[00:00] This is the new 2026 Porsche Macon GTS Electric and it's a fun electric SUV with a sticker price of around $125,000. That's big money and today's world of falling to man for electric
[00:19] cars but then this is a pretty compelling electric car. And today I'm going to review the new Macon GTS Electric and show you all of its quirks and features.
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[01:04] no shine like mothers. Visit mothers.com to find out more and to purchase mother's products. All right, time for the quirks and features of the new electric Porsche Macon GTS and let's start with
[01:18] some basic. So the new electric Macon came out pretty recently and Porsche had initially kind of implied that it would replace the gas powered Macon as electric cars were getting more popular and
[01:30] there were some rumors the gas car would have a couple extra years than the EV would take over. And that has all been walked back. The electric Macon is now pretty clearly going to be sold alongside
[01:42] the gas Macon as an alternative. And now the lineup has grown. The electric Macon debuted with sort of some entry-level models and the high performance turbo. And now there's this, the sporty Macon electric GTS. So let's go through what that gets you. Like in other Porsche models,
[02:02] the turbo is faster but the GTS is sort of enthusiastly earned. The turbo is sort of like fast luxury and the GTS is sort of like fast fun steering handling. And so as a result the turbo has more power.
[02:18] Up to 630 horsepower in the Macon electric turbo 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. This has up to 565 horsepower and 0 to 60 in 3 and a half seconds. Still plenty fast but a little off the turbo's pace. However,
[02:34] it does have some other cool stuff. And the most important upgrade is different suspension tuning. The turbo is designed again fast luxury but this one is more of a handling car. More of a
[02:47] kind of canyon carver to an extent. And that's the intent. That's how the suspension and the steering has been tuned to differentiate it from the kind of more relaxed luxury cruiser turbo. And it's also
[02:59] lower. The Macon GTS electric is about a half an inch lower in its normal ride height than any of the other Macon models. And half an inch isn't much but anything helps in terms of center of gravity.
[03:12] Getting the car a little bit lower and making it steer and handle in theory a little better than other Macon EV models. One other interesting upgrade for the Macon GTS electric is that it comes
[03:25] standard with 21 inch wheels. That's the base wheel in this model and you can option a 22. Now that's different from all the other Macon models including the turbo. They come standard with 20 inch wheels. This is a little bit bigger. And the result of the bigger wheels is that the range numbers decrease.
[03:42] And so as a result of that, here's a very interesting quirk. The Macon GTS has this little fin down on the bottom on the rocker panels that other Macon EV models don't have. And that fin
[03:55] apparently helps channel the air in a certain way, improve aerodynamics so that the range numbers don't diminish despite the larger wheels. Apparently it counteracts the effects of the bigger wheels just having this little fin in the rocker panel. So that fin is distinctive to the GTS. You see
[04:11] the fin, you know that's what you're looking at. And apparently it worked because the range number for this car is roughly 290 miles on a full charge, which is identical to the Macon electric turbo,
[04:25] although it does lag a little bit behind the entry level model, which gets up to 315 miles per charge, but that's the price of performance. The hand there are other upgrades as well. The front
[04:37] fascia is completely different than the Macon GTS compared to other Macon models. It's hard to spot that difference when it's not parked next to another Macon, but it does look more aggressive, wider, a little bit more performance-y, and moronnier compared to other Macon EVs. And honestly,
[04:54] it's pretty distinctive on the road to tell it apart from sort of the more tame look on other models. The GTS also has black mirror caps, you can see here, regardless of the color of Macon that you get,
[05:07] your mirror caps are black, and that's also true of various other accents on the outside of the car. It's all black. You don't have any like chrome, breakwork, aluminum trim. Everything is blacked out here because black is the universal color of performance. A hand around back, some other upgrades too.
[05:23] For one, this rear lip spoiler, which is distinctive to the GTS. Other models don't get it. It's another easy way to tell apart the GTS. And you also have a more aggressive rear diffuser. Again,
[05:35] the turbo is faster, but this one is sort of the sportier one, and so it gets these sort of sporty styling upgrades to go along with its sporty feel and acceleration. And of course,
[05:47] there are more interesting exterior quirks and features starting in back with the rear light bar that goes across the entire rear end. This style light bar in this size sort of becoming distinctive to Porsche models, even the sports cars have it too, and they've brought it to the SUVs like this.
