels like a 470kW physics experiment with numberplates, the GTS feels more approachable – friendly, even.
That’s in the same way a staffy is friendly: lovely, loyal, and still likely to drag you down the street if you’re not paying attention. The Porsche hallmarks are here though, including steering with actual feel.
There’s throttle calibration that doesn’t treat every input like a declaration of war, and brakes that pull up this 2,395kg German unit using 400mm front discs and six-piston calipers, without cracking a sweat.
On lumpy back roads you’re aware the suspension is doing the Lord’s work, but the standard Sport Chrono package, lowered air suspension and Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus all help the big Macan feel smaller than it has any right to.
Add our test car’s optional rear-axle steering, a $3,510 box tick, and it rotates into corners with proper enthusiasm. Then there’s the sound. Yep, you heard that right (dad joke of the year?). The GTS gets its own Porsche Electric Sports Sound.
It’s an $850 option, but is genuinely one of the better fake noises going around. It’s a deep, purposeful thrum that rises with your right foot, rather than a dial-up modem having a crisis. It’s no flat six, but it’s absolutely way better than whooshing about in silence.
Inside, you’ll find a GTS interior package, in black and the same unsubtle Carmine Red found on the outside. Race-Tex and leather everywhere, and illuminated bespoke seat badges complete a trim that’s completely fabulous.
The augmented reality head-up display, a $4,120 option, is absolutely worth a look. It paints navigation arrows onto the road ahead like you’re living inside a driving game. Practicality hasn’t been tossed out the window either.
There’s a 480-litre boot, a flat floor thanks to the batteries, room for four adults in genuine comfort, and a frunk for charge cables, groceries, or whatever odds and ends you don’t want rolling around.
It’ll even tow 2,500kg braked, which should handle the JetSki or a modest caravan without too much carry-on. The Macan GTS starts at $171,000 plus on-roads. Our test car, however, had clearly been let loose on the Porsche configurator.
It had done so with the restraint of a toddler in a lolly shop. The extras included 22-inch RS Spyder Design wheels, that interior package (with carbon bits), roof lining grab handles and a few more tasty bits besides.
Total damage put it bang on at $209,110 plus on-roads. You could probably make a strong argument that nobody needs Race-Tex grab handles. You would be missing the point. This is a Porsche. Nobody needs them, clearly, but everybody wants them.
The old petrol Macan GTS was the thinking enthusiast’s choice: nearly as fast as the Turbo, more agile, better sounding and cheaper. The electric version pulls the same trick. It delivers 90 percent of the Turbo’s theatre for $16,500 less.
Is it a shame the V6 has left the chat? Sure. But the Macan GTS still nails the formula: the sweet spot, the driver’s pick, the one with just enough attitude. Porsche’s middle child has gone electric, grown up, and somehow still feels like the one you’d happily take home.
You can find out more on the Porsche Cars Australia website, or by talking to your local dealership. To get a good deal on this vehicle, chat to the team at MotorScout. To get a low rate finance quote, talk to Australia’s best reviewed car finance broker; Credit One.
To see a great range of vehicles for sale, check out OnlyCars.com.au.
Our test vehicle was provided by Aston Martin for independent review purposes. Exhaust Notes Australia has not been paid to review this vehicle.
