Black Macan 4 EV is home! Midlife crisis? Maybe...but it's worth it!

[Cogs79]

Hi Everyone,

Very long post ahead!

I am happy to be a part of the Porsche family having picked up a black 2024 Macan 4 EV yesterday! As a quick background, my wife and I have never made any kind of car purchase remotely like this one, especially in this price range. In fact I am coming from a 2014 Chevy Volt which I absolutely loved since I got it new nearly 11 years ago. My Dad needed a car and has wanted my Volt for years. His car just had a massive coolant leak so I decided to sell him the Volt and do something wild and crazy. This Macan 4 EV was pre-specced by the dealer so I did not order/customize it myself. It was already in stock and had just about every feature that I wanted, including the color (black). This will be my daily driver as we only have one car anyway, however I barely do 5600km per year so I hope to keep it as long as possible. Range will never be an issue, as even the Volt's 72km range (summer) meant that I used the range-externder (ICE) for maybe 300km out of its total 56600km. It terms of features/options, here's what it has:

Premium package
Comfort package
Heated and ventilated 18-way sport seats
Heated rear seats
Roof rails
Gloss black side window trims
Side blades in black
Electric logo
Sport Chrono package
Power steering plus
Rear-Axle Steering
21" Macan Offroad design wheels in grey
Heated GT sports steering wheel
BOSE sound system
115V power socket (need to find where it is!)
LED Matrix lights
Surround view with Active Parking support
4-zone climate system
Luggage compartment partition net)
PID (Innodrive with active lane keeping)
Black leather interior

My first experience with a Porsche is my brother's and father's (they share it) 2014 Panamera 4. I know some folks balk at the Panamera, but we all love it for road trips. First impressions of the Macan are beyond anything that I imagined. It looks absolutely stunning in person, and I prefer the front of the EV compared to the ICE Macan. It looks like a Porsche, with nice sculpted designs everywhere. I think this car looks amazing in any color after seeing other forum member's post. I know that 20" wheels result in better range, but as I mentioned earlier, range will never be an issue for me. I like the look of these 21" wheels, especially the dark grey contrasting with the black paint. The only thing that hurts about 21" wheels is the cost of tires, and boy am I not used to paying 3x the cost compared to the Volt. But 295's in the rear, and 255's in the front are massive. I had to get Pirelli Scorpion winter tires because the Michelin X-Ice Snow were out of stock (for the fronts) everywhere and would require a 2-week special order. I have used Michelin X-ice tires forever and absolutely loved them for their extreme quite-ness and smoothness, so I was a bit disappointed at how noisy the Pirelli are. But it's just for the winter, and as long as they grip well, that's all that counts.

The 18-way sport seats are the most comfortable seats that I have ever sat in. Do you REALLY need to adjust side bolsters for your back and legs? Not really, but if you have back pain like I do then getting the seat just right makes a difference for comfort! The seats and sport steering wheel look amazing too, and the design quality is top notch. I like the look of the interior, and really appreciate the mix of buttons/switches and the PCM. Although, I didn't realize that the heated seats and other functions were actually buttons (not just touch-sensitive). The labelling around the temperature switches looks a bit cluttered as the button-labels are right up against the switches so I thought toggling a switch would (for example) load the Climate menu. Anyway it's not an issue now that I know that those are "buttons" (the whoel panel is pressed). I always loved, and will always love manual-adjusting vents compared to ones controlled by a screen (like a Tesla). I did not try InnoDrive yet and actually do not know how to enable it. I did press the cruise-control enable button on the left stock, and a menu popped up but I saw ACC in the list but not Innodrive. I can't find InnoDrive when searching the user manual in the My Porsche app (more on the app later) but will search for it online. Oh, and I would have never in my entire lifetime find the heated steering wheel button if the Porsche technician did not point it out to me. I don't mind it being hidden to avoid clutter but wow did they hide it well! (For those who don't know, it's behind the bottom spoke of the steering wheel). In terms of dashboard and gage cluster screens, they are very sharp and responsive. I haven't played around with it too much (very cold at -10 to -15C here) but I wish the customizations looked better. Seems like there are only a few options on each gage but I will dig into it more later. The ambient lighting is nice and smooth.