[06:03] It gives it a modern look in back. Also in back, it's kind of a cool hidden trunk popper. You go up to the car, you don't see a trunk popper, and there's not one above the license plate. Instead, it's located right here in this little panel and kind of near the backup camera. You wouldn't really
[06:19] know it's there, but there is a little hidden button there for you to walk up to the car, press the trunk popper, and of course, the rear trunk opens right up. But that is not as exciting as the front
[06:31] trunk situation. To open up the front trunk, you just press a button on the key fob for the front trunk, and then it opens right up. It unlatches and completely opens up with the simple push of one
[06:44] button. That's a pretty big deal because a lot of other electric cars, you got to pull a latch in the driver's foot well, or if they do have a button on the key fob, you still have to reach in and unlatch the front trunk like you're opening up an engine hood. This makes it a lot easier, and by just
[07:01] pressing a button and it pops right open, it actually adds some practicality because it makes you a lot more likely to use the front trunk since it's so easy to access. And when you're in the front trunk, you can see there's a decent amount of storage in here. It's not huge, but it does add some
[07:15] practicality. You have enough space for the charging cables, as you can see. There's also this rather odd Porsche branded plastic cargo divider. You can take it out or you can leave it in, and then your cargo
[07:28] is placed in two completely different spaces separated by a plastic Porsche fence. Oh, weird. The hand next up we move inside the new McCann electric, and it's definitely an interesting interior.
[07:42] A few things. For one, it is very minimalist. It's very modern. You don't have a lot of swoops and a lot of buttons that a lot of crazy design. It is definitely like a scaled down minimalist interior, but it
[07:55] is still high quality. The stuff that is here is very upscale. Nice materials feels good. No rattles. It's clear they've used the best stuff, and that's also clear when you touch buttons and panels and basically anywhere. It's nice high quality, even if it's not filled with all sorts of design and
[08:12] luxury, like some rivals. There are a few kind of modern day EV quirks to this car. For example, on the left of the steering wheel, you do still have the starter there like another Porsche's, but it's this
[08:24] circular on-off button that kind of looks like what you'd find in an appliance. After all, it is electric. Also, rather quirky is the gear selector, which you can see is right here. It's this
[08:37] switch that sticks out from the dashboard. You go up for reverse, down for drive, neutrals in the middle, and park is a separate button on top. Now, this gear selector switch is actually used in a lot of
[08:49] modern Porsches, including Porsche's sports cars, but it's a little quirky and new AG and being mounted on the dashboard is definitely a bit strange. Porsche, you'd expect the shifter to be in the
[09:01] middle. That's where it is in a sporty car, but by putting the shifter there, it allows Porsche to free up a lot of space in the center for other stuff. And so, in the middle, you have cup holders,
[09:13] as you can see, along with a decent sized storage compartment below your climate controls, which is nice to have, and there's more storage, wireless charging, above your climate controls, and then another storage compartment below the armrest in the center. It really adds a lot of practicality,
[09:28] not sticking yourself with a gear selector in this space and moving it up to the dashboard instead. Now, with that said, some of the modern EV car quirks to the macon electric. There's also some very
[09:40] Porsche stuff in here, like the steering wheel, which definitely looks and feels very Porsche. You have an Alcantara rim, which is lovely. You have carbon fiber. It just looks very purposeful and very sports
[09:52] car. It feels nice. I like how it looks. And you have full stitching on the inside of the Alcantara, along with a GTS badge at the bottom, reminding you of this trim level. The seats are similar. These
[10:05] are not some plush leather comfortable seats. Instead, they are tight, grippy, kind of hard sports seats with this grippy center surface intended to keep you in place during hard cornering.
[10:17] You also have a GTS badge on the seat back below the headrest, which again emphasizes the performance model that you have selected. These things certainly vary Porsche. As is, I would say, the overall design
[10:31] of this interior. Minimalist is definitely in right now in terms of luxury and luxury cars, but Porsche interiors have always been pretty straightforward purposeful. Nothing extraneous, just very
[10:43] functional. And this car certainly is that. And it keeps that tradition of Porsche interiors with the horizontal dashboard and kind of the very purposeful feel. And speaking of the purposeful Porscheness, I do like the drive mode button that sort of hangs off the center of the steering wheel.
