Porsche Macan

Now, the Porsche Macan may be looked at as a modern day soccer mom SUV, but, it is far from it.

According to Car and Driver “Porsche’s marketing department likes to say that the Macan is a compact crossover, but that’s not how we see it—especially not in its new GTS trim. Compared with others in its segment, the Macan GTS has a low-slung body free of gaudy plastic cladding, a ferocious appetite for high-performance driving, compromised rear-seat and cargo space, and relatively limited off-road capability. So why not call a spade a spade and label the Macan as Porsche’s hot hatch?”

So, to the avareage human being with functioning eyes, the modestly horsepowered 360-hp GTS does not seem or even appear, by any stretch of the imagination to be the best looking Macan variant mostly due to the 400-horse power Macan Turbo, which will obviously outcompete it in a straight line spped test and has chrome trim that makes the look of the Macan GTS look toy-ish. But as I have seen on similar versions of the 4-passenger sports car 911 and 2-passenger Boxster and Cayman, Porsche’s acclaimed GTS treatment is more centered on its overall driving feeling than on its straighline speed. A basic, standard Macan GTS price of around sixty-eight thousand includes a helping of electronically adaptive dampers, a stronger rear anti-roll bar, massive front brakes taken from the Macan Turbo, and an air-spring suspension that’s slightly slicker and stronger than that of the lower horse powered 340-hp Macan S. Most dealership spec Macan GTS’s come featured with Porsche’s torque-vectoring system that can lock the rear differential and apply braking to the inside rear wheel to assist rotation during cornering. This is a $1490 option added on the the price of the standard GTS. The standard darkened trim makes the Macan GTS have a fiercer more aggressive, sleek look to it.

The newly introduced sporty, yet very luxurious Macan GTS definetely proves itself in a great example on a winding, twisting back roads. This comes as no surprise as Porsches have always beeen known for their exeptional performance when it comes to handling on windy roads and other roads that require strict handling and require unmatched skill to avoid flying off the road. As far as power and direction goes, it does exactly what it’s told, and nothing less. The steering wheel, throttle, and the brake pedal each respond to the inputs of the driver with a satisfying output. With the Macan’s high-tech suspension being as advanced as it is, make it very easy to forget that you’re driving a 4600 lb Porsche SUV. Body roll is, of course, at a bare minimum, even at excessive speed over quick height changes and through tight corners as it so specializes in.

The Macan S and GTS are powered by a small yet powerful 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6, with an available 369 lb-ft of torque being brought forth from from 1650 rpm, which powers the SUV out of the corners with sharp precision and action. And yet, for all of its sports car feeling moves, the Porsche Macan can be a quite comfortable, relaxing SUV, only if you stay out of its Sport or Sport Plus driving modes. Now, the ride quality is quite tight and movement from rough terrain is well kept on the down low, with partly to do with the relatively high tire sidewalls which are wrapped around nicely trimmed and luxurious, yet sporty 20-inch wheels. As far as the wheels go for the Macan this year, the Macan offers optional 21-inch, and 22-inch wheels are not uncommon for this type of vehicle class.

The flexibility of the Porsche’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, or as referred to as PDK transmission by Porsche, is quite impressive as well. In normal everyday driving, it does a very good copy of a normal, typical automatic transmission, with very slight lower-speed grumble and smooth, nearly unimaginably fast shifts under a light throttle count. And yet, when placed in the devilishly fast Sport Plus mode, the well-crafted PDK transmission’s actions changes completely. While the driver is approaching a tight corner at higher speeds, if they were to brake hard as an obstacle comes in close proximity, the Macan’s well-crafted brake could take it. As for accelation, the Macan starts off very quickly almost like a typical sports car, not an SUV, and with its aggressive rev-matched downshifts, the exit of the corner with your foot to the floor is firm and the PDK holds the gears until you hit the top of the redline RPM and then executes with unfathomable fast upshifts.