I drove it about 40km to get home, and the driving experience was beyond incredible. The steering feels absolutely perfect, and it's like I am controlling the car with my mind. It is precise without feeling sensitive or jerky. There was some wind noise, more than I expected but nothing too distracting. Visibility is excellent. I did not push the BOSE sound system yet, so I need to mess with it more to give some feedback. For what it's worth, the Volt had the BOSE sound system but obviously not the same one! As I mentioned earlier, the Pirelli tires are noisy, and it almost sounds like a car with bearings that need replacing. Unless this is some fake interior sounds? Not too distracting but I miss the Michelin's for sure. I love the air suspension and found that it keeps the car tight while absorbing bumps really really well (only tried "Normal mode" but will experiment with Sport and Sport Plus eventually). Having the adjustable height is perfect since I did need to lower it to fit in my car port. I did set the car up for recuperation/regen, and I definitely feel the deceleration when releasing the go-pedal. But I still don't understand why Porsche is against one-pedal driving. It is the ONE thing that I miss compared to the Volt, especially for traffic. It is not the end of the world, but when you enjoy one-pedal-driving for almost 11 years, it leaves a hole in your life when you don't have it! But, I do appreciate that there is at least a noticeable regen when decelerating. I just wish there was a screen to show when regen is happening (and how much), aside from a little green graphic around the center speedometer. I set the car to charge up to 80% to protect the battery. The Volt was stingy, where it had a 16.5kW battery pack, with only 10.3kW usable. This is probably why it was still giving me 100% of its original range after almost 11 years. So I want the Macan to do the same!

There were 2 hiccups when the Porsche technician was showing me the bells and whistles. One is that we could not open the rear hatch using the button on the hatch beside the camera. I haven't tried at home but maybe it needs to be held a bit longer? I LOVE the fact that the hatch height can be adjusted. I absolutely needed to use this otherwise opening the hatch while under the car port would have it bump the metal bars at the top. The interior trunk space is decent, but the BOSE subwoofer takes up room from the hidden compartment.

The other hiccup is that my iPhone 12 paired correctly the first time, and Apple Carplay worked, then it had all kinds of issues connecting again, with Car play not working at all. I tried pairing it again and rebooting the phone, but it never wanted to start Carplay. I also had to re-login to the Porsche account on the car after powering it off. I will reset my phone's network settings and try again. I am sure it is my phone (seemed to be REALLY slow and laggy when trying to get it working).

The My Porsche App has some nice features but it seems a tad clunky. I love that the picture of the car is exactly my car (same color and wheels). I also like having the user manual stored on the phone. I just find that some menus are hidden under other menus in weird ways (like Vehicle Details means 2 different things depending on where you are). The best feature for me is the little icon with the checkmark to tell me if/when all doors, windows and trunk/frunk are closed. I am surprised at how sensitive the buttons are on the key fob, and just pulling them out of my pocket resulted in the doors to unlock and the frunk to open! The frunk/trunk should require a long button press but it seems like a short press is enough.

I get 2 years of Electrify Canada for free but have never plugged into a public charging network with the Volt. I will want to take advantage at one point but it's not clear how the Porsche app can be used on an Electrify Canada station. Is that the Plug and Charge feature? I need to enable that. I also get 3GB of free Roger's data which I guess comes in handy when Apple Carplay acts up.

We were just hit with more snow, so I will see how the AWD will work soon enough. Overall this is an absolutely incredible vehicle. For my wife and me, it's a metric ton of money, but it's clear that we will enjoy the comfort, technology and drive. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Hope to some day post about my dream Taycan!

 

[Awaz]

Good detailed review.
Thanks for your feedback

 

[AllanG]

Congratulations on your new Macan EV….but I’m not keen on all those plastic car ports along your street!!

 

[Awaz]

Just to add, we all have personal preferences, but I much prefer not having one pedal driving. I had it in my previous EV, but was never enthusiastic about it. I much prefer traditional brake set up.
Also, for regen, I prefer brakes regen only, as I like it coasting rather than the car slowing down with regen. I find coasting is pretty good, even when it's on a straight road, and not just descending.
I do wonder though which option gives better recuperation

 

[SergeyIndy]

Congrats and what a great story of coming from Volt to this, and I have to say that whoever configured it at the dealer was a true Porsche configurator professional. They have so thoughtfully added everything that I would if I would be living in your climate as a no compromise build.

I would like to help out with a few things right off the bat as you posted as concerns or confusions that are spot on where Porsche should have done better to inform rather than confuse.

Tire Warranty and Cost: The way tires are warrantied and priced at least in the US is that when they are OEM new on the new vehicle, there is no tread wear warranty on them so you cannot complain that on a heavy EV the tires wear out quickly and you have to replace them. However, when you purchase the replacement tires you can shop for a tire with a good treadwear warranty so you can claim the prorated cost as it will certainly wear out much sooner. For example, a Continental all season tire comes with a 40k miles warranty, but it will wear out at 15k, so you claim the difference that helps offset frequent tire purchases that are inevitable for EVs.