[10:59] You can see twist this dial and you can use it to select your different drive modes. And as you do that, the interior ambient lighting sort of flickers to confirm your selection, which is kind of a
[11:11] cool effect. And since we're talking about drive modes, I should probably explain the situation with the horsepower. Because I mentioned earlier, the turbo has up to 630 horsepower, and this car has up to 565. Well, those numbers are when you're using launch control. That's the only way you can
[11:29] activate the full horsepower of the vehicle. When you are just driving around in normal settings, the power numbers are different. Specifically, the turbo has 575 horsepower, and this car, the GTS,
[11:43] has 510. You don't get that full complement of power unless you're doing a full-on launch, and then it is all delivered to you. Kind of strange, and it makes it a little bit hard to actually explain the true horsepower figure of this car. But anyway, moving on to the rest of the quirks
[12:00] in here. Basically, everything else about this interior is screens, so let's talk screens. You have the infotainment here in the center, not particularly large. A lot of automakers have gone for that giant tablet in the middle, like Tesla. Porsche has not. Instead, you have a fairly small
[12:15] horizontal screen, but despite its size, very intuitive, easy to figure out. Obviously, some of the buttons and the controls are a little smaller than other rivals because of the smaller size of the screen,
[12:27] but it all works reasonably well, easy to figure out, easy to use, and a pretty simple high-quality infotainment setup. Now, in this infotainment screen, you can see you go into car settings, and you can adjust the electric sound. There are three choices. Off, sport, or sport plus. Apparently, the GTS has a
[12:44] newly calibrated electric sound that matches its sporty profile compared to other Macon electric models, and if you select sport plus, you can hear that electric sound as you're driving around,
[12:56] sort of piped in through the speakers and making you feel like you're in a performance car, instead of some silent EV. Now, beyond the center screen, which is totally fine, pretty good, I am especially obsessed with the gauge cluster screen, which is fantastic. For one thing,
[13:11] it looks cool. It's this sort of curved screen piece, very nice looking, but it's also just so incredibly configurable, which I absolutely love. You can adjust what the display on the left is showing from various different options. You can adjust what the display on the right is showing
[13:26] from various different options, and you can adjust the center display and even have a large map display there, along with other stuff in the other sides. This is how all gauge cluster screens should be in terms of configurability. I don't get why other automakers don't do it, but it's here,
[13:42] and it's very easy to configure or the simple button and dial on the steering wheel. You don't even have to go into complicated menus to change the look of the screen. You can do it in literally the push of a button on the wheel, which I absolutely love. Now, I have to say I'm not quite as sold
[13:59] on the sport chrono display, which is this watch clock face mounted on the dashboard. This is a bit of an anachronism, something older Porsche models have had for a while. The sport chrono feature is a
[14:12] lap timer, but these days in the world of in-car apps and infotainment screens, lap timers are so easy to dial up in high quality in the screen. I question the need for this rather large analog clock sitting
[14:25] on a dashboard, especially because the way it works is so weird. It has a digital clock display inside that tells the time. The analog hand that moves is only for the seconds. So if you want to know what
[14:39] time it is, you look at the digital display. If you want to know what time it is down to the second, then you look at the second head. It really is bizarre and kind of strange. Now, there is one other
[14:51] screen in this car, and that would be in the center here. This center console is actually technically a screen button situation for your climate controls. And even though you don't technically have physical buttons here, you do have physical switches, and it works wonderfully. You can adjust the temperature,
[15:07] very easily here, turn on your heated seats, your windowedy foggers, etc. None of this is incorporated into the infotainment screen, so this all just sits here easy to use at any time you want to use it. Some people might not like it because the black trim gets fingerprints or because it's not actual
[15:22] physical buttons, but I think in practice it works totally great, and it's better than incorporating your climate control into the screen, like so many automakers have started to do. Then next up, we move on to the backseat of the McCone GTS electric. I have to say it's not quite as big as I was
[15:39] expecting back here. A lot of automakers, even in this relatively small size class, have been able to do some pretty impressive interior things with electric cars, because you can kind of pull the interior
[15:52] stretch it out a bit since you don't have to contend with a big gas engine up front. But this car is still fairly tight back here. Knees, head, it's all just a little bit cramped, especially for larger
[16:04] adults. Clearly Porsche hasn't done the stretching of the interior like some rivals. I think because that kind of messes up the look of the car. It means a longer wheelbase. You don't quite have the Porsche look, and so the result is maybe a little bit less interior space than you might be expecting.