When at a test track, the Macan GTSs reportedly got to numbers for the zero-to-sixty time that entirely put it in a completely different car class from other small crossovers as far as speed and acceleration times. Other competitors include the 2017 Maeserati Levante, 2017 BMW X3 and the 2017 Jaguar F-Pace. When tested, the Macan GTS’s zero-to-60-mph time of approximately 4.4 seconds is close to a second quicker than the BMW X3s time of 5.2 seconds, and compared to the Jaguar F-Pace’s time of 4.9 seconds. As compared to the Macan Turbo, it is only point 2 seconds slower than the Macan Turbo’s zero-to-sixty time of around 4.2 seconds, even through a 40-horsepower difference. As far as braking goes, its braking distance of around 160 feet from a speed of 70 mph slots in close proximity to the sports-car territory for braking distances. But, only the Macan GTS’s recorded 0.88 g of grip around the turns is even slightly in the same ballpark as the competition of the Maserati Levante and Jaguar F-Type. Now, a good majority of the Macan GTS’s speed numbers would have been competitive in comparison with some popular sports cars that included the Ford Mustang GT and the Chevy Camaro SS, even though those sports cars weigh in at around 800-900 pounds less than that of the Porsche Macan GTS. The sports car comparisons seem less accurate when you take a glimpse or a look at most of this vehicle’s price of a modest $68,000 before options and applicable accesories, which comes in at  a quite sharp price even when you notice the differences in horsepower against the other luxury SUVs in the same class. The usual as-tested price when reviewed is of partially more surprising when you consider the GTS’s usual lack of most ordinary supply of options for a Porsche. And  as the usual test model at a dealership’s extras can total more than $10,000 on top of the typical Macan GTS’s $68,000 starting price. You can only get ala carte in most scenarios, considering that despite the usual near-$80,000 sticker of most Macan GTSs at Porsche dealerships, the Macans usually don’t have navigation, which adds another $1700 or any usually standard active safety features including but not limited to blind-spot monitoring, which in this case is almost $700 extra on top. Other ala carte features include but are not limited to, lane-keeping assist is about $700 option additional, and as well as adaptive cruise control which is about $1400 more added on. Now, despite its rather small selection of features that come standard, the all-new Macan GTS’s sporty, yet luxurious and attractive interior still satisfies all check boxes. New microsuede trim is added, which contrasts nicely with the standard Luxor beige or just plain black leather and sleek and elegant brushed-metal trim throughout. The redesigned seating positioning is superb, and the newly released central positioned 7 inch touchscreen is very  responsive and neatly designed, and if the seemingly squished arrangement of its climate-control and drive-mode selector levers on the center console seems coonfusing initially, at first, it’s at least smartly brought out and easy enough to remember. The back seats, however are less impressive to the typical sized human being over 10. The legroom for all passengers and the rer headroom is low, which it seems quite compact with miniature seeming windows and usually dark, or Luxor beige leather interior. The new Macan GTS’s cargo space, with slightly over 18 cubic feet of space positioned right behind the back seats, is much more in position with that of an SUV-coupe cross-over such as the 2017 BMW X4 and the 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC coupe/suv more rather than those models more leaning to being considered stright-up SUV counterparts such as the 2016-2017 BMW X3 and 2016-17 GLC and GLC43 AMG.

But more or less cargo space, and size is not typically why people choose to drive a Porsche, even for a Porsche with four doors and a hatchback, also known as the Porsche Panamera, which comes in varying models. For most Americans, the Macan already seems to be the driver’s choice in its initial segment of cross-overs and suvs, and the GTS model Macan rises its clear  seeming dynamic liking to it, and advanced engineering and technology. With some performance abilities looking likme those of Porsche’s own sports cars like the 918, 911, 718, Boxster and Cayman more than other crossovers or suvs in the same class of car, the Porsche Macan is quite difficult to decide on if it is a true suv or a sporty hatchback cross-over, in a positive gist. And more recently the introduction of the new Macan, not S, GTS or Turbo, just Macan. This new Macan gets a nice refresher of an engine as iit now comes with a singular Turbo charged 2.0 liter engine producing just 300 horsepower. An engine that was taken from the Volkswagen CC 2.0t and the competitor, the Audi A4. This new Macan is slightly cheaper at a beginning price of just $47,000. But, with the introduction of new technologies and new options, I would not be surprised to see most of them surpass the $50,000 mark and reach towards the $60,000 mark as most Macans are heavily loaded with options and most options don’t come standard, they come ala carte with a hefty price usually attached to it. This Macan aims to attack at slightly lower models of cars such as the Mercedes GLA45 AMG, which is also powered by a low to the ground 2.0 singular turbo producing about 300 horsepower, which is equal to that of the Macan. Another competitor is the BMW X3, which has a bigger engine but produces about the same power as the Macan. The last competitor is the basic Jaguar F-Type, which costs just about the same and has a slightly bigger engine producing the same horsepower as the Macan. The Macan is aimed at being a slightly smaller slightly more sporty brother to the bigger Porsche Cayenne which starts at a higher price than the Macan. In the end, the Macan is a sporty hatchback, crossover, whatever you want to call it, that caters to everyone, but mostly soccer moms looking for a cool ride for their family