---
title: 'The 2026 Porsche Macan GTS EV Is Fast, Fun, and Expensive'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=L2wn4-9stFw'
video_id: 'L2wn4-9stFw'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1667
---

# The 2026 Porsche Macan GTS EV Is Fast, Fun, and Expensive

> Source: [The 2026 Porsche Macan GTS EV Is Fast, Fun, and Expensive](https://youtube.com/watch?v=L2wn4-9stFw)

## Summary

The 2026 Porsche Macan GTS Electric is a high-performance electric SUV that blends Porsche's signature handling and steering with a powerful electric powertrain. Despite a hefty price tag of around $125,000 and a market turning away from EVs, the GTS delivers an exceptionally engaging and sporty driving experience, distinguishing itself from the more luxury-oriented Turbo model.

### Key Points

- **Market Positioning** [01:18] — The electric Macan will be sold alongside the gas version, not replace it. The GTS is the sporty enthusiast model, while the Turbo is fast luxury.
- **GTS vs. Turbo Performance** [02:18] — Turbo has 630 hp and 0-60 in 3.0s; GTS has 565 hp and 0-60 in 3.5s. GTS focuses on handling and steering feel over raw speed.
- **Suspension and Stance** [03:12] — GTS is 0.5 inches lower than other Macan EVs, with a specific suspension tuning for cornering, making it a 'canyon carver'.
- **Aero Quirk: Rocker Panel Fin** [03:42] — The GTS has a unique fin on the rocker panels to improve aerodynamics and maintain 290-mile range despite standard 21-inch wheels.
- **Exterior Distinctions** [04:37] — GTS has a unique front fascia, black mirror caps, a rear lip spoiler, and a more aggressive diffuser for a sportier look.
- **Frunk Ease of Use** [06:31] — The front trunk opens with a single button press on the key fob, making it more practical than competitors' manual latches.
- **Minimalist, High-Quality Interior** [07:42] — The cabin is minimalist yet high-quality, with a dashboard-mounted gear selector freeing up center console space for storage and wireless charging.
- **Configurable Gauge Cluster** [13:11] — The curved gauge cluster is highly configurable via steering wheel buttons, allowing drivers to customize left, center, and right displays easily.
- **Climate Control Screen** [14:51] — The center console uses a touch-screen-like panel with physical switches for climate control, keeping it separate from the main infotainment screen.
- **Backseat Space Compromise** [15:39] — The rear seats are somewhat cramped due to styling choices; the center seat is further compromised by bolstering and console intrusion.
- **Driving Experience: Exceptional Dynamics** [20:47] — The car feels like a hot hatch—spry, athletic, and planted. It inspires confidence and handles corners exceptionally well for an SUV.
- **Market Mismatch** [25:07] — The car is brilliant but arrives as EV demand is falling, making it likely a rare, high-quality used car bargain in the future.
- **Doug Score: 65/100** [26:34] — The GTS scores behind the Macan EV Turbo, which offers sharper acceleration for similar value.

### Conclusion

The 2026 Porsche Macan GTS Electric is an exceptionally well-engineered and fun-to-drive electric SUV that excels in handling and steering feel, but its high price and the current market downturn for EVs may limit its success.

