Non Ghetto Loaner Cars
09-19-2023, 04:40 PM
#32
Track Day
Leaving the "ghetto loaner car" question aside, I'm located in Vancouver, Canada, and I have been given two different Macans as the loaner vehicle in my last 2 scheduled dealership service. Both times I was taking my vehicle to Porsche Center Vanocuver.
I was given a very nicely equipped Macan S last year. It was a 2019 - 2021 updated vehicle with a HUGE screen on the dash, but it still had all the physical buttons on the area between the driver and front passenger seat. Because it was "only" a Macan S, it "only" had the lower powered 3L turbo V6. But OMG... it already had all the power I could possibly need. Mash on the gas, and the car just shoots itself out like a crazy arrow off a long bow.
Then this year, I was given a very new 2023 base model Macan. It came with the turbo 2L engine, and it was a solid mill for a normal small SUV. The engine was certainly not sports car powerful, but it was at least sports car responsive. Mash on the gas, and the PDK instantly responds. The drivetrain loved to rev, and was extremely smooth and sporty while doing so. Mind you, it would be nice if it had more power -- the rest of the vehicle felt a little heavy for the little workhorse engine when I really wanted to get moving.
The 2 biggest complains I had with the loaner base Macan were:
1) the auto engine start stop
2) the touchscreen everything controls
The auto engine start stop generally works well enough, but I noticed that when the engine is stopped, power steering is also disabled! This makes for a bit of an awkward moment because if I were to turn it while the engine was still shut down, there'd be no power steering (assist), so the steering wheel is extremely heavy for that split second. But then the act of turning the steering wheel would cause the engine to wake up, and then power steering would be restored, and the rest of the steering would be assisted. It was a really weird 2-stage turning effort that quite frankly, I was surprised to see in an upscale vehicle such as the Macan.
And then there were the touchscreen controls for everything. Having studied user interface design, tactile feedback has always been an important and extremely effective part in user interactions with stuff, and the touchscreen controls just completely removes it. To make matters worse, Porsche made the whole touchscreen out of a single piece of glass, so the whole surface was completely smooth. The controls themselves are decent, but the complete lack of any tactile feedback made it horrible to use.
FWIW, a friend has recently taken his car to Porsche Center Richmond (in BC, Canada) for servicing, and he was given a base Macan as his loaner vehicle as well.
I was given a very nicely equipped Macan S last year. It was a 2019 - 2021 updated vehicle with a HUGE screen on the dash, but it still had all the physical buttons on the area between the driver and front passenger seat. Because it was "only" a Macan S, it "only" had the lower powered 3L turbo V6. But OMG... it already had all the power I could possibly need. Mash on the gas, and the car just shoots itself out like a crazy arrow off a long bow.
Then this year, I was given a very new 2023 base model Macan. It came with the turbo 2L engine, and it was a solid mill for a normal small SUV. The engine was certainly not sports car powerful, but it was at least sports car responsive. Mash on the gas, and the PDK instantly responds. The drivetrain loved to rev, and was extremely smooth and sporty while doing so. Mind you, it would be nice if it had more power -- the rest of the vehicle felt a little heavy for the little workhorse engine when I really wanted to get moving.
The 2 biggest complains I had with the loaner base Macan were:
1) the auto engine start stop
2) the touchscreen everything controls
The auto engine start stop generally works well enough, but I noticed that when the engine is stopped, power steering is also disabled! This makes for a bit of an awkward moment because if I were to turn it while the engine was still shut down, there'd be no power steering (assist), so the steering wheel is extremely heavy for that split second. But then the act of turning the steering wheel would cause the engine to wake up, and then power steering would be restored, and the rest of the steering would be assisted. It was a really weird 2-stage turning effort that quite frankly, I was surprised to see in an upscale vehicle such as the Macan.
And then there were the touchscreen controls for everything. Having studied user interface design, tactile feedback has always been an important and extremely effective part in user interactions with stuff, and the touchscreen controls just completely removes it. To make matters worse, Porsche made the whole touchscreen out of a single piece of glass, so the whole surface was completely smooth. The controls themselves are decent, but the complete lack of any tactile feedback made it horrible to use.
FWIW, a friend has recently taken his car to Porsche Center Richmond (in BC, Canada) for servicing, and he was given a base Macan as his loaner vehicle as well.
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Zeus993 (09-19-2023)
09-19-2023, 04:48 PM
#33
Yep, the 2nd generation was peak UI/UX. The glass console isn't terrible but I would never choose it over the real buttons, given two otherwise-identical vehicles. Shifter operation was also a lot nicer in the 2nd generation than in the 95B.3.
Do the 3rd-generation cars no longer remember the *** state between drive cycles? That's not a problem with my '20 S, but then I have a memory module, so it wouldn't be a problem in any event. *** was turned off once when I bought the car and will never again be turned on while I own it.
Do the 3rd-generation cars no longer remember the *** state between drive cycles? That's not a problem with my '20 S, but then I have a memory module, so it wouldn't be a problem in any event. *** was turned off once when I bought the car and will never again be turned on while I own it.
Last edited by Larson E. Rapp; 09-19-2023 at 04:51 PM.
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BMinSFL (09-19-2023)
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BMinSFL (09-19-2023)
09-19-2023, 07:34 PM
#36
Track Day
Thread Starter
Leaving the "ghetto loaner car" question aside, I'm located in Vancouver, Canada, and I have been given two different Macans as the loaner vehicle in my last 2 scheduled dealership service. Both times I was taking my vehicle to Porsche Center Vanocuver.
