Macan a bona fide Porsche
Porsche's new Macan brings a light SUV with a sports car identity to showrooms across the country.
And the punters are certainly keen: more than 600 Australians, going by little but factory information from the internet and reports in the press, have lodged orders without seeing a scrap of advertising or sales promotion.
The new Macan has been in development for more than three years now, with local management assessing the spec and making suggestions for most of that time. One question that recurs is: "Is this really a Porsche, or just an Audi Q5 with new skin and some serious performance tweaks?"
A day's drive around Torquay and the Great Ocean Road in Victoria delivered the verdict: every Macan is all-Porsche, no matter what model you settle on. But one version - the 3.6-litre V6 bi-turbo - delivers maximum Porsche.
It's a credit to the designers the Macan appears conventional from a distance but unmasks serious performance credentials as you get closer. Wide track, asymmetric tyres - larger on the rear - and a slick and smooth exterior underline a focus on dynamics.
Inside, both driver and passengers are wrapped in leather, with all the connectivity expected in a premium product.
The chassis and suspension design is such the Macan sneers at road conditions, launching out of corners with no regard for rain, potholes or bumps.
The range starts at $84,900 for the diesel and peaks at $122,900 for the top-of-the-line bi-turbo variant. Local management claims you can now enjoy Porsche engineering DNA no matter how many doors you need and no matter where the engine is on the vehicle.
Porsche anticipates many initial buyers will be first-timers to the brand, with relatively few likely to fork out twice as much on their next car and upgrade to a 911 master blaster.
Macan is available in one diesel and two petrol models. The diesel engine is a 3.0-litre turbo V6 developed by Audi, modified by Porsche and used in the Panamera and Cayenne diesel models. In Macan form it develops 190kW and 580Nm of torque in a fairly narrow band between 1750 and 2500rpm.
The petrol engines are all Porsche design and they're derived from the 4.4-litre V8 used elsewhere in the range. The smaller version is also a 3.0-litre V6 but it has twin turbos with 250KW and 460Nm. At the top of the Macan tree is the 3.6-litre bi-turbo V6 with 294kW and 550Nm of torque.
All Macans have the seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission, active all-wheel drive, an electronically controlled multi-plate wet clutch and active torque vectoring to deliver power to the ground. Porsche Stability Management wraps it all up with software born on a racetrack and juggles braking, traction, gearbox change patterns and spring and shocker rates to maximise pace and grip.
On paper, the performance promised by the mechanical specifications, and the family practicality delivered by the seating, room and storage set up, sounds like an unworkable combination.
But on the road, Porsche magic blends it all into a driving experience that leaves you buzzing. You really can convince your nearest and dearest you've bought their cherished SUV while showing a clean pair of dual exhaust pipes and hatchback hinges to every other "performance" SUV on the road.
After the first few hundred metres, I forgot it was an SUV and started to enjoy the sports car. By the end of the day, the Macan was 100 per cent Porsche but with space as well as pace.
PORSCHE MACAN
Model S Diesel
Price $84,900
Engine 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel
Outputs 190kW/580Nm
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Thirst 6.3L/100km
Model S
Price $87,200
Engine 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol
Outputs 250kW/460Nm
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Thirst 9.0L/100km
Model Turbo
Price $122,900
Engine 3.6-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol
Outputs 294kW/550Nm
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Thirst 9.2L/100km
