I’ve got a Porsche crush after my 911 drive, but since the (997) 911 seems a stretch as far as practicality is concerned, I have been exploring Porsche’s five-door models. The Macan has always appeared to me to be too small to be family practical, but I thought I’d give it a closer look anyway. It can’t be smaller than the Ford Focus RS, can it?
CarMax has the 2015 Porsche Macan S parked side-by-side with an Audi Q5. The Q5 is a compact SUV that I can easily see as a family get-around, as I have already enjoyed many miles and days with the Audi as a loaner car. The Macan and Q5 are platform cousins, and looking at them side-by-side reveals that the Macan is slightly longer than the Q5, but Macan sits lower and has a lower roof than the Q5. The sleekness imparted by the lower height must be why I’ve always thought of the Macan as a size smaller than the Q5, when in reality they are nearly identical in width and length.
On the interior, the seating position in the Macan is car-like. I sit slightly reclined, with the floor closer to the seat bottom than it would be in a traditional SUV and with my thighs angling up rather than running parallel to the floor. The ceiling is closer to my head too in the Macan than in the Q5; my hat scrapes the roof when I sit in back. If I sit behind my driving position, I have maybe 1 or 2 inches of air between my knees and the driver’s seat ahead. It is comfortable but not so spacious that I could wiggle between many postures on a long drive.
I bounce back and forth between the Macan and Q5. Seated on both car’s rear benches, I spread my arms wide as an imprecise measurement of interior width; the two SUVs are about equal in this dimension. Subjectively, the Q5’s back seat feels roomier because the headroom is better and my legs don’t extend as far forward because I am sitting more upright. The Q5 also trumps the Macan with slidable rear seats, a feature you’d use if you needed extra trunk space.
When it comes to material quality, the Porsche is the winner. All of the materials in the Porsche are very nice, especially the leather.
I am not a fan of Porsche’s steering wheel: It is ridiculously fat. Never before have I found a wheel that makes the BMW M3’s feel svelte. The only praise I have for the Porsche steering wheel is that there are true shift paddles instead of Porsche’s old thumb-button shifter.
The Macan comes from the era of Porsche that uses an airplane-like cascade of buttons around the shifter to provide control of the HVAC, driving settings and entertainment. Though it looks cluttered, I am a fan of how easy it is to get to every function.
Driving the Macan is anticlimactic. The test route is an extended square—four straights and four rights—around CarMax. In a straight line, the V6 pulls well and sounds decent but does not have the punch of the Focus RS. The Macan S is more linear than the jumpy-off-the-line Audi Q5 2.0T, though, in normal driving, the Q5 feels just as quick because its programming feeds in lots of punch at low RPM.
Of all the Macan’s driving systems, the most impressive is the PDK gearbox. It is the slickest DCT I’ve used. The Macan’s steering weight is appropriate to the vehicle and the sporting reputation of Porsche, but there is not much chassis feel or steering feel in the Macan. This Macan’s standard suspension—as opposed to the optional air suspension—does a fine job of smoothing the bumps yet providing a controlled ride.
The $43k that CarMax is asking for this used Macan S with 53k miles seems appropriate given the car’s tightness and refinement. While the Macan is more agile and luxurious than the Audi Q5, the Macan does not have that chassis and steering feedback that hooked me in the 911 and Cayenne GTS. A five-door sports car, the Macan is not. If Obi-Wan Kenobi was here today, he’d tell me, “This is not the Porsche you are looking for.” And he’d be right.
Mike's Steering Column 