gtr

As a car enthusiast, I've always gravitated towards vehicles that are versatile and capable (ultimate driving machine i'm that old lol) The Porsche Macan falls perfectly into that category. I owned a GTS when it first launched, and I've recently returned to the Macan family, opting for a ex-loaner base model this time around with more warantee. Its lower price tag makes it a more practical daily driver, and I won't have to worry as much about door dings, thanks to its affordability.

Why I love the Macan? Here is my list and hope this convince others.

1. SUV that drives like a Porsche. Is it just me or the newer Macan is more nimble? Also one of the best feeling brakes and tranny in it's class. You will need to spend six figures on a cayenne to make it feel as sporty as a Macan.
2. This is a great addition with your GT cars. Being about the perfect height to get in and out easily. Being older and accidently pulling a back having a higher car is a blessing.
3. Best PCM with back and forth screen buttons! I love old school resting my hand on the proper shifter, quickly and easily flipping back and forth to rewind XM channels. Yes, I don't mind sacarficing Android auto for the back forth button! Real buttons would make it even better!
4. One of the best stereo system in it's class. I thought the Q5 was good but this beats it with the burmester.
5. The Macan has one of the best-feeling garage opener buttons. Perfect location and great-feeling buttons. The universal version on the Panamera loses its bind like the Benzes as well, but they just fixed the Benz version
6. I wished i had air suspension on my base. It rides so much better with air suspension!
7. Front camera automatically turns on so you don't run into things in your garage!
8. Has proper spare tire ( another old school but rare now a days)
9. It has a proper auto shifter. Non of that new toggle cost saving garbage.
10. Has a volume ****! Some manufacture are removing them but Honda was smart enought to add it back.

What I don't like,
1. Tight leg room. Great for kid to put shoe marks.
2. Staggered tires cannot rotate
3. Cruise control feels dated.
4. Porsche tax on options as usual
5. More NVH than the new GLC.

Just wanted to share my thoughts since I strongly advise buying an ICE Macan before it's axed. After a decade, it's still at the top of its class with its refresh. Great car and I'm guessing lots of problem areas should be fixed now.

chassis

I had a new Macan base as a loaner last week while my 9Y0 Cayenne S was getting new tires.

Not impressed with the Macan base engine. At all. Neither sound nor torque nor power were noteworthy.

Cabin, front and rear, is small compared with Cayenne. Not surprising and definitely noticeable.

Front black plastic lipstick (fascia) not attractive on a white car.

I want to drive a Macan GTS to get a fuller experience of this platform.

needmoregarage

We have a 2021 Macan GTS with 21k miles and a 2023 Cayenne Platimum (base) with 9k miles. Both were ordered by us (me and husband). Both were more “his” pick, than mine (I’m not a SUV-person).

The Macan GTS actually sounds decent (engine especially on cold start) which was a surprise. It’s sporty, nimble, and in general a great vehicle. Definitely a mid-size SUV, and roomy enough for our needs but has limitations in how much gear it can comfortably hold. We spec’d the PSCB (PCCB wasn’t available) and while they are completely brake-dust-free (huge plus), they were EXTEMELY “grabby” for the first 10k miles. My husband hates them and has considered changing the brakes to steel, but since getting the Cayenne he rarely drives the Macan. I don’t mind the brakes and have gotten used to them. But for the first year it was very difficult to be smooth using the brakes in any way.

I’m surprised I like the Cayenne as much as I do - it’s a wonderful SUV. It’s got plenty of power for our needs. For a long-trip vehicle it’s got plenty of cargo space, and the air ride adjustable suspension is super-comfy, yet allows it to be sporty at times. The Macan also has the air ride adjustable suspension but I’d say each setting is a bit stiffer than the Cayenne, but still plenty comfy. The adjustability of the Cayenne was great driving through mountains of WV and we were able to take the higher speed sweepers keeping the fully loaded vehicle very flat, and it was confidence-inspiring. It has steel brakes (PCCB and PSCB were not available) and they generate a lot of brake dust. The interior is nice (we always opt for full leather and chose red as a nice change from black).

Both vehicles have 14-way seats which is our preference, and hubby loves the massage feature (I never use it). We both find the seats quite comfy.

In both - the “parking” surround view cams doesn’t always come on when entering a parking space, or the garage. I’ve gotten into the habit of pressing the button because it tends NOT to come on when it should, when you want it. That’s annoying. The Cayenne has a dedicated button above the center rear-view mirror. In the Macan hubby programmed the “diamond short-cut” button to put the cameras on.

Everything else works fine on both vehicles and they’ve been reasonably problem-free other than minor warranty items (which is expected of any car these days). In the future, I probably would not buy another Macan as I prefer a wagon (had two BMW wagons and miss them, and have an RS6 Avant confirmed allocation order at the factory, hoping the major problems Audi is having with manufacturing are overcome).

