KSG1965

Hi, want some input from long-term Macan owners out there to chirp in. I’m looking to pull the trigger on a Macan to replace my p/u truck which I don’t really need as my daily (currently own a 911 as well). Got a few questions, if you can help me out.

1. Maintenance costs, is the Macan a maintenance pig?

2. What kind of all around mpg over the long term on any flavor of Macan.

3. Off road capability. Currently drive in the Southwest U.S. deserts & mountain snow, occasionally in the Mexico desert to Airbnb’s, beach and the like. Can a Macan handle this light off roading?

Thanks for the input, fire away.

blepski

1. Relatively speaking no, the average maintenance costs are on par with any other higher end german luxury car. Keep in mind the more options the vehicle has the more likely it is to be problematic and costly so choose wisely and sparingly when it comes to options / trim levels. New versus used will also play a major factor here.

2. Our 21 Macan S averages low 20's with some city but mostly highway driving. I've seen 25-26 mpg on longer trips.

3. No direct experience with anything beyond snow but it should be fine for any light off-road use. I'd probably stay away from the 21" wheels and summer performance tires however.

JDailey

So much depends on your definition of "light" off roading. In my experience, there is no trailhead I've wanted to get to that I couldn't get to in the Macan. That said, sometimes you have to take it really slowly and just be careful. When you see these lifted Wranglers and 4Runners, remember that they're really no fun to drive back on paved roads. It's like shoes: There is no perfect pair of shoes that you'd wear to work, to a wedding, to play basketball, and to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I guess that's why a lot of people own more than one pair of shoes. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in owning more than one car.

In my experience, the Macan is an amazing roadtrip car that will *also* get you the last few miles to the trailhead or the hot spring. If you're looking to do endless miles of off-roading, then the Macan may not be the best bet. But a serious off-road vehicle won't be much fun on those sweeping turns at 65+ mph.

I've driven the Macan from Denver to Southampton and back last summer. Also did a road trip from Denver to Palm Springs and back. This fall I'm driving Denver to LA and back. This is a great, long-distance road-trip vehicle. Quiet, nimble, comfortable, etc. I have the base, four-cylinder and for me it's plenty. I've only owned one car with more power, a BMW X1 with the twin-turbo, inline, 3.0L six-cylinder and while it was amazing, I don't really miss it.

If you're planning to do any meaningful off-road driving, get the 19" wheels. That extra sidewall and smaller rims gives you a little insurance against rough roads.

Below are some photos of my recent adventures. I tried picking photos that give you a sense of the roads I'm driving. Feel free to message me directly with questions or I'll check back on this thread periodically.

-James
Denver, CO




This was in the Sawtooth range in Idaho. I didn't realize that the trailhead I'd picked required driving 65 miles down a dirt road. I should have noted when the Forest Service Ranger told me, "Huh, nobody ever asks about going in THAT way..."



In the Cascades in Washington State



Going to a favorite hot spring outside of Taos, NM



Taos, NM



Above Silverton Colorado at the Grouse Gulch trailhead. The road got rough, and we took it slowly. Another driver/hiker in a Subaru Outback was with us, but we were the only two vehicles at the trailhead that weren't lifted, with big, nobby tires.



Another great trailhead in the San Juan Range of the Rockies.

JDailey

For what it's worth, I took both of my prior BMWs off-road periodically as well. The X3 handled it really well, but the X1 not so much. The X1 had smaller wheels with run-flat tires. That made the ride much bouncier and harsher. Also, the X1 had 300hp and 300lb-ft of torque but with a rear-biased torque split. It was way too easy to break the rears loose on gravel roads, so I had to drive much more slowly. With the Macan, I always put it in "off-road" mode which makes the torque split 50/50. It really does make a difference unless you're trying to bring the rear end around.

This was a 2006 X3 3.0i with the m-sport package and a six-speed manual transmission. I kept it for ~11 years, and it was great! Eventually the lack of a navigation system and a crappy stereo with no auxiliary inputs or bluetooth were annoying and I traded it. This photo is in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon.