Porsche InnoDrive with ALK: This is the newest confusion introduced by Porsche with 2025 models on Macan EV and Taycans as they revised the way these features are labeled, how to control them, and where to enable them. You are spot on that you are not going to find anything anywhere (car or manual) that is called InnoDrive. This is where you have to go to review and enable the features that you want.


You have to go to Car -> Assistance screen on the PCM, select ACC as Assist mode.
You can also do it using Assistance stalk but you cannot drill into options from there.

Porsche InnoDrive unique functions are the following with most useful being the Active Lane Keeping as speed limit following is not practical in most cases if every other car on the road is going 10 over the speed limit.

"Apply" Speed Limits
"Active" Lane Keeping
Route topography speed adaptation

Then you go to Additional functions and set what you want from there:

 

[SergeyIndy]

Let me cover the One Pedal situation.

Porsche heritage focused on driving will not allow one-pedal driving even if they can enable it with a flip of a switch. Honoring the heritage is paramount to Porsche brand so the story we get is that coasting is more efficient when you lift the foot off the gas and not pressing the brake. The car has always on intelligent regen behind the scenes not controlled by the driver but in addition the driver can set additional regen if needed as an On/Off setting, see bottom Right On and A icon.

, s

 

[CandianPorsche83]

Hi Everyone,

Very long post ahead!

I am happy to be a part of the Porsche family having picked up a black 2024 Macan 4 EV yesterday! As a quick background, my wife and I have never made any kind of car purchase remotely like this one, especially in this price range. In fact I am coming from a 2014 Chevy Volt which I absolutely loved since I got it new nearly 11 years ago. My Dad needed a car and has wanted my Volt for years. His car just had a massive coolant leak so I decided to sell him the Volt and do something wild and crazy. This Macan 4 EV was pre-specced by the dealer so I did not order/customize it myself. It was already in stock and had just about every feature that I wanted, including the color (black). This will be my daily driver as we only have one car anyway, however I barely do 5600km per year so I hope to keep it as long as possible. Range will never be an issue, as even the Volt's 72km range (summer) meant that I used the range-externder (ICE) for maybe 300km out of its total 56600km. It terms of features/options, here's what it has:

Premium package
Comfort package
Heated and ventilated 18-way sport seats
Heated rear seats
Roof rails
Gloss black side window trims
Side blades in black
Electric logo
Sport Chrono package
Power steering plus
Rear-Axle Steering
21" Macan Offroad design wheels in grey
Heated GT sports steering wheel
BOSE sound system
115V power socket (need to find where it is!)
LED Matrix lights
Surround view with Active Parking support
4-zone climate system
Luggage compartment partition net)
PID (Innodrive with active lane keeping)
Black leather interior

My first experience with a Porsche is my brother's and father's (they share it) 2014 Panamera 4. I know some folks balk at the Panamera, but we all love it for road trips. First impressions of the Macan are beyond anything that I imagined. It looks absolutely stunning in person, and I prefer the front of the EV compared to the ICE Macan. It looks like a Porsche, with nice sculpted designs everywhere. I think this car looks amazing in any color after seeing other forum member's post. I know that 20" wheels result in better range, but as I mentioned earlier, range will never be an issue for me. I like the look of these 21" wheels, especially the dark grey contrasting with the black paint. The only thing that hurts about 21" wheels is the cost of tires, and boy am I not used to paying 3x the cost compared to the Volt. But 295's in the rear, and 255's in the front are massive. I had to get Pirelli Scorpion winter tires because the Michelin X-Ice Snow were out of stock (for the fronts) everywhere and would require a 2-week special order. I have used Michelin X-ice tires forever and absolutely loved them for their extreme quite-ness and smoothness, so I was a bit disappointed at how noisy the Pirelli are. But it's just for the winter, and as long as they grip well, that's all that counts.