## Transcript

This is the new 2026 Porsche Macan GTS Electric, and it's a fun electric SUV with a sticker price of around $125,000.
That's big money in today's world of falling demand for electric cars, but then this is a pretty compelling electric car. And today, I'm going to review the new Macan VTS Electric and show you all of its quirks and features.
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Visit Mothers.com to find out more and to purchase Mothers products. All right, time for the perks and features of the new electric Porsche Macan GPS. And let's start with some basics.
So, the new electric Macan came out pretty recently, and Porsche had initially kind of implied that it would replace the gas-powered Macan as electric cars were getting more popular, and there were some rumors the gas car would have a couple extra years, then the EV would take over, and then it's all been walked back.
The electric Macan is now pretty clearly going to be sold alongside the gas Macan as an alternative, and now the lineup has grown. The electric Macan debuted with sort of some entry-level models and the high-performance turbo,
and now there's this, the sporty Macan Electric GTS. So, let's go through what that gets you. Like in other Porsche models, the turbo is faster, but the GTS is sort of enthusiastier.
The turbo is sort of like fast luxury, and the GTS is sort of like fast, fun steering and handling. And so, as a result, the turbo has more power, up to 630 horsepower in the Macan Electric Turbo, 0-60 in 3 seconds.
This has up to 565 horsepower and 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Still plenty fast, but a little off the turbo's pace. However, 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 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 lower. The Macan GTS Electric is about a half an inch lower in its normal ride height than any of the other Macan models.
And half an inch isn't much, but anything helps in terms of center of gravity, getting the car a little bit lower and making it steer and handle, in theory, a little better than other Macan EV models. One other interesting upgrade for the Macan GPS electric is that it comes 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 Macan models, including the Turbo. They come standard with 20-inch wheels. It's a little bit bigger. And the result of the bigger wheels is that the range numbers decrease.
And so as a result of that, here's a very interesting quirk. The Macan GTS has this little fin down the bottom on the rocker panels that other Macan EV models don't have.
And that fin apparently helps channel the air in a certain way and 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
spin in the rocker panel, so that spin is distinctive to the GTS. You see the spin, 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 Macan Electric Turbo, 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. And there are other upgrades as well. The front fascia is completely different in the Macan GTS compared to other Macan models. It's hard to spot that difference when it's not
parked next to another Macan, but it does look more aggressive, wider, a little bit more performancy and brawnier compared to other Macan EVs. And honestly, 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 should see here, regardless of the color of Macan that you get, 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, bright work, aluminum trim. Everything is blacked out here because black is the universal color of performance. I hand around back some other upgrades, too. 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, the turbo is faster, but this one is sort of a sportier one, and so it gets these sort of sporty styling upgrades to go along with its sporty feel and acceleration.
And, of course, 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 and this size are becoming distinctive to Porsche models.
Even the sports cars have it, too. and they've brought it to the SUVs like this. It gives it a modern look in back. Also in back is kind of a cool hidden trunk popper. You go up to the car, you don't see a trunk popper.
There's not one above the license plate. Instead, it's located right here in this little panel near the backup camera. You wouldn't really know it's there, but there is a little hidden button there for you to walk up to a car, press the trunk popper,
and of course the rear trunk opens right up. But that is not as exciting as the front 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 button. That's a pretty big deal because a lot of other electric cars,
you've got to pull a lash 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 opening up an engine hood This makes it a lot easier And by just 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 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 is placed in two completely different spaces
separated by a plastic Porsche fence. How weird. Then, except we move inside the new Macan Electric, and it's definitely an interesting interior. 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 and a lot of crazy design. It is definitely like a scaled-down minimalist interior, but it 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 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 on other Porsches, but it's this 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 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 modern Porsches, including Porsche's sports cars, but it's a little quirky and new-agey, and being mounted on the dashboard is definitely a bit strange.
In a Porsche, you'd expect the shifter to be in the 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, 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, 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 of the Macan Electric, there's also some very 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 car. It feels nice. I like how it looks. and you have full stitching on the inside of the Alcantara, along with a GPS badge at the bottom,
reminding you of this trim level. The seats are similar. These 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.
You also have a GPS 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 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 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 portion of this, I do like the drive mode button that sort of hangs off the center of the steering wheel.
You can see you 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 cool effect.
And since we're talking about drive modes, I could probably explain the situation with the horsepower. As 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 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, 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 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 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, 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. And there are three choices, off, sport, or sport plus. Apparently the GPS has a newly calibrated electric sound that matches its kind of sporty profile compared to other Macan electric models.
And if you select Sport Plus, you can hear that electric sound as you're driving around, sort of piped in through the speakers and making you feel like you're in a performance car instead of some silent EZ. 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, 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 from various different options. And you can adjust the center display and even have a large map display there,
along with other stuff on the other side. This is how all Gage Cluster screens should be in terms of configurability. I don't get why other automakers don't do it, but it's here, and it's very easy to configure.
With a simple button and dial on the steering wheel you don 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 not quite as sold 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. It's a lap timer.
But these days, in the world of in-car apps and infotainment screens, The lap timers are so easy to dial up and high quality in the screen. I question the need for this rather large analog clock sitting on the dashboard,
