Porsche’s electric Macan Turbo is an automotive existential crisis

The Porsche Macan Turbo EV I drove came in Slate Grey Neo (a $2,620 upgrade), which was really well executed and among the best greys I’ve seen. If you crave luxurious anonymity, then this grey is your color.

There were a slew of other options, and in my view, not all of them are worth it. I’d skip the passenger display ($1,710); my kids liked that it could play YouTube videos, but they can’t ride up front, and my wife was underwhelmed. “Our washing machine can play YouTube videos,” she said.

I’d also forgo include an illuminated Porsche wordmark on the front seatbacks ($690), puddle lamps that shine “PORSCHE” onto the pavement ($420), Porsche crests on the headrests ($640), and an illuminated Turbo badge on the door sills ($1,230).

That Turbo badge became a point of contention for some of my friends, who were quick to point out that EVs technically can’t have turbos. That is true, though automotive names have long been divorced from reality. Almost every Porsche these days has a turbo, even those not labeled as such. 

It’s not just Porsche: BMW’s model numbers, for example, stopped reflecting engine displacement decades ago, and the Ford Galaxie never traveled between star systems using its hyperdrive. Sorry, friends, I’m not taking the bait.

At least the Macan Turbo’s EV qualities don’t raise too many questions. It charges fast — exactly 20 minutes from 19% to 80% on a 350-kilowatt charger — and gets about 285 miles of highway range. Those big wheels ($4,110) and sticky tires ($660) sapped some range, but it was still more than enough to get from New York to Boston with charge to spare. 

The advanced driver assistance system ($1,140) works well enough, even if it hunts a bit in the lane. The AI-powered voice assistant did a solid job of interpreting my queries and commands. For a while, I thought it was the only way to turn on the heated steering wheel ($720), which was actually fine because it worked so well. (Surprise! There’s a small button hidden on the inner rim of the steering wheel between two spokes. IYKYK, I guess.)

When it’s time to leave the Macan, you can just open the door and walk away. The Burmester sound system ($4,960) will keep bumpin’ until you lock the door, which is a helpful reminder. If you’re a Porsche traditionalist, you can also hit the vestigial power button to the left of the driver’s display. Good to have choices, I guess? At least Porsche doesn’t charge you for that.

The navigation system, and specifically how it integrates with the EV, was underwhelming.

When the car was at a 22% state of charge, I asked it to find the nearest fast charger. It directed me to two. Not two different options, but two chargers that I was supposed to use sequentially. The first was a 50-kilowatt charger in a mall parking lot ten minutes away. There, I was supposed to add a few percentage points before unplugging and driving across the street to another mall’s parking lot, where I would finish at a 350-kilowatt charger.

Wait, what? I ignored the machine and drove straight to the 350-kilowatt charger, arriving at 19%. As backed into the stall, the car was still commanding me to drive to the slower charger. I guess it didn’t want the battery to dip below 20%? Too late. There’s probably a setting to change that somewhere, but it wasn’t obvious. At least the charge rate peaked at 245 kilowatts, close to the 270-kilowatt maximum.

The electric Macan is like the answer to an esoteric Jeopardy! question: What does an identity crisis look like in the automotive industry? I’ll take a Porsche Macan Turbo for $150,000, Alex.

For anyone with deep enough pockets, EVs have blurred the line between sports cars and everything else. True gear heads will have another car to race, but if you want to spend a few hours carving corners, the Macan will do just fine. As a bonus, you can also use it in real life and won’t pay through the nose to keep it filled up.

Actually, that raises another question, this one for my editor: Can I get a fatter paycheck?