Petrol vs electric: BMW X3 M50 vs Porsche Macan Turbo

My piece of practical advice to anyone who is purchasing an EV is to avoid the fastest one. In fact, pick the slowest one. It’ll be cheaper, more efficient, will go further on a single charge and might even be lighter too. Plus, it’ll still beat most combustion cars in a traffic light drag race. Well, unless you’re buying a Dacia Spring.

Anyway, for this test we decided to completely ignore that advice, bringing along an electric family SUV with well over 600bhp and a 0-62mph time of 3.3 seconds. Yep, it’s the new Porsche Macan Electric in full fat Turbo form. And yes, like with the Taycan, Porsche is sticking with its old school naming convention despite the absence of any actual turbos.

The BMW X3 M50 xDrive does get a turbo. It also gets a 3.0-litre straight six petrol engine, an eight speed auto gearbox and a quad-exit exhaust. Yep, this is an electric versus internal combustion performance SUV shootout. So, which is better?

Photography: Mark Riccioni

We should probably start with the Porsche and its mind-bending numbers. Total outputs from the twin electric motors are 630bhp and 833lb ft of torque when deploying the Macan’s launch control, meaning it’s quicker to 62mph than a 911 GT3. 

In normal driving you only get 577bhp. The battery has a similarly hefty 95kWh of usable capacity, and when you’re not deploying all of that power at once there’s a claimed range of 367 miles. Handy 270kW rapid charging too. All of this also means a kerbweight of 2,405kg. Perhaps we should start reinforcing the roads now before the Cayenne goes electric too.

At just over two tonnes, the BMW isn’t exactly featherweight. Total outputs are 393bhp and 428lb ft of torque, meaning it’ll lag behind the Macan off the line with a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds. And yes, there is a bit of a price difference despite the BMW being delivered wearing £15,000 worth of optional extras, but this M50 is currently the range topping X3. At the time of writing the electric iX3 is off sale to prepare for the Neue Klasse reboot and rumour has it there won’t be a full fat X3 M Competition version of this fourth gen internal combustion car. So this is your lot for now, but we love an underdog.

Unfortunately, the new G45 X3 doesn’t get off to the best start. Finished in bedpan beige and with its giant kidneys lit up it’s hardly the most elegant looking thing. The boxy, estate-like rear end is probably its best feature, but from the front or side on it’s a bit of a mess. There’s just too much car, the surfaces are too flat and, as colleague Sam Philip points out, the wheelarches look like they’ve been whittled by cavemen. A good effort with primitive tools, but not quite a perfect curve.

Even with its split headlight setup up front the Macan is easier on the eye. At first glance it doesn’t actually look too different to the previous generation, but Porsche assures us that not a single part has been carried over. The roofline is much more coupe-like than the BMW’s, and while they may be similar in length and width, the Porsche is almost 40mm lower than the X3. That plastic front splitter looks like it’d be scratched on your first speed bump, but the Turbo does come with rising air suspension as standard. At the rear you get the classic Porsche light bar and you’ll be able to spot a Turbo by the extra vents behind the rear wheels. That is if you’ve missed the Turbo badging on the back, of course.

This particular Macan also comes equipped with massive 22in RS Spyder Design wheels that’ll set you back a slightly terrifying £2,741. Amazingly, they don’t actually hinder the ride too much. There’s a sporting edge to it sure, but the Porsche is actually slightly softer than the BMW on its 21in wheels with painted-on tyres. Both of these cars have adaptive suspension setups however, and even though you’d probably avoid their sportiest modes on potted UK roads, both are actually very well damped. Ride quality in performance SUVs has come a long way.

The first thing that hits you about the Macan isn’t actually the straight line speed, it’s the steering. The thin Alcantara clad wheel is immediately satisfying to hold and on the move the Macan turns in supremely sharply and responds to your inputs instantly. It’s the driving position – nice and low in the car – and the steering feel that really allow this small electric SUV to feel like a Porsche. No mean feat when you remember it’s built on the shared PPE platform that also underpins the Audi Q6 e-tron and A6 e-tron.

The Macan feels much smaller and easier to place on the road when driven back to back with the X3, despite its slightly bigger footprint and extra chub. This particular car gets Porsche’s £1,445 rear wheel steer system, while the Bavarian is burdened by the usual overly thick BMW steering wheel, and you don’t get the same feedback as you do from the Porsche. A switch to Sport mode adds a bit more artificial weight and an e-diff shuffles power between the rear wheels through bends, but the sportiest X3 still feels a bit numb and favours safe understeer.