The 18-way sport seats are the most comfortable seats that I have ever sat in. Do you REALLY need to adjust side bolsters for your back and legs? Not really, but if you have back pain like I do then getting the seat just right makes a difference for comfort! The seats and sport steering wheel look amazing too, and the design quality is top notch. I like the look of the interior, and really appreciate the mix of buttons/switches and the PCM. Although, I didn't realize that the heated seats and other functions were actually buttons (not just touch-sensitive). The labelling around the temperature switches looks a bit cluttered as the button-labels are right up against the switches so I thought toggling a switch would (for example) load the Climate menu. Anyway it's not an issue now that I know that those are "buttons" (the whoel panel is pressed). I always loved, and will always love manual-adjusting vents compared to ones controlled by a screen (like a Tesla). I did not try InnoDrive yet and actually do not know how to enable it. I did press the cruise-control enable button on the left stock, and a menu popped up but I saw ACC in the list but not Innodrive. I can't find InnoDrive when searching the user manual in the My Porsche app (more on the app later) but will search for it online. Oh, and I would have never in my entire lifetime find the heated steering wheel button if the Porsche technician did not point it out to me. I don't mind it being hidden to avoid clutter but wow did they hide it well! (For those who don't know, it's behind the bottom spoke of the steering wheel). In terms of dashboard and gage cluster screens, they are very sharp and responsive. I haven't played around with it too much (very cold at -10 to -15C here) but I wish the customizations looked better. Seems like there are only a few options on each gage but I will dig into it more later. The ambient lighting is nice and smooth.

I drove it about 40km to get home, and the driving experience was beyond incredible. The steering feels absolutely perfect, and it's like I am controlling the car with my mind. It is precise without feeling sensitive or jerky. There was some wind noise, more than I expected but nothing too distracting. Visibility is excellent. I did not push the BOSE sound system yet, so I need to mess with it more to give some feedback. For what it's worth, the Volt had the BOSE sound system but obviously not the same one! As I mentioned earlier, the Pirelli tires are noisy, and it almost sounds like a car with bearings that need replacing. Unless this is some fake interior sounds? Not too distracting but I miss the Michelin's for sure. I love the air suspension and found that it keeps the car tight while absorbing bumps really really well (only tried "Normal mode" but will experiment with Sport and Sport Plus eventually). Having the adjustable height is perfect since I did need to lower it to fit in my car port. I did set the car up for recuperation/regen, and I definitely feel the deceleration when releasing the go-pedal. But I still don't understand why Porsche is against one-pedal driving. It is the ONE thing that I miss compared to the Volt, especially for traffic. It is not the end of the world, but when you enjoy one-pedal-driving for almost 11 years, it leaves a hole in your life when you don't have it! But, I do appreciate that there is at least a noticeable regen when decelerating. I just wish there was a screen to show when regen is happening (and how much), aside from a little green graphic around the center speedometer. I set the car to charge up to 80% to protect the battery. The Volt was stingy, where it had a 16.5kW battery pack, with only 10.3kW usable. This is probably why it was still giving me 100% of its original range after almost 11 years. So I want the Macan to do the same!

There were 2 hiccups when the Porsche technician was showing me the bells and whistles. One is that we could not open the rear hatch using the button on the hatch beside the camera. I haven't tried at home but maybe it needs to be held a bit longer? I LOVE the fact that the hatch height can be adjusted. I absolutely needed to use this otherwise opening the hatch while under the car port would have it bump the metal bars at the top. The interior trunk space is decent, but the BOSE subwoofer takes up room from the hidden compartment.

The other hiccup is that my iPhone 12 paired correctly the first time, and Apple Carplay worked, then it had all kinds of issues connecting again, with Car play not working at all. I tried pairing it again and rebooting the phone, but it never wanted to start Carplay. I also had to re-login to the Porsche account on the car after powering it off. I will reset my phone's network settings and try again. I am sure it is my phone (seemed to be REALLY slow and laggy when trying to get it working).

The My Porsche App has some nice features but it seems a tad clunky. I love that the picture of the car is exactly my car (same color and wheels). I also like having the user manual stored on the phone. I just find that some menus are hidden under other menus in weird ways (like Vehicle Details means 2 different things depending on where you are). The best feature for me is the little icon with the checkmark to tell me if/when all doors, windows and trunk/frunk are closed. I am surprised at how sensitive the buttons are on the key fob, and just pulling them out of my pocket resulted in the doors to unlock and the frunk to open! The frunk/trunk should require a long button press but it seems like a short press is enough.

I get 2 years of Electrify Canada for free but have never plugged into a public charging network with the Volt. I will want to take advantage at one point but it's not clear how the Porsche app can be used on an Electrify Canada station. Is that the Plug and Charge feature? I need to enable that. I also get 3GB of free Roger's data which I guess comes in handy when Apple Carplay acts up.

We were just hit with more snow, so I will see how the AWD will work soon enough. Overall this is an absolutely incredible vehicle. For my wife and me, it's a metric ton of money, but it's clear that we will enjoy the comfort, technology and drive. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Hope to some day post about my dream Taycan!

Congrats! Would love to see your consumption numbers in those temps!