I was given a very nicely equipped Macan S last year. It was a 2019 - 2021 updated vehicle with a HUGE screen on the dash, but it still had all the physical buttons on the area between the driver and front passenger seat. Because it was "only" a Macan S, it "only" had the lower powered 3L turbo V6. But OMG... it already had all the power I could possibly need. Mash on the gas, and the car just shoots itself out like a crazy arrow off a long bow.
Then this year, I was given a very new 2023 base model Macan. It came with the turbo 2L engine, and it was a solid mill for a normal small SUV. The engine was certainly not sports car powerful, but it was at least sports car responsive. Mash on the gas, and the PDK instantly responds. The drivetrain loved to rev, and was extremely smooth and sporty while doing so. Mind you, it would be nice if it had more power -- the rest of the vehicle felt a little heavy for the little workhorse engine when I really wanted to get moving.
The 2 biggest complains I had with the loaner base Macan were:
1) the auto engine start stop
2) the touchscreen everything controls
The auto engine start stop generally works well enough, but I noticed that when the engine is stopped, power steering is also disabled! This makes for a bit of an awkward moment because if I were to turn it while the engine was still shut down, there'd be no power steering (assist), so the steering wheel is extremely heavy for that split second. But then the act of turning the steering wheel would cause the engine to wake up, and then power steering would be restored, and the rest of the steering would be assisted. It was a really weird 2-stage turning effort that quite frankly, I was surprised to see in an upscale vehicle such as the Macan.
And then there were the touchscreen controls for everything. Having studied user interface design, tactile feedback has always been an important and extremely effective part in user interactions with stuff, and the touchscreen controls just completely removes it. To make matters worse, Porsche made the whole touchscreen out of a single piece of glass, so the whole surface was completely smooth. The controls themselves are decent, but the complete lack of any tactile feedback made it horrible to use.
FWIW, a friend has recently taken his car to Porsche Center Richmond (in BC, Canada) for servicing, and he was given a base Macan as his loaner vehicle as well.
I was given a very nicely equipped Macan S last year. It was a 2019 - 2021 updated vehicle with a HUGE screen on the dash, but it still had all the physical buttons on the area between the driver and front passenger seat. Because it was "only" a Macan S, it "only" had the lower powered 3L turbo V6. But OMG... it already had all the power I could possibly need. Mash on the gas, and the car just shoots itself out like a crazy arrow off a long bow.
Then this year, I was given a very new 2023 base model Macan. It came with the turbo 2L engine, and it was a solid mill for a normal small SUV. The engine was certainly not sports car powerful, but it was at least sports car responsive. Mash on the gas, and the PDK instantly responds. The drivetrain loved to rev, and was extremely smooth and sporty while doing so. Mind you, it would be nice if it had more power -- the rest of the vehicle felt a little heavy for the little workhorse engine when I really wanted to get moving.
The 2 biggest complains I had with the loaner base Macan were:
1) the auto engine start stop
2) the touchscreen everything controls
The auto engine start stop generally works well enough, but I noticed that when the engine is stopped, power steering is also disabled! This makes for a bit of an awkward moment because if I were to turn it while the engine was still shut down, there'd be no power steering (assist), so the steering wheel is extremely heavy for that split second. But then the act of turning the steering wheel would cause the engine to wake up, and then power steering would be restored, and the rest of the steering would be assisted. It was a really weird 2-stage turning effort that quite frankly, I was surprised to see in an upscale vehicle such as the Macan.
And then there were the touchscreen controls for everything. Having studied user interface design, tactile feedback has always been an important and extremely effective part in user interactions with stuff, and the touchscreen controls just completely removes it. To make matters worse, Porsche made the whole touchscreen out of a single piece of glass, so the whole surface was completely smooth. The controls themselves are decent, but the complete lack of any tactile feedback made it horrible to use.
FWIW, a friend has recently taken his car to Porsche Center Richmond (in BC, Canada) for servicing, and he was given a base Macan as his loaner vehicle as well.
09-19-2023, 07:35 PM
#37
Track Day
Thread Starter
09-20-2023, 12:35 AM
#38
Rennlist Member
Do the 3rd-generation cars no longer remember the *** state between drive cycles? That's not a problem with my '20 S, but then I have a memory module, so it wouldn't be a problem in any event. *** was turned off once when I bought the car and will never again be turned on while I own it.
Now, I'm not sure if it's just remembering the state in general, or if it's because *** was off when I saved the driver & key memory settings, but either way, it's off and that's all I care about.
09-20-2023, 01:22 AM
#39
It does remember the state, which I'm very happy about. I could swear I heard that it doesn't anymore, but I just picked up a '24 a few weeks ago, turned it off the first time I started the car, and it's been off the whole time since then regardless of drive mode.
Now, I'm not sure if it's just remembering the state in general, or if it's because *** was off when I saved the driver & key memory settings, but either way, it's off and that's all I care about.
Now, I'm not sure if it's just remembering the state in general, or if it's because *** was off when I saved the driver & key memory settings, but either way, it's off and that's all I care about.
09-20-2023, 11:32 AM
#40
Three Wheelin'
My dealer used to have a fleet of Boxster loaner cars. I asked what happened to them when I started getting other loaners and they said every one got crashed. That was the end of sports car loaners for them.
09-20-2023, 01:58 PM
#41
Rationally, the dealers should lend me what they want to sell me next. That's why I have a Macan now. But I don't look for rationality at car dealerships...
09-21-2023, 12:25 AM
#42
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TikiLou (09-22-2023)