My X1 was a blast, but I don't really consider it an SUV. It was more of a lifted, urban, sports hatchback. The power was fun, but I rarely had much opportunity to really tap into 300hp and 300lb-ft of torque. This photo is in Escalante National Monument on the way to explore some slot canyons.

KSG1965

Thanks!! That’s exactly what I was looking for.

offagain

Concur with others here - '21 Macan S here - low 20's MPG on shorter runs, will rise to 25 MPG on longer drives. Light off-roading is absolutely fine and done a little in ours. But as others have commented, you really want to be careful with the 21" wheels! Those sidewalls are not big and you run the risk of damaging them and the wheels. A decent set of 19's is going to be the way to go. The ride is excellent on the road, but off-road its a little rough, but you have to compromise somewhere though.

The only thing I would flag is that it is NOT designed to do lots of 4 wheeling. Its a dual clutch gearbox and lots of slipping (such as crawling over rocks) will heat the plates and cause it to go into limp mode. Same is true for other DCT SUV's - Kia / Hyundai are one I can think of. A little light off-road is fine and you can have fun to and from the off-road part!

Olddragger

Concur... a dct is not made for any type of crawling ,towing, or wallowing in snow. Plus it is a very expensive repair if it goes south. Porsche treats it as a throwaway and just replaces it. If you are under warrenty...no problem. If not it is a huge problem....$20,000plus to replace.
Macans chassis is to stiff to handle uneven terrain...so going on a true trail and not a road may not be wise. Plus the all wheel drive system is really not designed for slow crawling and 2-3 wheels up. The BMW X3 is much better is this category. To me the Bmw m3 40i is a serious contender.

JDailey

Agree on the last couple of posts. If "rock crawl" is something you're entertaining, this is not your vehicle. If you expect to have one (or more) wheels completely off the ground, this is not your vehicle.

Otherwise the Macan is an amazing long-distance roadtrip vehicle that will get you to any reasonable trailhead. I've taken my Macan off road in WA, ID, AZ, UT, CO, NM, etc. without issue.

YoshiV819

The majority of Macan are sold in Asian countries not known for awesome paved roads and I've seen many examples of owners who do light trails etc. I'm not suggesting anyone go rock crawling but I think the Macan is far more capable than people believe. Currently looking into matte PPF for our upcoming road trip to Colorado. I'll be chuckling at Jeep drivers knowing how much more comfortable my rig is (-:

Liste-Renn

I'll chime in with my opinion here.
(2018 Macan GTS with Air Suspension, OFF ROAD mode and PTV)
It was a Euro Delivery sale, so the GTS has seen most of the famous Alps passes in Austria and Switzerland, a month of Tuscan gravel roads and medieval trail roads made of broken stone.
Back in the US, took an alternate delivery in Atlanta, visited 13 National Parks between there and Los Angeles, exploring logging and fire roads of dirt, gravel, sand, mud and organic matter.
Drove the entire Powder Highway in BC, Canada in January and February, in every type of precipitation from freezing rain to 2' of fresh snow.
Lots of the 25K miles were getting to/from those places via mountain and canyon twisties, autobahn, interstate and freeway.

The Macan, properly spec'ed, is a Swiss Army knife vehicle that does more things well than any other vehicle I have driven.
The Macan turbo I rode in at the Leipzig factory engineered off road course and FIA certified track really watered my eyes when pushed hard by the demonstration instructor.
We were airborne at times on the off-road course, and late deep braking into chicanes from over 120 mph on the straights.

As posted above, you can find a vehicle that beats the Macan in on or off road capability, but not both. It is a real hoot to push hard. No boulder climbing, but at a crawl it will find it's way up and over many obstacles. The HILL Mode is great for sketchy steep descents. The AWD is smart and applies the torque Front to Rear and wheel-to-wheel in a manner that achieves traction in every situation/condition I have thrown at it.

More info on my Macan on/off road capability (in Post # 12)
2020 post on this subject

frankfurtnyc

2017 Macan GTS. Mainly city driving (8-90%) in NYC, I have an average mpg of 13.7.
Worst I ever had was 9.6 mpg in the city.

Fred R. C4S

Wrong Thread