Driving a Macan 4S EV loaner

[freinando]

My Taycan is in for service, and to my surprise they gave me a Macan 4S EV. I wanted to post before the initial novelty wears off. So far I’m impressed.

It’s so much better than the ICE counterparts. I have driven the base electric macan before, it was meh because the lack of punch. Then the base macan ICE, that was worse. Then the ICE S, better due to the power and nice sound with the sport exhaust, but nowhere comparable to the EV with the air suspension. It feels like a much more solid car.

It’s a 2026, getting about 0.5mi/kwh more than in the Taycan. The interior is much more refined than the ICE versions, and the car overall feels way more solid. Compared to the Taycan is still down on power a bit, I notice the increased body roll, the tuning is softer, like, sport plus in the Macan is akin to Sport in the Taycan. Overall the Taycan drives better, no surprise. The new UI is nice. The sport sound is weird, don’t like it.

What this tells me is that the J1.2 Taycan which I haven’t had the chance to drive yet should be great. The only downside is the generic front end look.

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[Mizzle51]

It’s a 2026, getting about 0.5mi/kwh more than in the Taycan.

I had a loaner Macan EV and noticed that too, until Freeway speeds (75/80MPH) and then it turned into a brick. Ended up having to charge mid trip after starting with 50 miles extra range.

 

[RAHRCR]

My Taycan is in for service, and to my surprise they gave me a Macan 4S EV. I wanted to post before the initial novelty wears off. So far I’m impressed.

It’s so much better than the ICE counterparts. I have driven the base electric macan before, it was meh because the lack of punch. Then the base macan ICE, that was worse. Then the ICE S, better due to the power and nice sound with the sport exhaust, but nowhere comparable to the EV with the air suspension. It feels like a much more solid car.

It’s a 2026, getting about 0.5mi/kwh more than in the Taycan. The interior is much more refined than the ICE versions, and the car overall feels way more solid. Compared to the Taycan is still down on power a bit, I notice the increased body roll, the tuning is softer, like, sport plus in the Macan is akin to Sport in the Taycan. Overall the Taycan drives better, no surprise. The new UI is nice. The sport sound is weird, don’t like it.

What this tells me is that the J1.2 Taycan which I haven’t had the chance to drive yet should be great. The only downside is the generic front end look.

I have had a few Macan EV loaners. They were all the 4 (not the S). I was impressed with the last one I got. It’s not very sporty but it is Lux/Sport when optioned nicely. Great build and ride quality. I think once you get used to the low driving position of the Taycan, the SUV seating just doesn’t feel optimal anymore. That said, if they can get more people to drive them, they will sell.

 

[Torv]

My Taycan is in for service, and to my surprise they gave me a Macan 4S EV. I wanted to post before the initial novelty wears off. So far I’m impressed.

It’s so much better than the ICE counterparts. I have driven the base electric macan before, it was meh because the lack of punch. Then the base macan ICE, that was worse. Then the ICE S, better due to the power and nice sound with the sport exhaust, but nowhere comparable to the EV with the air suspension. It feels like a much more solid car.

It’s a 2026, getting about 0.5mi/kwh more than in the Taycan. The interior is much more refined than the ICE versions, and the car overall feels way more solid. Compared to the Taycan is still down on power a bit, I notice the increased body roll, the tuning is softer, like, sport plus in the Macan is akin to Sport in the Taycan. Overall the Taycan drives better, no surprise. The new UI is nice. The sport sound is weird, don’t like it.

What this tells me is that the J1.2 Taycan which I haven’t had the chance to drive yet should be great. The only downside is the generic front end look.

What a coincidence! My Taycan is also in for service (replacing the PCM) and I too have a Macan 4S EV as loaner. I've driven it now for nearly 2 weeks and I've got to say I'm impressed. I'm getting 320 miles on a full charge and the car is nicely equipped (sticker indicates $110K) with rear wheel steering amongst other options. The Macan handles nicely, not nearly as well as a Taycan, but I could see it in my garage, though maybe not the 4S variant as I'm not sure of its value over a regular Macan 4. I suppose if I were to buy one, it would be the GTS version.

 

[targa666]

We also had the Macan 4S EV ‘26 as a loaner on holidays. Nice car in general; big advantage of sitting high in stead of on the asphalt on the crowded highway for sure.
Really annoying I found the throttle pedal though. It’s so ridiculously light that I had to keep my foot up all the time which makes dosing hell. Was continuously weaving between 120-130. In the Taycan with the standing pedal never have this problem. Yes, I know, ACC or PID solves this but I really hate any form of cruise control so had to deal with this.

 

[Alan B]

We've owned both for about a year. 2022 CPO Taycan 4 w MAPEV tune and 2025 Macan EV. Love them both. Wouldn't hesistate to buy either one again. Prior was Macan ICE. Wife drives the Macan daily - her favorite car ever by far. I jump between both. You all know the cars so the things that stand out to me after a year... The Macan build is another level - rock solid. So quiet. Amazing seats. Great range 350 mi or so. Night and day better than ICE with bonus of pretty good rear seat room. The Taycan was fun but adding MAPEV became absolutely thrilling, insane acceleration and I can't wait to drive it. Goes around a corner at ~40mph. With regen off it glides & holds speed for really long time. Range is fair at best (J1.1 - 240 mi). Hate the phone charger pads in both. Put new in Taycan so now all good. We have one good and one great service center nearby & typical is 1 - 2 days with only bummer being the Macan ICE loaner we get. Taycan had fans replaced under CPO and otherwise all good - only software updates for both and the rattling seatbelt issue (seriously?) in the Macan. Our son has newish Tesla Y. Not fair comparing, but really notice the bumps, road noise and rattles vs ours.

