Galion

No, the Base engine was great, more than enough for a DD. I just got a deal on an 19’ S with far more options. They took my base on a trade for a fair price. I like the “S” better though.

garfunkle

No matter what trim or suspension - the Cayenne definitely feels more like a truck and will never have the hot hatch (someone else phrased that perfectly here in this thread) of a Macan. The Cayenne feeling like a truck isn't a dig at it as it's very good and Porsche acquired black magic to make it drive how it does but it will never be Macan good in that regard.

El Sapo

I had the17 base Macan and traded for the19 Cayenne base. They are really different cars. As the posters have said, the Cayenne is a SUV, the Macan is something else. I'm just starting to get the "feel" of the Cayenne. I prefer the normal setting in the Cayenne where I usually drove the Macan in sport. I've never felt that I needed more power. (in either car). I'm the limiting factor. The car will do much more than I'm comfortable doing, or that my driving skill will allow. I had a chance to really let the Macan loose on a fairly empty freeway and it does not lose one little bit of stability over 100 mph, it almost seems smoother at those high speeds. I haven't had the chance to let loose the Cayenne for any extended period of time yet. The size and weight difference should have an effect, I just don't know how the Cayenne will match up. Interested to hear anyone else's experiences

The Cayenne kind of fools you that it's smaller than it really is. The Turbo's I see on the lot are hard to tell from the Macans because they sit so low on their air ride suspensions, but they are actually a much bigger vehicle.

JCWLS3

We've never owned a Macan. But we did drive a brand-new (40 miles on the odo) Macan Sport for a month while our Turbo was stuck at port.

We LOVED that Macan. The little thing stickered for just over $60K and was underpowered, but it drove beautifully. I agree with the "hot hatch" comparison here. It felt like a tall, slow Cayman with a usable back seat and a little luggage space. It zipped around, happy to be flogged in any direction -- stopping, turning or accelerating. There's a 90-degree sweeper not too far from our house (we live in the country) that I took about a dozen times at quadruple the speed limit. The car slid predictably and with total neutrality, pulling itself out of that corner under power and planting a huge smile on my face every time.

Our Turbo adds another 1500 pounds, so it's no Cayman. Maybe a Panamera on stilts? It corners well, but feels heavy and is not what I'd call "playful." I'd use the term purposeful. Think border collie (Macan) versus Rottweiler (CTT). One will run in circles with a stupid grin on its face and play fetch all day long. The other will tear the leg off that annoying neighbor if you ask it to, then go back to sitting and staring at everybody with a certain menace, knowing it's the baddest dog on the block.

For us, the Macan is just way too small for our middle-aged needs. Our teenage daughter adored it -- actually took her first parking-lot driving lessons in it. The photo below tells you all you need to know about how she felt about that car. I thought she was going to burst open during those drives. She wants one badly, and prefers it to her mom's Turbo. Too bad for her. Get a good job out of college, girl, and go get you one. I would heartily approve. If you twist my arm hard enough, I might even drive it on occasion.

Both are great cars. But they serve different needs, and different audiences, I think.

Yalbader

So i have cayenne S with pasm and rear wheel stearing and pdcc, and have driven the 2019 macan as loaner for 3 weeks and have owned a 2016 lx570 for 2 years, and i can tell you the following:
1- the macan feels nothing like a an SUV, its a raised up sports car. The cayenne to me feels like an actual SUV in terms of seating position ,height , even car entrance
2-cayenne with pasm and rear wheel stearing feels very different than a normal cayenne which i test drove. I felt the difference in comfort immediately with and without pasm.
But for rear wheel stearing, it took time to get used to, it still feels weird to me and this is coming from a guy who had a BMW 650i with rear wheel stearing for 5 years
3- as some others have mentioned, if i could redo it, i would get a full specced macan turbo instead, it would be cheaper in my country but i need the space of the cayenne

beefchopper

You say it " feels very different than a normal cayenne which i test drove"..Did you mean different and you liked it more or different in a negative sense to you?

Yalbader

PASM definitely an upgrade feeling, to me i wouldn't get a cayenne without it

Rear wheel stearing is subjective in my opinion, like i mentioned, i had the option on another car since 2014 and still feels weird but i ordered it because i plan to track my cayenne for the fun of it ( already booked for the 6 of December)

User 4621

We were given a base '19 Macan for about 2 months while waiting for our Cayenne to be released. My wife and I quite strongly disliked the Macan, to the point that we were concerned that the Cayenne would be too much like it and we wouldn't like it either.

The Macan exterior looks great, probably better than the Cayenne, and it did feel a bit lighter in the corners, but the base engine just felt woefully overtaxed. The turbo lag was intrusive and irritating. The interior felt like it was built to a price point and had loads of small irritations, like the sun visors being inadequately sized, cheap feeling materials and controls. On top of that, the carrying capacity was inadequate for an SUV. It felt like a lifted hatchback to me, like a Subaru Crosstrek or something. If I wanted a hatchback, I'd get a VW GTI or Golf R which IMO has a better interior, better handling and equal utility for less $$$.

The Cayenne, in contrast, is another level of size, quality and solidness, and while you can feel the weight difference, PDCC and RAS help make it drive much smaller than it is.

I get that this is an unfair comparison as the Macan was half the price, and my complaints are mostly subjective. I bet a Macan Turbo with some interior upgrades would close much of the gap and still be better priced. I can see how people who like the Macan would feel just as strongly negative towards the larger, heavier, more expensive Cayenne. But ultimately, we wanted a sporty, luxurious, useful, all purpose SUV, and IMO the Macan is not that.

jamtinge

I had owned a 2015 Macan S for 4 years and recently changed to Base Cayenne as the Macan wasn't just big enough for my family. ( my baby girl was born last year, so 6yr old son + baby )
I can't comment on Base Macan, but Macan S was a blast to drive. If your family can fit in i'd go for Macan S to Turbo all day. (skip 4cylinder engine!)

sexfiend

Macan is a million times better than Cayenne. The ONLY reason to get the latter is for the extra space, and towing.
Macan - handling and PDK superior to Cayenne in every way.

AlphaGa

Based on all the great feedback, I think I’ll hold on to my ‘15 Macan Turbo and I’ll compare it to my new Cayenne S when it arrives in Feb.