COULD AN ELECTRIC MACAN BE THE BEST EVER !

[MikeMcan]

COULD AN ELECTRIC MACAN BE THE BEST EVER!

As an Ex Macan SD and then Turbo owner, never thought electric powered cars would be up to much till I tried out a Tesla X last week. WOW the power delivery is something else.
As auto boxes have in general had slippage, Manual gear boxes have generally been considered the best driving experience for control. Not anymore as an electric motor brings even more control than manual, as direct drive at all times with no gear change gaps, and max Torque at any speed from Zero right up to max speed.
The Tesla X was not for me, as not as rewarding to drive as the Porsche Chassis,
But made me think an electric Macan will be amazing to drive.
What driving experience /thoughts have others had with electric powered cars.

[johnd]

COULD AN ELECTRIC MACAN BE THE BEST EVER!

Don't think you can really have an eMacan - an EV needs to be designed from scratch because the whole structure and packaging are very different.

But a Porsche equivalent of the Jaguar I-Pace is probably what we're talking about. Presumably there an embryonic design somewhere in the works at Porsche but a total lack of news on such a model suggests that availability is 2-3 years off, at a minimum. Though I suspect that if the I-Pace turns out to be as successful as all the early reviews suggest then Porsche may be stirred into rethinking their schedule. Only 2-3 weeks before I-Pace models should start turning up at JLR dealers for test drives.

[Col Lamb]

In a word, Yes.

Porsche cannot rest on their laurels, and lets face it the Taycan is a test bed for the tech with EV roll out into all models not just in the Porsche range but within the VW group as a whole.

With the Audi eTron just about to get out there the underpinnings will be there to bolt a Porsche body on top.

It does not make any Engineering sense for VW, Audi, Porsche etc to do their own thing with regard to EV, the group has to get it right to claw themselves out of the financial and marketing abyss that diesel-gate has caused them.

[Paul]

the group has to get it right to claw themselves out of the financial and marketing abyss that diesel-gate has caused them.

With a 4.4 Billion operating profit in the first quarter of 2018, I’d say they were doing OK

[pmg]

Isn't the Taycan Cross Turismo going to be an Ipace Competitor as the Ipace is quite low for an SUV. How the EMacan and the Taycan variants fit together could well depend on the size of the Taycan and how it compares to the Panamera. I have not seen anything firm on dimensions of Taycan and variants.

[goron59]

LOL that the viglink spammer on this page has linked Macan to https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playmobil-9376 ... kownclu-21

[alxgb]

What driving experience /thoughts have others had with electric powered cars.

I tried a MKIII Golf GTE for an extended test drive. Ignoring range issues, it was perfectly fine but not deserving of the GT prefix on the badge. I had hoped for an electric GTI but it was more Bluemotion with a dose of the GTI parts bin. The Tron styling put me off a bit. It managed to throw the power on my garage as the charger is rated at 13A but the initial load on connection is up to 20A. Not a thing in the manual, plug or cabling advising of this. It was definitely a step on from the previous model which I had also driven and while I though 'naah', this was more 'hmmm-naah'.

Had a BMW i8 for a little while. I quite liked the electromechanical noise and Star Trek sounds. It was the whine and whir of the electric motors but still bereft of emotion and it had the worst seats in any car I have ever driven. I hurt thinking about them. You could feel the weight of the car if you threw it around but it was a very resolved chassis given the battery mass it had to deal with. Not a practical car in a number of aspects, notably with respect to practicality and storage. Interface was excellent and highly intuitive and configurable. Range was fairly pitiful on electric - 30 - 40 miles if I recall but would make sense in somewhere like London. I did like the styling and the composite materials - it was a car that you could visually explore - lots of interesting angles and shapes.

Drove a friend's 918 Spyder. Unbelievable car as you'd expect. I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of the V8 kicking in when I put it in race from pure electric and put my foot down and it gave me every available KW and BHP. I don't think anyone need worry about an electric Porsche not being a 'true Porsche' based on my experience of driving that in electric. The electromechanical whirring was something that I could get used to and it had character. I would rather that than the actuators which manufacturers put in as 'apology'. The BMW i8 actuator was trying to make it sound like an M1 and when you opened the window and stuck your head out (for research, I'm not a dog), it was definitely a 3 cylinder MINI engine.

I guess the 918 and i8 offer the closest insight into what an electric sports car could be based on my experience but things have moved on a lot since they were developed. The Taycan Turismo concept could be really interesting and might be the first electric that I buy.

One of the issues that I've found with electric cars or driving hybrids in electric is the sensation of speed. Of course, you can go incredibly quickly but your perception of speed is different as the engagement with the vehicle is passive and you don't have the same auditory cues, it's drive mode and go. I find I go slower in faster cars (petrol) and am more conscious of my speed and interaction with the car, particularly with a manual or driving in manual on PDK. The only cue I have in electric is the speedometer reading and it's pretty hard to calibrate between 20-40. Maybe I'd get used to it if I had an electric for a decent length of time but that's possibly why the digital displays feature your speed at such scale as they tend to float in your peripheral vision. I know I'm certainly more conscious of observing the speedo but that may be adjustment to driving electric for me.

They are incredibly quiet. In an urban environment, you do have to take account of this. Driving the i8 through London, I had a much higher frequency of pedestrians stepping out in front me. I live in the countryside and again, awareness of the car with cyclists and other road users has its own challenges. I was driving along a country road and there was a horse ahead - slowed down and car was in electric. No acknowledgement - then I realised that the rider hadn't heard me because I had the piped in engine noise and assumed they were hearing that. Kicked the petrol engine in and it was enough to alert the rider but she did look startled as to how I sneaked up on her.

Interested to read of other people's experiences. Anyone tried an i-Pace?

[johnd]

Isn't the Taycan Cross Turismo going to be an Ipace Competitor as the Ipace is quite low for an SUV. How the EMacan and the Taycan variants fit together could well depend on the size of the Taycan and how it compares to the Panamera. I have not seen anything firm on dimensions of Taycan and variants.

I thought Taycan was going to be around Cayenne sized in terms of footprint, if not a little larger, whereas I-Pace is definitely Macan-sized (almost to the mm in length). EVs are typically going to be lower in roofline than any sort of ICE equivalent - it's important that they're as aerodynamic as possible so as to maximise range. That said, I-Pace styling is a little deceptive in tending to make the car look lower than it actually is (though roofline is lower than Macan I believe). Seating position, front headroom etc feel much the same as Macan.

[johnd]

One of the issues that I've found with electric cars or driving hybrids in electric is the sensation of speed. Of course, you can go incredibly quickly but your perception of speed is different as the engagement with the vehicle is passive and you don't have the same auditory cues, it's drive mode and go.

I do think that this is a crucial difference between EV and ICE cars and I wonder whether EVs can ever really have soul. As you say, there's minimal auditory feedback and less of any emotional connection between driving inputs and response/experience, especially compared to a manual ICE (much as I like PDK). Maybe you pilot an EV rather than drive an ICE.

[Guy]

Maybe you pilot an EV rather than drive an ICE.

I think there's a fair few aircrew on this forum who may dispute that suggestion! Can I suggest 'operate' an EV?