 

[Cogs79]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the feedback and great information! I am not sure when I will get a chance to try InnoDrive but it's much clearer now how to engage it!

Regarding my consumption numbers, the app shows that I drove 37 km, total drive time was 1h 8 minutes, average speed was 33km/h (hit 104km/hm at some points, but then got stuck in traffic) with average consumption to be 24.0 kWh/100km. Heating was set to 22 Degrees C for both me and passenger. Temperature was right around -10 degrees Celsius for most of the trip.

Regarding one-pedal-driving, I would use it on the Volt when stuck in traffic. It helped modulate the speed (with enough distance to the car in front) that I rarely came to a complete stop, and just used the throttle. I would disable the aggressive regen on highways and stretches of roads without traffic (coasting). Just wish there was an option to toggle (some cars have flappy paddles for this). Anyway, it's all good and will be easy to live without.

e

 

[ukdriver]

Beautiful car, beautiful write up! Congratulations! Enjoy this beautiful car….

 

[dgkhn]

As I mentioned earlier, the Pirelli tires are noisy, and it almost sounds like a car with bearings that need replacing. Unless this is some fake interior sounds

I wonder if what you are hearing is in fact the electronic sound the Macan has at low speed (which I could imagine might sound like bad bearings if you don't know what it is). At least in the US, and I assume also in Canada, I believe this sound is primarily for the benefit of pedestrians being aware of the car's presence. (This is separate from the Sport Sounds option which you do not appear to have; neither do I so I can't comment on that.) My Pirelli Scorpion MS tires are also noisy, but it's a different type of sound and is mainly present in the 85-95 kph range.

 

[quaxon]

Wait they gave you 2 years of free charging? How come in US they only gave me one? Anyone else get 2?

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Thanks for your very detailed, thoughtful write up. GREAT Macan you have! Here’s to more of your smiling while driving.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Wait they gave you 2 years of free charging? How come in US they only gave me one? Anyone else get 2?

This sure is true for Canada, 2 years indeed based on Canadian configurator, but more nuanced than the original Taycan 3-year inclusive EA plan in the US where you can charge for 30 min free and then just unplug and start another 30-minute free session right away. This one requires a 60-minute break between charging to start another free 30 min session.

 

[shawn]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the feedback and great information! I am not sure when I will get a chance to try InnoDrive but it's much clearer now how to engage it!

Regarding my consumption numbers, the app shows that I drove 37 km, total drive time was 1h 8 minutes, average speed was 33km/h (hit 104km/hm at some points, but then got stuck in traffic) with average consumption to be 24.0 kWh/100km. Heating was set to 22 Degrees C for both me and passenger. Temperature was right around -10 degrees Celsius for most of the trip.

Regarding one-pedal-driving, I would use it on the Volt when stuck in traffic. It helped modulate the speed (with enough distance to the car in front) that I rarely came to a complete stop, and just used the throttle. I would disable the aggressive regen on highways and stretches of roads without traffic (coasting). Just wish there was an option to toggle (some cars have flappy paddles for this). Anyway, it's all good and will be easy to live without.

e

The ACC takes care of stop and go traffic to modulate the speed. You don’t need one peddle driving for that (assuming you have cars in front of you which would be the case in a traffic jam as you describe). It is actually easier to drive in stop and go traffic without one peddle driving. In fact I turned off regen in my Tesla in tight traffic because it was more effort to moderate smoothly and led to a more jerky ride experience sometimes.

Anyway we are all entitled to at least one mid life crisis . Good choice. Enjoy

 

[Cogs79]

The ACC takes care of stop and go traffic to modulate the speed. You don’t need one peddle driving for that (assuming you have cars in front of you which would be the case in a traffic jam as you describe). It is actually easier to drive in stop and go traffic without one peddle driving. In fact I turned off regen in my Tesla in tight traffic because it was more effort to moderate smoothly and led to a more jerky ride experience sometimes.

Ok that makes sense! I haven't tried ACC yet.

On a side note, resetting the network settings of my iPhone 12 fixed all Apple Carplay/pairing issues. And I have used the button beside the rear camera to open the hatch lots of times without issue, so I bet the car was locked when the technician tried to demo the button. I finally saw the look of the headlights (DRL's and main beams) last night and it looks freakin' amazing. Beyond happy!

One question about preheating (or cooling depending on where you are) the cabin. It seems like just pressing "Unlock" on the key fob is supposed to start preconditioning the interior? Is this only when it is plugged in? It's a bit confusing, and not really secure to have to unlock the car for it to preheat the cabin. Or is the first unlock press used to preheat the cabin, then the second unlock is to actually unlock the doors?

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