deilenberger

Well, went to a local dealership open house today - free breakfast and free drives of the new 2017 Macan 4 cylinder (VW engine all day long..) Drove there in the 2016 Cayenne Diesel loaner I've been using since my 2011 Turbo has been up on a lift in their garage for 3 weeks now.. (long story I'll tell sometime..)

The Macan is very familiar territory to anyone who owns a Cayenne. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference sitting behind the wheel. Handing is adequate. The 4 cylinder? Well - not too Porsche like. I liked the PDK transmission pretty much, shifts are quick and responsive.

Left in non-sport mode the 4-cylinder is best thought of as somewhat lethargic. It goes, but it doesn't excite. Pressing the sport mode button makes it more interesting - but it's still shifting below the peak powerband. Shifting manually allows it to finally rev - but when it gets to 6,000 RPM and above, it sort of runs out of breath and sounds very busy.

It would be quite adequate as a grocery getter sort of appliance.. the one I drove was stickered at $67,000 - a few accessories kicked it up from $50k base price. It was fairly well equipped, but no active cruise on it - which once you have it is a must-have. It did have KESSY.

The Cayenne diesel I'm currently driving is also adequate. It's a bit of a slug in non-sport mode, but sport mode wakes it up. It has lots of nice torque at low RPMs that holds right up to close to redline - and sport mode makes use of it. Tried using the paddles to manually shift it - and found I couldn't do much better than the engineers did. I was surprised that trying to use the engine for engine-braking isn't really very effective. Shifting down slows it a bit - but not much at all. It also is adequately equipped - but still no active cruise control. No KESSY. Sticker price on it was $67k or so - since it will probably never be sold by Porsche, I have no idea what it's worth now. With 13,000 miles on it - it seems to be holding together OK - in loaner use (loaner miles are like dog-years - multiply them by 7X and you have a realistic use number.)

OK - my 2011 Turbo. Not much to say. It's much preferable to both the above. It had the option book thrown at it when new, so active-cruise is there (love it), KESSY, 4 zone HVAC, Burmeister, etc. All the good stuff. It is not at all a slug. Power is adequate. If only it was back in my garage.. sigh..

BTW - one thing that puzzles me. There are lots of Cayenne-base V6's available for very close money to the Macan when similarly equipped. Given that - I don't exactly understand the need for a Macan, except maybe people think they're saving money buying a smaller SUV? Is the gas mileage really all that important in a time of $2.10/gallon premium?

Cowboys5

Interesting observations. I own a 2013 Cayenne Diesel, that I brought new and have thoroughly enjoyed. Love the torque and power down low. I was thinking about downsizing to the Macan to deal with the whole diesel issue, and so I test drove a 4 cylinder Macan last week. I really, really wanted to like it, but I honestly came away feeling pretty disappointed. Lots of lag and very little to distinguish it as a Porsche.

Although I very much like the price point for the entry Macan, I suppose you really do get what you pay for. I haven't driven the Macan S yet, but I think I'll need to do that before driving the base Macan again.

alexaqui

I own a CD and am debating purchasing a Macan. One drive around the block in the 4 was enough to say no way to me. It isn't intended for us driving enthusiasts; it's a car much more for the masses. The interior is okay, the car handles well enough, and it has acceptable performance for most people who just want to get to work. That's what it is for.

Drive some of the "better" Macans and you will see why they exist. Because of pricing, I test drove a CPO Cayenne GTS. Compared to my diesel it was only marginally better. No thanks. The Macan GTS is a fun little SUV. It handled a lot better than even the S. The 17's have revised steering which improves and the GTS has quite a few handling changes unique to the GTS. I really like it a lot. Enough to consider purchasing one.

jford

Just sold my 2015 Macan turbo to carmax to get into a 2011 Cayenne Turbo (which I don't have just yet). Ordered the Macan new (first new/ordered Pcar).

Really liked the Macan but, oddly, not missing it. Can't wait to get into the Cayenne.

Looking forward to sitting a little higher, having more luxury (cayenne is far more equipped than my macan was), a bit more back seat room (plus 4 zone climate) and the cayenne felt faster. I did make sure I got PDCC and was quite impressed with my 2 test drives of the CTT.

We'll see how I feel after a few weeks behind the wheel and a few thousand miles after the CPO on the CTT runs out in early 2017.

Fingers crossed.

skiahh

Hmmm... The Macan has more of the Cayman/Boxster feel vs the Cayenne. It has the 3 pod display of the 981s vs the 5 pod of the Cayenne. The seating position is noticeably lower than the Cayenne and it handles far better than the Cayenne... the CD, especially.

