Test Drove Macan & Macan S - My Thoughts (Update~)

[damnitBobby]

Nice. I considered a Macan S as a daily driver.

Two things. I couldn't handle the feminine looks. And for the same money I could get an Audi Q7. Which is a much nicer interior and much better technology. Of course the Porsche has superior handling dynamics, but I'm not buying an SUV/crossover to tackle apexes.

[Arcades]

Originally Posted by damnitBobby

Nice. I considered a Macan S as a daily driver.

Two things. I couldn't handle the feminine looks. And for the same money I could get an Audi Q7. Which is a much nicer interior and much better technology. Of course the Porsche has superior handling dynamics, but I'm not buying an SUV/crossover to tackle apexes.

Yeah, it is very feminine lol.

The same with Lexus NX/RX, all three are very girly. It really depends on what you are looking for. I actually, honestly, never considered an Audi and I should kinda look it up and see. Porsche cars have always had the feeling of "Porsche". So. I would say look at one in person and sort of judge for yourself regarding what it has, if you need it or not.

My personal preference is I like performance. It is hard to go back from it even if it is a DD. Audi R/S SUV might fill that necessity but I don't know Audi's lol.

Regular Macan might be enough for everyone really but I like the V6 TT engine in the Macan S. That's the man voice inside of my head speaking.

[to_riffic]

Macan center console....absolutely cluttered with buttons. I just kinda laughed when I first sat in it. But other than that, beautiful vehicle and S, or a GTS for me. I couldn't justify the money for a base Macan...

[BEM-S4]

The S is the sweet spot from a $/performance perspective. It's also the best vehicle on the road if you're going to have just one option that's good / borderline great at most everything you'd want to do with a car.

[barcelona]

http://www.leftlanenews.com/report-v...-panamera.html

Although the Cayenne has been a huge money maker for Porsche, it really doesn't fit in the automaker's sports car theme....The Cayenne and Panamera are expected to finish their current life cycles with production ceasing sometime in 2016.

Yes, its old news from 2013.... board appears to flip flop... so another example of VW stellar and uncompromising Value and Ethics?

[Gamb1t]

Porsche can continue to make the SUV and sedans for all I care just as long the churn out aces like the 918, gt3, spyder 987... All good. Porker was on the verge of bankruptcy just prior to the Cayenne. Just wish they make a compact sport sedan to show BMW how far it vanilla-ed its 3er.

The mk2 X1 strays from BMW DNA but it is selling very well. Clearly consumers don't care.

Thanks for the review. Didn't know the base Pecan is FWD. Huh!

[Arcades]

Originally Posted by Gamb1t

Porsche can continue to make the SUV and sedans for all I care just as long the churn out aces like the 918, gt3, spyder 987... All good. Porker was on the verge of bankruptcy just prior to the Cayenne. Just wish they make a compact sport sedan to show BMW how far it vanilla-ed its 3er.

The mk2 X1 strays from BMW DNA but it is selling very well. Clearly consumers don't care.

Thanks for the review. Didn't know the base Pecan is FWD. Huh!

The weird thing is, I cannot be certain if I am right on this or not.

I was told in person base Macan is FWD but everything else above that is AWD w/ Rear Wheel bias.

I for the life of me cannot find any info regarding this. I think they are all AWD but the Base Macan is Front Wheel Bias while the Macan S and above are Rear Wheel Bias. I don't know, I been looking and searching I can't find anything on base Macan's info cuz everyone talks about the Macan S/Macan GTS and Macan Turbo.

Macan is a AWD. They probably mistaken on the info or I heard wrong.

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by Arcades

real turbos not scrolls

lol what do you mean by this?

[Arcades]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

lol what do you mean by this?

It is probably just a preference thing for me.

[Yvette]

I never considered Porsche SUV until I sat on Macan and test drove it. Interior design and the seats, and the feel blew me, I signed the paper on same day. I thought best bang for buck is S model, but its for my wife and who needs that much power in SUV. We settled on base and it has plenty power already.
I never look back and so glad I got macan instead of other SUVs. It has been 2month since I got Macan, I love driving this thing. Only complain I have is the rear camera, it is terrible
btw, base Macan is rear-biased AWD

[Gamb1t]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

lol what do you mean by this?

There are many approaches to turbocharging thanks to technological advances. Sequential turbos were once the rage (remember FD3S RX7s?) to combat lag. Twin scrolls are quite popular these days. Instead of a single track, you have two tracks. One for low pressure (smaller diameter) and the other for high pressure (larger diameter). Both within a single turbo housing package. This minimize lag and deliver optimal turbine efficiencies. I remember first reading about it in the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X.

