The Macan S gets a 3.0-liter single-turbo V-6 generating 348 hp and 383 lb-ft, and although Porsche claims a 4.9-5.1-second 0-60 time, our testing saw the Macan S hitting 60 in just 4.6 seconds. Jul 19, 2019 On the other hand, the Macan S can do 254 km/h and dispatch the 0-100 km/h run in 5.3 seconds, i.e. 1.3 seconds quicker than the standard Porsche Macan SUV. 2019 Porsche Macan vs 2019 Macan S: Braking hardware. Another major difference between the 2019 Macan and 2019 Macan S is found in their respective braking hardware. For now, the Macan range is made up of an upper-level Macan S derivative powered by a new 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 with 349bhp, and good for 62mph from rest in 5.1sec; and an entry-level Macan.
As a colleague aptly said: 'It's a $70,000 Porsche and I don't love it.' Bingo.
Any vehicle wearing a Porsche badge and $72,000-plus sticker price should make you weak in the knees, short of breath, eager beyond description.
Macan doesn't. Good machine, but not a heartthrob.
We suspect the famed German automaker could have done better starting from scratch, not modifying an Audi Q5 so heavily that about 70% of the components are different from the Audi's.
Our failure to swoon is a surprise. We drove a friend's Macan briefly in Florida and found it impressive. But getting a similar model from the automaker and spending daily duty time in it — not so bowled over.
Last time Porsche did a remake, it overhauled the Volkswagen Touareg into the Porsche Cayenne SUV, which is the best-selling Porsche in the U.S. by a fair margin, according to tallies by Autodata.
The sales totals show Macan is No. 2 among Porsches, so we suspect the brand has all the validation it needs for the work it did — sales and profits.
Purists who still think Porsche ought not be selling SUVs should keep this in mind: That's where the money comes from for research and development of the maker's sports cars. Without the successful SUVs, it would take Porsche a lot longer to come up with new sports cars and red-hot engines. And some might never come to fruition, sacrificed to the gods of expediency and commerce.
A Porsche seems to be more than the simple sum of its parts, so any lack of 'Porsche-ness' isn't accounted for simply by ticking off complaints about Macan. Such as:
The back seat's too small to be very comfortable for bigger folks, especially on longer trips. Big deal; The Porsche 911 sports car holds the crown for useless back seats and that car's the very definition of Porsche-ness.
The infotainment/connectivity suite in the Macan test car wasn't cutting edge, and indeed was a bit cumbersome. So what? Driving a Porsche should — usually does — transcend phone calls, texts, iPods and Tom Petty's 'Buried Treasure' gem of a show on satellite radio.
Fuel economy's poor. Yeah, right. Like that matters.
Cargo space is significantly less than in rival BMW X3. And the point? Well, in this case there is a point, and it's at least symbolically significant.
The compromise that comes with designing for the more-or-less mainstream buyer — if you can meld the concepts of 'mainstream' with high-income Porsche buyers — is that mainstream considerations become important.
How much stuff you can carry is significant, more likely to influence a purchase and thence vehicle satisfaction than is a chassis that barely notices tight corners, or a gutty-sounding engine, or enough cockpit-style switches to satisfy an airplane pilot. At least nowadays, since Porsche's become an SUV company selling to the practical-minded instead of the fans who'd sacrifice many conveniences for go-fast integrity.
Back when Porsche hit the market with the Cayenne SUV, the automaker said there would be strong demand because its consumer surveys showed a lot of Porsche households had high-dollar SUVs sharing garage space with Porsche 911s or Caymans.
Wouldn't they really rather have a Porsche? You bet, as it turned out.
But by now, we'd figures, the buyer is more likely to be thinking, 'I want a tidy-size SUV — hey, why not that Porsche whatsis? Porsche's a cool brand.'
Clearly different from the Porsche partisans.
Our test car was a 2015 Macan S with nearly every option, sticker priced $72,620.
It performed well. The 340-horsepower turbocharged V-6 scooted just fine when asked, the brakes were right-now quick, steering and cornering precise and agile, as befits a Porsche.
The adjustable suspension settings might go unused by a non-enthusiast driver. 'Sport' mode firms the ride too much to suit a lot of otherwise enthusiastic drivers.
The sloping front end is quite different from the Audi Q5 that served as Porsche's staring point, so the neighbors will know yours is special.
To better suit buyers, though, the 2016 Macan, coming in July or August, gets these changes, and a starting-price increase of $2,700:
Three-zone climate control becomes standard (dual-zone is so lower class, after all).
Interior door-lock rocker switches function opposite the current configuration, so you get 'lock' by pushing the bottom of the switch instead of the top.
New cover for the head restraints.
Optional new rear entertainment system.
No mention of horsepower or torque or shift mapping or bushings, bearings, sway bars and the like. Which will suit most people fine, Test Drive assumes, because all those things already are fine. It being a Porsche, after all.
And they are more likely to fuss over power tailgates and cell-phone pairing.
What stands out...
•Price: Pretty high for what you get
•Power: Enough to be a Porsche
•Persona: Not quite pure Porsche
2015 Porsche Macan details
•What? Porsche remake of Audi Q5 to create proprietary four-door, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger compact SUV. Two versions S and Turbo, though both are turbocharged. Audi and Porsche both are sold by Volkswagen Group.
•When? 2015 deliveries began in May of 2015. The largely unchanged 2016s are expected in U.S. dealerships in July or August this year.
•Where? Made at Leipzig, Germany.
•How much? Starts at $50,895 including shipping. Test vehicle, 2015 Macan S with most options, was $72,620. The 2016 staring price is $2,700 more, and the vehicles have more standard features.
•What makes it go? Macan S has 3-liter, twin-turbo V-6 engine rated 340 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, 339 pounds-feet of torque at 1,450 rpm.
Macan Turbo has 3.6-liter turbo V-6 rated 400 hp at 6,000, 406 lbs.-ft. at 1,350.
Both use seven-speed automatic.
•How big? Half an inch longer, two inches wider than rival BMW X3.
Turning circle diameter: S, 38.7 ft. curb-to-curb; Turbo, 39.2 ft.
Weight: 4,112-4,652 lbs, depending on model and powertrain.
Cargo space: 17.7 cubic feet behind second-row seat, 53 cu. ft. when second row's folded down.
•How thirsty? Both models rated 17 mpg in the city, 23 on the highway, 19 in combined city/highway driving.
Macon Jackson
Macan S test car registered 14.8 mpg (6.76 gallons per 100 miles) in montage of city, suburban, highway driving, all of it vigorous.
Porsche Macan Hacks
Burns premium, tank holds 19.8 gallons.
Porsche Macan Hacks
•Overall: Frisky, sexy, but not quite lovable.