At some point the Macan will be replaced (hopefully by the RS6 Avant). Hubby says the Cayenne is a keeper although we don’t tend to keep cars out of warranty. Time will tell.

gtr

It's nice to hear everyone's thoughts. While power is desirable, with young children in the back seats, I have no interest in fast acceleration. Just enough power to safely merge onto the freeway is all I truly need. When they get older, I may consider returning to a Panamera or more possibility a Cayenne for extra leg space, ease to enter exiting and winter capable.

With a Cayenne the only features I truly desire are rear-wheel steering, air suspension, and the Burmester sound system. However, this pushes the base price to over $90,000 before adding any other options. I'm not particularly interested in driving a $100,000+ car again for everyday errands due to my prior experience with my Sport Turismo. The addition of a third-row seat to a future ICE suv would be tempting, as many other three-row vehicles lack the engaging driving experience that Porsche offers.

I do like the sporty character of the Macan and is still one of my favorite SUV for the price.

BMinSFL

For the price, I don't think you can find a better value which is truly unlocked with the way you and I bought them, as a loaner with CPO warranty on top of the the remaining factory warranty. I bought mine at about a year old with 5 years of warranty for $20K less than list. The value at that price is incredible. A base for $70-80k? Not so much in my opinion but it dosent take away from the excellent package at that price.

A 4 cylinder needs to be driven differently to get the most performance out of it. Porsche is a luxury brand and an aspect of luxury is lack of effort needed (torque monster engines, active suspension etc..). In the engine department, a 4-cyl 2.0 is not effortless but with a little effort of exploiting the PDK, learning the shift points and peak torque spots, it can be very fun and more involving than a larger engine. You have to work for it, which is not a luxury feature but somewhat of a call to Porsche heritage.

From an initial drive, its not impressive and I am not surpised those who had loaners are not impressed. I think the base, over any other trim, needs Sport Chrono. Sport+ adds the transmision tune dimension that truly helps the small engine shine. Given its an easy add-on I highly recommend it. I've also gone with a JB4 tune, thicker swaybars and lowering springs to "de-base" it, get it on par with the Porsche performance I expected, and round out the package. All are fairly easy mods that can transform the car in a few days.

sunspot2013

I am about 9 months into ownership of my 2020 Macan S and I continue to be impressed with it. I spent the weekend using it to find new back roads that are worthy of my 911. At one point I realized that I was having FUN in my Macan blasting down a twisty road with lots of elevation changes. To this point, my praise for it was mostly as a perfect road trip vehicle, urban utility vehicle, bad weather vehicle, etc.. Yep, I don't think I will have the resolve to refrain from getting a GTS to unlock whatever is the best of the best the Macan has to offer.

Not to make this into an ICE vs. EV thread, but IMO Porsche is making a huge mistake abandoning the ICE platform.

Long Islander

I ordered a Macan S, due to be delivered at the end of April. Among the things that my wife and I really liked was the volume control **** and the the fact that it had a spare tire -- two things that are getting harder to find these days. We test drove a Macan S and the ride was fine. Our Macan S will have air suspension, so I expect it will be even better. We got lots of options so the list price was quite high. Things that were standard in Mercedes' and Jaguars that we have had were pricey options in the Macan.

gtr

Agreed, I didn't do quite as well as you with the $20k discount, but with an additional year of free service and a 1.5 year of extended warantee it is hard to pass up for the price. I wasn't as aggressive bargaining since it had the color, wheels and audio system I liked. I had difficultiy finding a deal on a nearby Macan with air suspension and Burmester which were the main option I wanted.

My thought is that these Macan loaners are a good buy and a great choice for most people at these softer prices while ICE is still around.

AlBinVA

I come from sporty, low slung GT and touring type cars. I simply enjoy driving (even grocery getting). I have done some HPDE's and some spirited public road driving where it makes sense. My wife is a SUV person, most notably, she loved her Toyota Highlander. We are both mid 70's. I have back issues and found ingress/egress in those sporty low slung cars to no longer being a rational option. After much thought, I decided to buy a CPO 2022 Macan GTS to solve the ingress/egress issue while keeping the enjoyment in driving. The GTS I bought was a high spec, enthusiast/comfort/pleasing to the eye build. I could not be happier. After driving my GTS, the wife fell in love with it. Primarily for the size, ease of driving and it is a bit lower than her Highlander. We ordered a 2023 for her. She could care less for the enthusiast part of the build but I knew that I would be sharing the driving in her car so I went full out on the build to match mine and got her a GTS as well. She was more interested in color and selected Papaya. Mine is Chalk. To say that we are both happy is an understatement. Our favorite features are: color, brakes, Burmester, performance, sound, handling and ease of driving (in no particular order).
We are very fortunate to have two such nice vehicles. Happy motoring to all !!!

isugoo

Have 991.2 GTS and newly added base 2.0T engine Macan T. I agree with most of you guys. S or GTS would be much better but for my need in daily, T works great. Sport/Sport+ with PASM were must for me since engine is not quick as other models. But what I really agree from Smoking Tires YT is that 2.0T engine is 'momentum engine'. It's lacking in HP/TQ in lower speed (and this is least fun part of this engine) but when you catch the 'momentum', it's really fun to drive (Sport Chrono really helps).

