Test drive: Porsche Macan GTS

Carmine red with black details. The bright red color matches the Porsche Macan GTS that I own today. The contrasting black details, such as the front splitter, blend in harmoniously and stand out at the same time.

What stands out most are the red brake calipers. They exude exactly the same basic sporty feeling as the other GTS models from Porsche, which usually impress with their fine balance between sportiness, feeling and comfort. A happy medium for athletes? We shouldn’t go that far yet, but that’s exactly what we’ve seen with many of the GTS products launched to date. This represents high demand.

We were on location outside Nice, France, where the global launch took place, and the roads ahead bear mention. They are among the coziest and at the same time most pointless in the world. Read Route Napoleon. Where the curves merge into one another and the landscape is sometimes so beautiful and captivating that your eyes water.

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Soon we’ll be driving out here in a car that, on paper, should be able to make the streets look like an amusement park. With all-wheel drive, one electric motor at the front and one at the rear, with a total of 516 hp or up to 571 hp in overboost. With active all-wheel drive, air suspension with PASM Porsche Active Suspension Management and a chassis that is ten millimeters lower than other Macans, PTV Porsche Torque Vectoring, which simply brings the power directly to the rear axle – active technology that is intended to promote an active driving style.

Does it work? Absolutely. The road section is brutal at times as the hairpin bends follow each other. The Macan GTS responds by cutting them off one at a time, efficiently and inspiringly. The driving experience in the car is somewhat affected by the Central European winter tires, the steering feel is somewhat dulled and there is a slightly softer driving feeling that probably wouldn’t have been there with summer tires. But the snow on the side of the road at higher altitudes shows that winter tires are the right choice. Regardless, sharp steering is still noticeable thanks to the steering wheel’s characteristic weight.

Driving starts in normal mode, which provides a comfortable driving experience. With larger braking bumps, fairly strong “aftershocks” of the damping can be felt – the car may rock and settle a little after the significant bump. When I switch to Sport suspension mode, a clearer and firmer ride is noticeable, the movement is no longer as great. In addition, the car rolls less when cornering, and overall a firmer setting is noticeable, with the transition between normal and sport clearly noticeable.

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The same applies when Sport Plus is activated, the car now runs almost completely flat, the steering reacts even faster and the focus on small chassis movements is clear. Nevertheless, shock comfort is maintained, even if many smaller irregularities penetrate the body more unfiltered – which I see as unavoidable. With Sport Plus activated, the bumps are noticeable through the steering wheel and seat, the texture of the asphalt is further conveyed and the car lives in a completely different way. Cozy!

At the same time it becomes clear that the Macan GTS benefits from the same fine balance of features as other GTS products. The engine output of 516 hp/380 kW (571/420 with overboost and use of launch control for maximum acceleration) seems to be well coordinated with the functioning of the chassis. I find the feeling of having the car in full control in my hand while keeping the comfort at a good level again here.

The accelerator pedal is wonderfully high-resolution and the electric motors and differentials work very well together. What is impressive is the car’s ability to understand what is happening and which characteristics need to be strengthened or suppressed.

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Behind the wheel you feel the same welcoming driver environment as in the regular Macan, with higher equipment in the GTS. The Race-Tex covered steering wheel (very similar to Alcantara) feels really good in the hand and the all-digital instrumentation works well. Sometimes the head-up display is a bit too big and gets in the way on winding roads, but it can be adjusted or turned off. The 18-way electrically adjustable standard seats offer both very good comfort and excellent support when cornering.

Is there anything to complain about? Not really – except for the price of the options. And now we come to an interesting detail – price versus electrical technical level of the Macan GTS. If you look at purely technical data, the model may seem outdated. A maximum charging speed of 270 kW is no longer appropriate today; most people have 11 kW left over for home charging (22 kW is available as an option for the Macan).

The battery size of 100 kWh, with 95 kWh net capacity, should enable a range of up to 586 kilometers according to WLTP. Given that BMW and Volvo are talking about over 800 km for their new models, the Macan GTS is a winner on paper. How does this affect the resale value?

The technological arms race The world of electric cars is moving forward at an unusual speed. For Nissan and Toyota, the goal is clear: they will offer products with solid-state batteries as early as 2027-2028. Solid condition. The holy grail in the automotive industry that everyone is currently pursuing and that everyone wants to offer in three to five years. It’s the kind of technical specification that sits like a wet blanket over existing technology, and the question is whether everything else becomes uninteresting and unsellable as solid-state solutions come to market. Nobody knows, because so far nobody has managed to produce solids on a large scale.

What does all this mean for a car like the Porsche Macan GTS? Hard to say, it all depends on how quickly today’s technology becomes obsolete. At the same time, it has to be said that a real driving experience never gets boring. If you’re buying your car with the hope of having fun behind the wheel, then this is the car for you. You have to get used to less cargo space and a smaller back seat, there’s no talking about that.

The price of SEK 1,210,000 is also discouraging. The range on the road will never come close to the 586 km that the WLTP figure indicates, at least not if you drive the car as it should. Energy consumption today is between 2.5-3.0 kWh/mile and we never drive particularly fast. It should be lower, but the kilometers we drive never disappoint me. So yes – the Macan GTS takes the pressure off.