So I've been eyeing Porsche for a long time. I always been a Porsche fan but never owned one. Now recently I've been thinking of getting a Macan since I really would like an SUV. My current car is a Lexus GS350 and I've enjoyed it's maintenance free and reliability. I was wondering how the Macan S is? I haven't found much complaints which seems to be a good sign. I usually buy a few years used and looking around the 35k ish mark for a Macan. Any comments or thoughts towards its reliability? Any known issues to look out for? Has anyone gotten close to 100k miles? How has it been so far? Any things about it you hate?

 

The transfer case may fail and the timing chain cover may leak oil.The first may cost $6,000 and the latter requires the engine removal to cure. Warranties become important in your purchase search thus the popularity of the CPO designation. Finding an independant servicer expert in repairing your car would be a good thing. Dealer repair costs are for the very well off.

 

Yeah I did some research and I did find a few people with the transfer case issue and the oil leak. I think like all german cars, it's a lease or don't bother.

 

120,000 miles and two out of warranty repairs. Total of $1200. Now have a leaking belt tensioner. Dealer wanted $1200 to fix that and I'm going to DIy it for a lot less.

This has been one of the most reliable cars we have ever had. If you are worried, get the base.

 

We have had a 2017 since March of that year. We have not had even one issue. New Porsches are incredibly reliable, we have two of them.

 

It's not maintenance free. If you perform regular maintenance most things will last. Will there be issues? Probably, no car is issue free. But will you enjoy it more than a Lexus? Yes.

 

Porsche isn't known for inexpensive repair bills, but Porsche is known for relatively reliable vehicles. I'm on my 4th one and haven't had any serious issues, though I've only racked up about 50k total miles driven. Just get a car with a warranty, and/or buy an extended warranty, and don't worry.

 

^^ this.
Doesn’t happen often, but if the pdk goes for example it could cost $25k for a replacement. Extended warranty is your friend. Ask me how I know with 48k miles on my ‘15 Turbo.

 

The comment above is basically how I'd summarize it as well. I'm on my third Porsche now and other than my previous Cayenne Turbo, ownership in terms of reliability and needed repairs has been very good and uneventful.

I mentioned my previous Cayenne Turbo only because I had numerous repairs with that vehicle during a 2 year period that totaled more than $15k in service (all covered by warranty fortunately). I think that vehicle was an anomaly though, so don't let that scare you off. I purchased it CPO with about 55k miles on it and later on suspected it had a rather hard life under the original owner.

 

Mine has gone 58K miles with zero out-of-warranty issues. But maintenance costs are typical Porsche.

 

I can almost guarantee you will not have Lexus like reliability with a Macan. If reliability is paramount for you, then you shouldn't be looking at anything German.

 

Yup. Otherwise everyone would be buying German and not Japanese

 

I don't have any info to add on reliability of the S. If reliability is your main concern, maybe a newer lower mileage base model (with the 2.0t) (giving you a longer warranty under CPO) might be a safer bet than the S. The 2.0 engine is pretty bulletproof. You would probably want a warranty for either one with PDK though.

As far as the Macan itself versus the Lexus, I would recommend driving one. The Macan is almost the complete opposite of the Lexus. The Lexus is super smooth and the Macan is very sporting in nature. Both great in their own way, but very different. It's probably worthwhile test-driving the Macan as a first step.

 

But the 2.0T is a rather gutless engine. There is a huge jump in performance from the base Macan to the Macan S, and a much smaller jump from that to the Turbo. The sound is also much better in the S/Turbo than in the base Macan.

IMO, if you are looking at the base Macan, you should seriously consider an Audi Q5.

 

Having just moved from a Q5 to a Macan, both 2.0t, I'm happy with the performance of both. Our Q5 was a Tiptronic, so the PDK in the Macan makes it a lot more responsive even though the engine is roughly the same (I think the weight is pretty close to the same also).

Performance-wise, it depends on what you are looking for. For an SUV daily driver, the 2.0t does not leave me wanting for more power and always feels responsive (especially with PDK). For somebody who is a performance junky, then maybe it's not enough, but I'm happy with the 2.0t. The only negative I've seen with the 2.0 is that the engine is not as smooth as a 6-cylinder, mostly at idle, but there are occasions when you can feel it is a 4-cylinder even though the power is fine.

Back when I bought the Q5 (2012), the 3.0 Q5 was smoother than the 2.0t (but I actually liked the low-end power delivery of the 2.0t better). I haven't driven a Macan S, I'm sure it's a big bump up in power, but the base engine is quite good if you are not an all-out performance junky.