Porsche Macan
Today we are going to talk about the Porsche Macan. Not the performance variants but the base model. This is a 2 litre in-line 4 engine giving a 0-62 time of 6.7 secs, a top speed of 146 and produces 252hp from an engine shared within the Audi group. Worth of the Porsche moniker, we shall see.
Pricing for the 4 cylinder Macan starts at just below the £46K mark and is simply badged ‘Macan’.
In terms of rivals, our BMW X3 does better in terms of space, but can’t match the Macan for driving dynamics or interior quality and all the X3s in this country are diesel of course. However we feel that the X3 just doesn’t feel as quality an item as the Porsche. Porsche really have nailed their cars production from a quality viewpoint.
Possibly Jaguar’s F-Pace provides the closest rival to the Macan though Land Rover’s Velar also comes close and adds that extra level of comfort into the mix. The closest F-Pace at a price level a few thousand less than the four cylinder Macan is the 2.5t AWD and it differentiates itself by offering substantially more cabin space. Also the way the F-Pace drives really is on a par with the Macan though perhaps not as dynamically resolved or as polished as the Porsche to drive above nine tenths. On balance we still give our recommendation to the Porsche overall especially to the driver that values his driving experience.
Any downsides, the real world performance is only so so. Buy the S if you want performance and the lack of rear leg room is a problem if you regularly travel with four adults. But thats it, a true performance SUV.
With the revised Macan being launched at the Paris show in less than a months time now may well be the time to get yourself onto what is the current premium sports SUV champion.