You can most definitely tell the difference between the two when behind the wheel; stopped or moving!

I haven't had the chance to drive the 2.0l, but those observations don't surprise me in the least.

jeff968

The Macan 2.0T bases at $47.5k You said the car you drove had a sticker of $67k so that is a lot of options, $20k.

A base Cayenne Diesel has a base price of $62K. You said the car you are looking at stickers at $67k so that is only $5k in options.

Are you sure you are comparing apples to apples.

We purchased our new Macan for under $50k after negotiations.

Very happy with it. Good performance and a solid 24mpgs and not even broken in yet.

deilenberger

Base with shipping was much closer to $50k. They had added the premium package, the Bose audio, NAV, heated/cooled seats, heated steering wheel, HID lights, panorama roof, roof-rails, some wheels and some exterior trim package.

The diesel I have - in the garage - has all of the above too.. Just went to the garage and looked at the sticker - you're right. It's stickered at $76k. So a $9k difference roughly. Still hard to justify the 4 cylinder Macan to me. If it was the turbo-6 at same money - maybe.

CarGuyNVA

My suggestion is to stick with your CTT. This summer when I was looking to upgrade from my 08 957 CTT, I took lengthy test drives with the Macan S and Turbo models. They rode and handled nice, but to be honest those turbo 6s (3.0 and 3.6) just didn't do it for me. I actually preferred the SQ5 Audi to those two. I think the supercharger application made for better response than the turbos with the smaller displacement 6 cylinder motors. I ended up with a nicely equipped one owner '11 CTT and no regrets at all. I was considering a '13 Cayenne GTS also, but in the end I love that 4.8 CTT mill.

Now the new Macan Turbo w/ Power Package might be worth checking out. I'm not surprised the new base 4 isn't cutting it, but I'll still probably drive one just to see for myself what it's all about.

Hope you get your CTT back soon! Best of luck with it.

jford

No replacement for displacement as the saying goes. I was also considering a 2013 GTS to replace my Macan Turbo. Drove the GTS, liked it...then drove a Turbo and actually laughed out loud when it came on boost. As much as I love the look of the GTS, going for the CTT was an easy decision (also they tend to be much better equipped and easier to find with PDCC).

The Macan, while only a tick or two slower than the CTT, just didn't have the same ummph.

CTTS520

Sorry you missed out on that Turbo. Yes, 22k was a fair price. Not a bargain, but fair for that mileage and assuming excellent condition. Personally, I would rather be driving a 22k Turbo than searching for the perfect 18k Turbo. Just be ready to put another 2k into sorting out any Cayenne you buy and you will be a happy owner.

chsu74

Can't get excited over a dressed up heavier Tiguan. You can get a lot of car for $50K elsewhere.

BenCD

I had a base 17 Macan for a day and a half as a loaner as my 16 CD was having a tow hitch installed.





It was nice and was sized like my sister in law's Q5. It ran well and the base power was enough, just that the 3.0L TDI oomph that I'm used to was not there but the vehicle was Porsche-tight and handled well. I did like the land departure warning, I'll admit. I also very much liked how the manual steering wheel adjustment allowed the wheel to tilt down a LOT more than the electric unit in the CD allowing the wheel right where I like it. The CD has an airbag in the way otherwise I would take the panel off under the steering wheel, loosen up the column, add some shims to get the column lower and be much happier, someday I'll figure it out and get it done.

Now, when I got back in my CD I realized that the seats were a lot narrower-perhaps this is good for some and I'm definitely not a big guy. I missed the lumbar adjustment and actually liked the bigger size and bigger feel of the Cayenne. I figure if I were to go smaller, I might as well get a sports sedan(Panamera) or some other coupe.

It is very sweet for a loaner anyway.

skiahh

Funny. The Panamera is a big car! Doesn't handle like one, but its sheer size is not "smaller".

BenCD

I probably should have typed "shorter" as most like the smaller crossovers as they are higher up than sedans.

125shifter

I drove a base Macan the other day as a loaner and really liked it. I don't think I'd be happy with it but I'm sure the wife would. It seemed a little darty on the highway with 21" wheels and understeered compared to my CTT but nothing too dramatic. Mileage was really good, I saw over 20 mpg around town where my Cayenne would be under 10 and over 27 mpg on the straight highway drive when returning it. Backseat was too small for 4 tall adults unlike the Cayenne. I thought it was peppier than a base V6 Cayenne but that could be due to the PDK.

BTW, it's not the same chassis as a Tiguan. Only the Q5 and Macan use the chassis.