The acceleration is so violent it might genuinely make you feel ill. This is a comically quick car

The Porsche’s air suspension keeps it remarkably flat through bends, but put your foot to the floor on the way out and the acceleration is so violent it might genuinely make you feel ill. This is a comically quick car. Overtakes are the work of less than a moment and even in Normal drive mode it’ll pin you back into your seat. Sport and Sport Plus take things to another level. In fact, select the latter and use full throttle on a cold and damp day and it’ll even get out of shape in a straight line as the traction control struggles to contain the power. The Turbo’s rear motor is more powerful than the front so it’s rear biased, and although it’s fun I can’t shake the feeling that it’s almost too fast for its own good.

Still, switch on the Electric Sport Sound and this is a genuinely engaging EV to drive. And that’s despite the fact it’s a crossover and does without paddles to adjust regen or fake gearshifts à la Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. The BMW has real sound on its side from that straight six, but it’s actually fairly muted inside the cabin and is enhanced with IconicSounds augmentation until you discover how to switch it off.

This B58 remains an excellent engine though. On a town and motorway run we saw 37mpg (vs a claimed 35.3mpg), there’s a good glug of torque and the gearbox is slick, with large rubberised paddles when you want manual control. It may be upstaged by the Macan but there’s proper pace here – it’s just a shame the internal combustion engined car is the one that’s slightly lacking in drama.

The BMW does at least have slightly better brake feel than the Porsche. The Macan has a very slight dead spot at the top of its pedal travel as it balances regen and friction braking, although once you do hit the discs it stops remarkably quickly. A few suicidal pheasants gave us that test. With the outside temperature just above 5°C we saw 2.9mpkWh on a town, country and motorway run in the Macan, which would mean a real world range of just over 275 miles.

And just as it feels like a proper Porsche to drive, the Macan also feels familiar inside. You get supremely comfortable sports seats, a curved 12.6in digital dashboard with clear, easy to understand dials and a 10.9in central infotainment screen that’s super high quality. Not only does the screen look premium with impressive graphics and a background that matches the car’s excellent exterior colour, but it also responds rapidly and loads swiftly. There’s a bassy Bose surround sound system, plenty of storage in the centre console and separate buttons and rockers for the climate controls and on the steering wheel. A victory for common sense.

The BMW on the other hand loads almost all of its functionality into that giant Curved Display. Heck, even the air vents are controlled by touch sensitive panels on the doors. The first time I tried to reduce the quantity of air blowing at my face I was met with a distracted driver warning on the dash. Argh!

This X3’s interior represents a huge departure from the previous generation, and while it looks dramatic it doesn’t quite hit the spot. Perhaps it’s because some of the materials now feel a little cheap, but it’s almost as though the Mini interior design team was let loose on a BMW to see what it would come up with. I like the cloth covered dash, but the hidden doorhandles are impossible to find in the dark and while the dash is customisable it doesn’t offer any simple, round dials. All of the climate controls are buried in that stuck on central screen too, although at least shortcuts for the temperature and heated/ventilated seats remain at the bottom at all times.

Put your foot to the floor and the acceleration is so violent it might genuinely make you feel ill

In the battle of the back seats, it’s the BMW that comes out on top. The Porsche gets a surprising amount of headroom given its sloping roofline but without the optional panoramic roof it is a little dark back there and with a battery under the floor your passengers will sit with their knees raised. The wheelbase is 86mm longer than the old combustion Macan though, so there is more legroom than you might expect.

The X3 with its glass roof offers loads of headroom, legroom and plenty of light for rear passengers. The BMW’s bootspace is usefully bigger too, although the Porsche almost catches up if you include its 84-litre frunk space. Oh, and it may be worth pointing out here that if you go for the entry level Macan with its smaller rear motor, you get 540 litres of boot space before you even consider the frunk.

So yes, this Turbo probably isn’t the Macan that I’d have, but in a straight fight between top of their trees performance SUVs it beats the X3 M50. The Porsche may not be quite as practical and it’s a good chunk more expensive, but it’s actually more engaging to drive, the interior is smarter and easier to operate and it’s the more attractive car. Just remember to keep the sick bags on standby in the back.