No mater which engine you get, it drive like Porsche for sure.
My small complains are:
1. not giving any option to make top view + rear cam as default view.
2. tiny CarPlay screen especially keyboard in google maps (luckily, expensive innovativesoftnz coding fixed this issue).

But overall, I'm very pleased with Macan T. Perfect combo with any 911 or other weekend fun cars.

clutchplate

The things I like about my base are not really things I would like about a Porsche sports car. It's quiet, has moderate off road capabilities and air suspension, it gets reasonable gas mileage, the 18 way seats are a good fit, has a spare tire, is a planted highway cruiser etc. I also like the 20 second boost button although I'm pretty sure it doesn't do anything, at least with the base engine. Ditto with the ionizer. I think if you're going to settle for a base you need to accept it for what it is, a nice SUV with very mild Porsche DNA.

Clark Addison

I've been driving Porsches over 50 years. My current fun ride is a 1995 Carrera 4. So that's where I was coming from when I bought a base Macan as its stablemate.

First, the Macan is a real Porsche, even with the 4 cylinder engine. Granted, my CPO model has air suspension and sport Chrono. In sport and sport plus mode, it's lively enough. It feels solid, as if it were made from a single piece of German steel. Cornering is flat and stable.

Remember, it's an SUV. I think the owners who denigrate it need more seat time in 911s or Boxster/Caymans to better understand what Porsche is all about.

DHL

I bought a 2022 GTS last summer as an impulse buy at a local dealership. It was a summer Satrurday in June and I was driving my 991.2 2017 Carrera S to town when I got a coolant warning. Previously had the water pump replaced a year before and now this, another cooling system fault. Dealership was on my way so I dropped in to see if they could look at the car. Service dept was closed but the sales staff was extremely helpful and promised to get the car into the shop first thing Monday. They even offered me a ride back home.

While there I told them I was looking for a Macan S but could not get a build slot in 2022. So I ended up buying an X3M40i from another dealership but was never really happy with it. It felt heavy and understeered badly, did not stop that well even though I ordered the upgraded M brakes, and the trans "slammed" badly on redline gear shifts in sport and sport + modes which upset the chassis. Also did not like the controls/instrumentation layout after coming from the 911 with its clean analog controls.

So here I am in this Porsche dealership (which had just opened up BTW) waiting for a ride home when the sales guy ask me if I want to test drive a Macan GTS while I was waiting. What could it hurt? Right. I was blown away by the performance of the GTS. The acceleration, the wonderful tungsten carbide coated brakes (mine don't grab if you drive the car like a Porsche), and esp the handling. Very tossable and nimble for a car of 4300 lbs. A lot closer to my 911 than I expected. Shifting is not quite as quick and immediate as the 911, but close enough. Comparing paper specs for accereration the 2017 911 is about 0.5 sec faster in the quarter mile than the 22 GTS, but that's close.

So I end up buying the GTS that day and trading in the X3. Also ended up selling the 911 because it was becoming a garage queen (I do miss it) and for financial reasons. For me, I found it is better to have a DD you really like as opposed to a garage queen you love and a DD you hate.

And for those wondering, there is no comparison between the base and S vs the GTS IMHO, if you are going to flog it hard on the local backroads and you don't have a 911 or similar to drive instead. I drove many base Macans as loaners during dealership service of my 911, and was never impressed with them. They are fine for grocery getting and soccer mom duties but if that is all you need, why buy a Porsche at all?

gtr

Agreed with your first statement. To answer your other question, you would buy it for the same reason someone buys the Toyota GR86, driving feel. Porsche is one of the few brands that truly excels in this area. You can feel the Porsche tuning in the transmission downshift while braking. It offers smooth power delivery, steering accuracy, and excellent road feel. Yes, I purchased a car for poor weather and to be a soccer dad, but I bought the Porsche specifically for the driving experience. Hence, my GT4RS is the hyper-amplified version for me to enjoy when I hunger for that extra performance and power.

Vista6019

Agree with your assessment. I am a late comer to the current Macan platform. The base car loaners I have received were "quick" around town but lacked the HP to have long legs at higher speeds.
So I ended up with a CPO 21' GTS and liked it so much, I ordered a '24 GTS with a May arrival date. A perfect "personal size" SUV that handles like a Porsche should. The GTS more than enough power and is a blast to drive. After 17 Porsche's over the past 10 years, I finally get the Macan.