especially because the way it works is so weird. It has a digital clock display inside it that tells the time. The analog hand that moves is only for the second.
So if you want to know what 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 hand, it really is bizarre and kind of strange.
Now, there is one other 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 very easily here, turn on your heated seats, your window decoggers, etc. None of this is incorporated into the infotainment screens. So this all just sits here, easy to use at any time you want to use it.
Some people might not like it because of the black trim, it's fingerprints, or because it's not actual 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 Macan GTS Electric. Well, I have to say, it's not quite as big as I was 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, 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 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.
Regardless, of course, if you want more space in the back, you can always get a Cayenne. There's now an electric one of those, too. And there's some nice stuff back here. Again, nice material. Feels good. You have the same grippy seat center just like you did up front, which is nice.
and you have a few 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, 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, 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 legroom, which is a 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, rear passenger's feet and legs. Also, the center rear passenger has to contend with the bolstering on the side two seats,
the outboard seats. The bolster has really kind of come up to make the seats especially tight so you can sit in them around corners, but that comes at the expense of the center passenger's comfort. However, Porsche's probably done the research and discovered that no one ever really puts
a center passenger in a vehicle like this, so it doesn't really matter. And finally, we move on to the cargo area. Press the little hidden trick button and get back here. You can see, well, it's a cargo area.
Nothing particularly exciting. Actually, a little bit smaller than I might expect for two reasons. Number one, the sloping roof line of the Macan Electra 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 space under the floor. or 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 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 in the cargo area. You 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 air suspension, you can press this button lower, So if you have something particularly heavy, you're trying to lug into the car, you can get the ride height lowered 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 indeed, you don't have a household port anywhere in the car, which is a shame. Even the German automakers with their different European plugs are often putting in household power ports for whichever market, for whichever plug in their newer vehicles.
It's a shame not to see that in the Macan electric GTS since it's just coming out. Always nice to have a household plug in a car interior. Anyway, last couple things to discuss.
Number one, the styling in general. I think this car looks nice. You know, it's interesting. The gas Macan came out for the 2015 model year, more than a decade 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 range from the Macan from that model, and now it doesn't look like it's going to happen.
This has a more advanced, more modern design, and it would have looked really nice as the new Macan, 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. The GTS starts around $107,000. Big money for any SUV, especially an electric one. And this particular Macan Electric GTS is optioned up to $126,000.
That's very big money. But the big question is, how does it drive? So let's get behind the wheel and find out. All right, driving the Macan Electric GTS. The Macan GTS Electric.
The Macan EZ, I don't know. I'm driving it, and I got to tell you, I love this car. It big money and it an electric SUV And nobody wants an electric SUV anymore We all know that That a simple truth a fact But man this thing is good to drive I remember when I drove the Taycan
and previous to that I had basically only driven electric Teslas 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 the Taycan and thinking, this is just
It's 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 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 0-50 in 3.5. My guess is Porsche is usually pretty conservative in those official estimates.
My guess is 0-60 will probably be more like low to mid-threes. That's really quick. But we expect electric vehicles to be quick. That's not, on its face, particularly exciting or impressive.
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 counterpart.
It doesn't feel heavy. And a lot of EVs, a lot of heavy performance cars, they feel heavy, but the automaker can kind of counteract that heaviness. This car doesn't even feel heavy. It's just, it's honestly, 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, very dynamic. even though it is a SUV, it doesn't feel like an SUV.
Obviously, it's a crossover, it's a lower SUV, but it doesn't even give that feel. It feels like a sporty, tossable, throw-it-around 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 an impressive car on good roads. I am surprised at how much confidence it requires. I am surprised at how place it and solid it feels, even though it's just a Macan and not like a $200,000 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. 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, 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.
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 it okay, 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
feels like it drives like a Porsche it steers handles like a Porsche it drives better than the gas macan 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 in my
opinion one of the spriest SUVs that I've ever driven now I will say because it's electric you You're at the feel of a gas powertrain, of course, and some people won't like that, but it's a Macan. This isn't like you're losing the flat six of a 911 and the feeling of the peaky revving and the torque and all that.
This isn't like that. This car is a Macan, and I think it's just a good, you know, the regular Macan, the gas one, is a good crossover. This is like that. It happens to have electric power. Personally, I don't think that really changed as 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 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 aren't going to buy it. I know people don't want EVs or something. 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 what I feel about Taycan. Definitely going to look forward to these being used cars in a few years.
But even regardless of that, as a lease 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 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 and effort developing this car when the market just seems to not be all that interested in cars like this. As good as it is, I think it's not going to succeed,
but not because of it, because of 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.
So that's the new 2026 Porsche Macan 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 this would be a hit. But it is. 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 probably an exceptionally good deal on the used market in a few years.
Anyway, now it's time to give the Macan GTS Electric a Doug score. And the Doug score is here, 65 out of 100,
which puts the Macan UTF electric here against rivals on the high side of this pack, but a bit behind some close rivals. Actually, the leader here is the Macan 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 enough versus the Turbo to earn a higher value score. Overall, the Macan Electric is quite clearly the best SUV in this class. The tech is great, the 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 into EVs right now, which is a shame, because this is an excellent one.
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