[16:19] Regardless, of course, if you want more space in back, you can always get a kayak. There's now an electric one of those, too. And there's some nice stuff back here. Again, nice materials feels good. You have the same grippy seat center just like you did up front, which is nice, and you have a few
[16:34] nice features in back. You can see climate vents back here. No surprise at this price point, but you also have climate controls, which is nice to see, a little touchscreen, a few physical switches, all for rear passenger climate controls to enhance your comfortability. And below that,
[16:51] you have a couple of power ports, which is obviously nice to see. Again, enhances rear passenger experience. And of course, if you drop down the center armrest, you get center cup holders, which is nice to have cup holders for the back seats, although I will say, with regards to the center,
[17:07] this car is not particularly center passenger friendly. There is a seat and a seat belt here, but number one, the center console really intrudes quite a bit onto center rear leg room, which is a
[17:20] shame, because this car doesn't have a big hump running through the center since it's electric. So there really is space for a center passenger, but instead the console is here, and it kind of eats up some of that space for rear passengers feet and legs. Also, the center rear passenger has to
[17:36] contend with the bolstering on the side two seats, the outboard seats. The bolster is really kind of come up to make the seats especially tight so you can sit on them around corners, but that comes at the expense of the center passenger's comfort. However, Porsche has probably done the research and
[17:51] discovered that no one ever really puts a center passenger vehicle like this, so it doesn't really matter. Now, in finally, we move on to the cargo area, press the little hidden trick button and get back here, and you can see, well, it's a cargo area. Another particularly exciting, actually a little bit smaller
[18:08] than I might expect for two reasons. Number one, the sloping roof line of the macon electric kind of steals some of the cargo space from the upper area. You don't quite have that as much in the gas-powered car with its older design, the longer roof. You get a little more cargo space, plus there is no cargo
[18:23] space under the floor, at least in this one. That space is occupied, so what you see is what you get. It's fine for the vast majority of people buying a car like this, but it's not huge or particularly
[18:35] innovative. There are some nice things back here, though. For instance, you do have latches where you can drop the rear seats, which is kind of nice from the cargo area. Don't always see that in this segment of vehicle, and there's even a button where you can lower the suspension. Because this is on
[18:49] air suspension, you can press this button lower, and so if you have something particularly heavy, you're trying to log into the car, you can get the ride height lower in a little bit to make it a little bit easier to lift it in. One thing you do not find back here is any sort of household power port. And
[19:06] indeed, you don't have a household port anywhere in the car, which is a shame. Even the German automakers with their different European plug are often putting in household power ports for whichever
[19:18] market, for whichever plug in their newer vehicles. It's a shame not to see that in the Macon Electric GTS, since it's just coming out, always nice to have a household plug in a car interior. Anyway,
[19:30] last couple things to discuss. Number one, the styling in general. I think this car looks nice. You know, it's interesting. The gas Macon came out for the 2015 model year, more than a decade
[19:43] ago, and it has never been fully redesigned. It's just been sort of updated and facelifted. And I really think Porsche was expecting this would take over the reins from the Macon from that model, and now it doesn't look like it's going to happen. This has a more advanced, more modern design,
[19:59] and it would have looked really nice as the new Macon, both gas and electric. We'll see if the gas version eventually switches to this shape at some point in the future. I also want to talk pricing.
[20:11] The GTS starts around $107,000. Big money for any SUV, especially an electric one. In this particular Macon Electric GTS, it's optioned up to $126,000. That's very big money. But the
[20:27] big question is, how does it drive? So let's get behind the wheel and find out. All right, driving the Macon Electric GTS. So the Macon GTS electric, the Macon EV, I don't know. I'm driving it, and I got to tell you, I love this car. It's big money, and it's an electric SUV,
[20:47] and nobody wants an electric SUV anymore. We all know that. That's a simple truth, a fact. But man, this thing is good to drive. I remember when I drove the Ticon, and previous to that,
[20:59] I had basically only driven the Tesla's and cars that are not incredibly exciting or engaging to drive. Some of them are fast, but none of them are particularly engaging, right? And I remember driving
[21:11] the Ticon and thinking, this is just the coolest damn. It is so fun. And I'm having that exact same feeling about this car. And this car and the experience of this car reminds me of why other EVs
[21:27] just aren't quite as fun. I mean, Porsche has managed to make the Porsche of electric cars. So what is so good about it? Well, let's start with acceleration. This thing is massively fast. They say 0 to 16.3 and a half. My guess is, Porsche is usually pretty conservative in those official
[21:42] estimates. My guess is 0 to 16 will probably be more like low to mid-3s. That's really quick. But we expect electric vehicles to be quick. That's not on its face, particularly exciting or impressive.
[21:55] The thing that is really impressive to me here is just how tight this car feels when you're driving it around. This is probably pretty heavy. I didn't look up the numbers. Mostly only focus on weight when I'm talking about larger EVs, but obviously these cars are heavier than their non-electric counterparts.
