The Côte d’Azur has an almost mystical allure. It enjoys over 300-days of sunshine, with the enviable environmental mix of blue seas and ancient mountains that seemingly butt up against one another.

One moment you’re admiring pastel façades and impossibly azure waters, the next you’re staring up at jagged limestone peaks wondering how on earth there’s a road carved into them.

It’s the perfect backdrop for a car launch, which is why so many of them take place in and around the Nice area. Hang around long enough and you can  spot most of the biggest launches for the upcoming of the year.

This particular adventure begins and ends at the serene Domaine du Mas de Pierre Hôtel, tucked into the hillside above Nice’s bustling promenades. Five-star calm, manicured gardens and the faint scent of pine in the air. It’s an unlikely launchpad for a performance SUV wearing a Porsche’s revered GTS badge — but that’s precisely the point.

To Porsche purists, GTS has always represented the sweet spot. Not the full-send madness of a Turbo, nor the uncompromising focus of a GT car, but a carefully honed balance of power, handling and character. From early 911, 924 and 928 GTS models to more recent Boxster and 911 iterations, it’s traditionally the most “Porsche-like” version in the range.

“The road climbs quickly, hairpins stacking one on top of another as damp cliffs tower overhead”

Bringing that ethos to an electrified SUV was always going to divide opinion, but Porsche insists this is the most “dynamic” and “emotional” electric Macan in the range.

Strong words.

Run for the hills

Route de Saint-Jeannet wastes no time testing that claim. The road climbs quickly, hairpins stacking one on top of another as damp cliffs tower overhead. From here, through Carros and toward Roquesteron, the Côte d’Azur becomes serious driving territory.

On paper, the Macan GTS shouldn’t feel at home. At 2,395kg, it carries the full weight of a modern electric SUV. Yet the moment the road tightens, the engineering reveals itself.

The GTS shares its dual-motor set-up with the Turbo, albeit tuned to 571hp with launch control engaged rather than 639hp. There’s still a whopping 954Nm of torque on tap, the same 95kWh battery beneath the floor and the same 800V, fast-charging  electrical architecture — capable of brimming batteries from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 21 minutes.

But numbers don’t tell the full story.

Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, adaptive air suspension and the brand’s superb chassis management are standard, as is rear-wheel steering. The effect is uncanny. Turn in and the Macan feels to pivot around you, its size shrinking as the rear axle subtly rotates to tighten the line. The steering is classic Porsche: direct and weighted with genuine feedback — rare praise in the electric era.

“Over hugely calorific French cuisine and rice pudding chasers, the Macan’s broader appeal becomes clear”

Acceleration is brisk, but never offensively so. It’s rapid enough to devour straights between bends, yet measured enough to avoid snapping the neck of a passenger or causing undue car sickness. Porsche’s engineers haven’t chased headline shock value; they’ve chased balance.

Climbing the Col

By the time Col du Ferrier appears — over 1,000 metres above sea level — the Macan is using every piece of technology at its disposal to dispatch of the tight, twisting curves out of Grasse and through the picturesque town of Saint-Vallier-de-Thiey. Straying across the white line risks a head-on collision with local traffic, so it needs to sharp.

The enormous brakes scrub off speed with reassuring authority, while the battery’s low centre of gravity keeps body movement tightly controlled. Plus, Porsche’s active chassis system disguises the weight, making it feel lighter on its feet than it should. Rear-wheel steering also earns its keep here.

Sport mode introduces Porsche’s synthesised soundtrack, which is specific to this GTS model — a subtle thrum that grows more pronounced in Sport Plus, developing into a bassier burble as virtual revs rise.

It’s not theatrical for the sake of it, but it meaningfully alters the car’s character. In Normal, it’s silent and serene. In Sport Plus, it carries intent.

The transformation isn’t dramatic in a Hyundai Ioniq 5N sense, but along with sharper throttle response and a tauter suspension set-up,  it’s enough to change the atmosphere.

Climbing ever higher, the mercury plummets and the Macan’s bandwidth is truly revealed. Atop some of the steepest climbs the weather transforms from sunlit scenes to fog and then snow. Lots of snow.

The capable GTS barely needs a specific mode to tackle these salty roads, but as the snow piles up, it’s possible to test out its dedicated off-road profile. Throttle inputs are set to their least sensitive and grip all four wheels is maximised.

This really is a car that can handle pretty much anything.

Calories and electrons

Descending back down into Cabris, the tempo eases. The Auberge du Vieux Château sits in a wall courtyard and affords some of the best views over the surrounding countryside. On a clear day, it’s possible that Cannes can be spotted off into the distance.

“This is a performance Porsche that can also handle daily life with ease”

Over hugely calorific French cuisine and rice pudding chasers, the Macan’s broader appeal becomes clear. This isn’t just a Porsche SUV with all of the options boxes ticked, but one that has been tuned to make the most out of the technology on offer. In that sense, it’s the Macan to have if you want the perfect blend of performance and engagement.

The cabin’s Race-Tex trim and blacked-out details hint at sportiness, but the digital architecture reveals a different personality. Optional passenger display? It can now pair with Bluetooth accessories, including gaming controllers for impromptu Asphalt 9 sessions.

Plus, there’s a new parking system that can learn complex manoeuvres and repeat them automatically once stored. A reversing assistant logs the last 50 metres driven and can retrace them autonomously — ideal for tight European streets and perfect for exiting the walled section leading to our lunch stop.

None of this is core to the driving experience, yet it reinforces something important: this is a performance Porsche that can also handle daily life with ease.

The grande finale

The remainder of the curling route back to the hotel trades alpine grey for volcanic red. The DN7 undulates above flashes of Mediterranean blue, flowing beautifully through L’Espeoutier and L’Escallion before diving into the outskirts of Cannes.

“No theatrics. No noise. Just quiet efficiency and the promise of 362 miles of range if you behave yourself”

Here, on these wider and more open roads, the Macan GTS feels perfectly judged. The Turbo’s additional 68hp never feels missed. Instead, this £89,000 model delivers what feels like the Goldilocks specification — all of the aforementioned driving technology, plus the added bonus of flared arches, bespoke side skirts, 22-inch RS Spyder wheels and tinted LED tail-lights that all come as standard.

It rides beautifully when asked to cruise, yet tightens instantly when the road demands it. It can cover ground at serious pace, maintain composure on poor surfaces and then glide quietly along the Riviera coast as if the morning’s mountain assault never happened.

Back where it began

Rolling once more into the courtyard of Domaine du Mas de Pierre Hôtel, the Macan slips effortlessly back into calm mode. No theatrics. No noise. Just quiet efficiency and the promise of 362 miles of range if you behave yourself.

The Turbo may wear the bigger number, but out here — on the limestone passes above Nice and the sweeping roads of the DN7 — the GTS feels like the one to have.

We can argue until the cows come home about electrified Porsche’s and we will concede that it may not go down as the most iconic GTS Porsche has ever made, but it applies the brand’s race-derived knowhow to the electric era with tangible results.

And somewhere between sea level and summit, that feels entirely appropriate.