IIRC 911 Turbo uses variable geometry turbos with tiny vanes that moves to maintain efficiencies.

Some mfgs are using electronic turbos too (see Audi Q7). It reminds me of the Surbo. Lol! But this time it's not fake.

[The Wind Breezes]

I know what twin scroll is. Are you saying the Macan has a variable geometry turbine nozzle too? I didn't even know they were putting those in gas production cars that's sick.

[Arcades]

Originally Posted by e90sexion

I never considered Porsche SUV until I sat on Macan and test drove it. Interior design and the seats, and the feel blew me, I signed the paper on same day. I thought best bang for buck is S model, but its for my wife and who needs that much power in SUV. We settled on base and it has plenty power already.
I never look back and so glad I got macan instead of other SUVs. It has been 2month since I got Macan, I love driving this thing. Only complain I have is the rear camera, it is terrible
btw, base Macan is rear-biased AWD

Yeah I figured I heard wrong.

Was driving while all the talking was going on so.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by barcelona

http://www.leftlanenews.com/report-v...-panamera.html

Although the Cayenne has been a huge money maker for Porsche, it really doesn't fit in the automaker's sports car theme....The Cayenne and Panamera are expected to finish their current life cycles with production ceasing sometime in 2016.

Yes, its old news from 2013.... board appears to flip flop... so another example of VW stellar and uncompromising Value and Ethics?

This is exactly the point I was trying to make.
And we all know that there came a new generation of cayenne and panamera, so porsche (or VAG) has chosen for volume sales.
And nowadays almost every brand does that, so people who think that porsche doesnt... they're wrong.
Even VAG themselves changed their opinion about that

[GeeRam]

Have test driven a few Macan's and a Cayenne in the past 6 months and agree with most of what you say.

They drive very well, much better than a standard X3 or X5 (without DHP) the electric steering on the Porsche being much nicer than the BMW system. If Porsche can do it, why can't BMW?
Suspension out the box is better in Macan and Cayenne than X3/X5 out the box too.

The awd system in the Cayenne is better than the XDrive in the X5, whereas, the system in the Macan is about on par with the X3 XDrive.
PDK gearbox in Macan is a peach as you say, very impressive. ZF8 in X5 is better than auto in the Cayenne IMHO.

So, was all looking good for the Porsche at this point........however, while the petrol engines are good in the Porsche, the diesel V6's aren't, and here in UK with such high petrol prices, the diesels are the only viable engine options, and the BMW diesels are brilliant, so advantage BMW here.

Interior......well, as you say, its just a mess in both Porsche's, the dash, console everything.......just an ergonomic disaster IMHO. I know the new Panamera is showing that the next gen Macan and Cayenne will have a much cleaner interior, but at the moment, the BMW interior is way, way nicer, and the IDrive is so much better than the touch screen system in the Porsches.
18 way Sports seats in the Porsches are lovely, but I found the high side bolster painful to get over to get in and out, and the comfort seats lack any under thigh support, so comfort wise, again the BMW is better, especially in the X5 with the comfort seat option.
I agree what you said about the rear mirrors, stupidly small and such a silly shape in the Macan and its the same in the Cayenne as well.

So, overall, lots of positive to the Porsche, but, for me - too many negatives, and I've stayed with BMW and ordered a new X5 with the right options, such as DHP and comfort seats etc. The new G-series X5 is still 2 years away, so not a factor in my choice.

And as has been mentioned, ALL Macan are awd, there is no fwd Macan.

[PoorLurker]

Shocked at the complaints about the interior.

Pure bred race car for the street


Creature and comforts expected of a daily driver


Macan

[gtron]

Love the Macan S and above. The base isn't really that great IMO.

The interior feels great and the outside does not look fem unless you're from an area where pickup trucks with big wheels and "rollin coal" is cool.

It looks fast and awesome. A few small mods and you have an animal in SUV form.

Of course that's all just my opinion.