[22:10] It doesn't feel heavy. In a lot of EVs, a lot of heavy performance cars, they feel heavy, but the automaker can kind of counteract the heaviness. This car doesn't even feel heavy. It's just it honestly
[22:23] driving this car. And I mean, this in all sincerity, this car feels like a hot hatch. Like it is incredibly spry and athletic. The steering is really tight, very, very connected to the car,
[22:38] very dynamic. Even though it is a SUV, it doesn't feel like an SUV. Obviously, it's across or it's a lower SUV, but it doesn't even give that feel. It feels like a sporty, possible throw it around
[22:55] a hot hatchback. That is what driving this car feels like. And I truly am astonished at just how athletic it is when you're throwing it around corners. I've had this car now for a couple of days, and I really have gotten a chance to actually drive it and take it on some good roads, and it is really
[23:12] an impressive car on good roads. I am surprised at how much confidence it inspires. I am surprised at how planted and solid it feels, even though it's just a macon and not like a $200,000
[23:24] or a Cayenne Turbo, or even a Turbo GT. Like this car really, really feels athletic and sporty and spry and fun. And it's interesting because a lot of people want to reject EVs. Me partially included,
[23:36] and I don't own one. I think there's a lot of great stuff about gas powered cars still. But man, it's a shame, when you drive this, it's a shame, you feel like it's a shame market sentiment has gone away from EVs because this is such a brilliantly executed, competently engineered, well done EV.
[23:54] Porsche clearly put their resources into making these cars, not just like, sort of, oh, we need to do an EV, so we have to. We're going to do an OK, almost like Mercedes-Benz did with some of theirs. But like, we are going to make a really high quality, excellent car, and that is what this car
[24:09] feels like. It drives like a Porsche. It steers, handles like a Porsche. It drives better than the gas macon, unquestionably. It definitely feels tighter, faster, more solid, more glued to the road, more predictable. The steering is just so quick and so precise, almost sports car-like. This is,
[24:25] in my opinion, one of the spriest SUVs that I've ever driven. Now, I will say because of the electric, you don't have the feel of a gas power train, of course, and some people won't like that. But it's a macon. This isn't like you're losing the flat six of a 911 and the feeling of the peaky
[24:40] revving and the torque and all that. This isn't like that. This car is a macon, and I think it's just good. The regular macon, the gas one, is a good crossover. This is like that. It happens to
[24:52] have electric power. Personally, I don't think that really changes much. I think it still is a fun car to drive, just like I think that the regular one is a fun car to drive. And then I'm impressed by exactly how much I like this car. I really do think it is a very well executed vehicle. I know people
[25:07] aren't going to buy it. I know people don't want EVs or so they say, I know they don't want to spend the money. I know it's not going to be popular. It's a shame because it is so damn good. And that's why I feel about Tycon. Definitely going to look forward to these being used cars in a few years.
[25:20] But even regardless of that is a least deal. Like get your hands on one of these. If you have any interest in an EV and you want like a very high quality driver EV, this is that. This thing is a very
[25:32] impressive car to drive. Wonderful. Really truly wonderful. Great to use, great to experience, great to look at. Like a lot of good stuff. It's just a shame that Porsche spent all this time an effort developing this car when the market just seems to not be all that interested in cars
[25:47] like this. As good as it is, I think it's not going to succeed but not because of it because it's sort of where the market is. I think this car more than almost any other EV I've ever been in really deserves to succeed and to do well. It is just a really well engineered car. And so that's the new
[26:04] 2026 Porsche Macon GTS electric. This is an awesome vehicle. It drives like a Porsche. It's fast, it looks good. The tech is great. If market sentiment wasn't turning away from EVs, I would say that
[26:21] this would be a hit. But it is. The EV demand is falling, at least here in North America. And so instead of a big success, I actually think this will be a pretty rare car. But a great one. And
[26:34] probably an exceptionally good deal on the used market in a few years. Anyway, now it's time to give the Macon GTS electric a Doug store. And the Doug store is here, 65 out of 100, which puts the
[26:51] Macon GTS electric here against rivals on the high side of this pack, but a bit behind some close rivals. Actually, the leader here is the Macon EV turbo, which I think offers basically all the benefits of the GTS with even sharper acceleration. And I don't think the GTS is discounted quite
[27:07] enough versus the turbo to earn a higher value score. Overall, the Macon electric is quite clearly the best SUV in this class. The tech is great. This styling is nice. The performance is truly world class and not just acceleration like most EVs, but steering and handling too. Still, the market isn't
[27:24] into EVs right now, which is a shame because this is an excellent one.