 

[freinando]

Couple of more things I’ve noticed. First, The brake pedal feels much better in the Macan. My Taycan has a spongy feel in the initial phase of the press…

And second, my head was wobbling side to side on an uneven road, something that doesn’t happen in the Taycan due to the lower CG I assume.

 

[freinando]

Ok, for the life of mw I can’t figure out what’s wrong. While charging the car, as I’ve usually done with my Taycan (Porsche charger at 50%) the panic alarm goes off at exactly 17 minute intervals. Wtf.

 

[MidwestPCar]

I too have had a Macan EV loaner twice now while the Taycan is getting work done.

@freinando I too had the panic alarm go off every 15 min or so while charging this week .... I tried it at multiple chargers, on different days, slammed every door shut repeatedly, turned off interior monitoring (in multiple ways), reseated the chargers, tried both sides ... NOTHING worked. I was about to switch loaners when I got my car back.
Strange that this didn't happen when I had the exact same Macan EV as a loaner in February.... something changed.


Similar to opinions above, I concur that the EV Macan is way better than the ICE Macan in driving capability (handling, acceleration), except in sound. The ICE Macan S has a nice growl.

Macan EV positive notes
- The braking is indeed more reassuring than the Taycan.
- In similar driving on the highways, I got nearly 80 miles more range than the Taycan, which was very meaningful on a driving business trip.
- one can add the current efficiency as a line item on the "information section" of the instrument cluster, which I came back to my Taycan and found I couldn't (sigh)
- the build was pretty solid

The acceleration didn't match the Taycan and it didn't feel as special as the Taycan. Oh, and if the Taycan USB ports are slightly hard to find, the Macan ones are placed in a ridiculous spot - I had to hunt for a picture in the manual to find them after looking for 10 minutes. They did a good job hiding it from the driver's vantage point.

 

[Flying ace]

The Macan EV is an awesome car. I also had it as a loaner and I'm impressed. At the time it was a preview of the Cayenne EV. Knowing how good the Macan is, it gives me confidence to buy the Cayenne without a test drive

 

[freinando]

I too had the panic alarm go off every 15 min or so while charging this week .... I tried it at multiple chargers, on different days, slammed every door shut repeatedly, turned off interior monitoring (in multiple ways), reseated the chargers, tried both sides ... NOTHING worked.

Haha. Thanks for sharing. This is exactly what I’ve done too, including trying with both charging ports. This is the weirdest gremlin.

 

[MidwestPCar]

Haha. Thanks for sharing. This is exactly what I’ve done too, including trying with both charging ports. This is the weirdest gremlin.

It totally is. Weird because I had this loaner before without issues. And it's not reported anywhere else. I'm actually glad to hear someone else had it, feel less nuts
Something about the charging is obviously setting off the monitoring alarm.

 

[daveo4EV]

My Taycan is in for service, and to my surprise they gave me a Macan 4S EV. I wanted to post before the initial novelty wears off. So far I’m impressed.

It’s so much better than the ICE counterparts. I have driven the base electric macan before, it was meh because the lack of punch. Then the base macan ICE, that was worse. Then the ICE S, better due to the power and nice sound with the sport exhaust, but nowhere comparable to the EV with the air suspension. It feels like a much more solid car.

It’s a 2026, getting about 0.5mi/kwh more than in the Taycan. The interior is much more refined than the ICE versions, and the car overall feels way more solid. Compared to the Taycan is still down on power a bit, I notice the increased body roll, the tuning is softer, like, sport plus in the Macan is akin to Sport in the Taycan. Overall the Taycan drives better, no surprise. The new UI is nice. The sport sound is weird, don’t like it.

What this tells me is that the J1.2 Taycan which I haven’t had the chance to drive yet should be great. The only downside is the generic front end look.

Macan's a great EV - I own a 2024 Macan Turbo - and wrote up my impression of a 4 vs. Turbo while my Cayenne was being serviced…

https://www.macanevowners.com/forum/threads/thoughts-macan-4-loaner-vs-macan-turbo-ev-owned.24721/

the Macan EV is sooo much better than the ICE Macan - it's unfortunate there is the anti-EV wave going on because most Macan ICE owners would prefer the EV if they drove it.

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

Oh, and if the Taycan USB ports are slightly hard to find, the Macan ones are placed in a ridiculous spot - I had to hunt for a picture in the manual to find them after looking for 10 minutes. They did a good job hiding it from the driver's vantage point.

And did you notice/ find the gap in the middle of the console, where you are supposed to fumble through the charging cable, when connected to the USB-port?

 

[MidwestPCar]

And did you notice/ find the gap in the middle of the console, where you are supposed to fumble through the charging cable, when connected to the USB-port?

Yeah, so dumb. It's almost like they designed it to hide it and make it difficult

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