[saeyedoc]

Once you know where all the buttons are on the Porsches, it's really easy to operate without taking your eyes off of the road. It's also handy that since I was already familiar with my wife's Panamera, it was already second nature when I got my 911.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

This is exactly the point I was trying to make.
And we all know that there came a new generation of cayenne and panamera, so porsche (or VAG) has chosen for volume sales.
And nowadays almost every brand does that, so people who think that porsche doesnt... they're wrong.
Even VAG themselves changed their opinion about that

Two major points here:

1). The generation-gap argument makes little practical and historical sense because since the early 1970s, Porsche and its related companies has been building cars -- and other things -- other than the 911 (and, before it, the 356) for nearly its entire history:
- Porsche Design, est. 1972
- Ferdinand Piech's engineering consultancy, est. 1972, which predated his move to Audi and eventual leadership of VW
- Ergo, the 914 joint project with VW during the same era (scuttled because of a change of leadership at VW)
- Ernst Fuhrmann's long-term vision of, and preference for, larger front-engined, watercooled products: the 924/928/944 -- which, I will add, was what Porsche envisioned itself as primarily producing as early as the early 1980s. Why did that stop? Primarily because Fuhrmann's replacement, Peter Schutz, was a hardcore 911 aficionado with embarrassingly short-term corporate goals that mainly revolved around the U.S. market.

2). Porsche building the Panamera and an SUV was looked at as heresy (including, initially, by yours truly), but it was in fact a shrewd move that has historical precedent within the company, as demonstrated by 1). above. Without the success of those models, the corporate support of VW AG, and the foresight to realize how badly mismanaged it had been in the late 1980s, the current 911 and the Boxster/Cayman would never have happened.

One bit of trivia/evidence to support all of this: The Boxster was designed around a flat 4-cylinder engine from the get-go, but the company didn't have the capital to design one for the car, so it shoehorned the existing flat six into it. It is only this year getting the engine originally intended for it. So all of you Porschephiles who think the new engines in the Boxster/Cayman are heresy on the level of an SUV? You're all "flat" wrong -- that's what the car was originally intended to have!

(For the record, bigger heresy than a Porsche SUV: the ones from Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. Now THOSE are companies jumping on a bandwagon.)

[PopsnBurbles]

My brother has a Macan S and it's pretty amazing. I agree with your thoughts almost completely. In terms of power and weight, the Macan S feels like a jumbo, heavier version of my 135is. Given the weight difference, you'd be surprised as to how light the Macan S pulls once it starts rolling.

If you've driven other SUV/Crossovers in the same segment, you'll realize how heavy the Macan actually is. My mom's Evoque (240hp 4cyl turbo) is extremely peppy from a stop but not very potent when rolling.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Two major points here:

1). The generation-gap argument makes little practical and historical sense because since the early 1970s, Porsche and its related companies has been building cars -- and other things -- other than the 911

And where did I say otherwise? exactly, nowhere.
In fact, porsche was at one time building 5 different models at the same time:
911/924/928/944 and 959.
But the thing is, they were all sportscars.
That porsche already did a lot of work together with VW/audi has always been a fact and no secret.
My point was that it was stated by the OP that porsche didnt compromise to volume sales, but the cayenne and panamera (and now macan) are proof that they do. And somehow that is for a lot of people hard to swallow, but the story in leflane only underlines it.

2). Porsche building the Panamera and an SUV was looked at as heresy (including, initially, by yours truly), but it was in fact a shrewd move that has historical precedent within the company, as demonstrated by 1). above. Without the success of those models, the corporate support of VW AG, and the foresight to realize how badly mismanaged it had been in the late 1980s, the current 911 and the Boxster/Cayman would never have happened.

All fine and dandy, but have you read the leftlane story?
VAG/Porsche themselves said that the Cayenne/panamera dont fit the porsche theme. Yes, they themselves. So if you're contradicting someone (not really clear to me at this point), you're trying to contradict porsche/VAG.

So all of you Porschephiles who think the new engines in the Boxster/Cayman are heresy on the level of an SUV? You're all "flat" wrong -- that's what the car was originally intended to have!

Are you talking to me?
(I'm in the corner that says the new 718 should have been named 914 )

(For the record, bigger heresy than a Porsche SUV: the ones from Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. Now THOSE are companies jumping on a bandwagon.)

Why would alfa be jumping more on the bandwagon than porsche?
Alfa, a company that has always directed themselves toward cars for the masses, peoplecarriers (certainly after the 50's), orienting mostly on sedans and hatchbacks with a flavour of sportivity (like bmw), instead of porsche always having made sportscars.
Alfa is the brand that's most like BMW in that way. Its imho even pretty astounding that alfa waited this long, but the 9 year recession has probably paid part in that as alfa said 7 or 8 years ago that the wouldnt develop new models as long as there was a recession. (maybe we in europe have a different conception of the brand alfa than you americans as we see every model alfa makes. Here an alfa is generally a common faily cheap car.)

[danniexi]

i can't wait for Jeep to make a two-door sports car.