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Showroom and Tell: The Porsche Macan S and Turbo

ShowRoomandTell

We weren’t sure if we were going to make it through Humpday, but we did somehow, and now are just two sunsets away from the weekend. To help the day pass a bit quicker, we thankfully have our Showroom and Tell series, a weekly chance to do what we love most: pick an exceptional car from the week and write it up like we’re F. Scott Fitzgerald. If he had cared about cars, that is.

Motor Authority has a first look at the Porsche Macan, the much-anticipated smaller SUV that is due to finally arrive in dealerships this spring, and we envy their experience. With Porsche North America CEO Detlev von Plate as their personal companion on the track, the magazine was free to drive the Macan S and Macan Turbo, and a few versions of each with different option configurations by the sound of it. This allows them to truly feel the difference between a Macan S with the Sport Chrono package and without. Or the Macan Turbo with Torque Vectoring, but not the air suspension, and then with the air suspension added.

It’s a much more extensive proposition than you might realize because Porsche is famous for its dizzying levels of customization. Sure, you can choose between dozens of exterior finishes and interior details. But we’re talking about 150+ possible configurations just for the tires. The full circuit of Porsche options can reach into the thousands, so providing a review of the “Porsche Macan” is a tricky thing to write about holistically if you’re not afforded several versions of the Macan to cross-evaluate.

In any case, let us begin by saying that Motor Authority called this the best SUV they’ve ever driven. Period.

The design language is essentially the same as its larger sibling, the Cayenne. It’s a style dominated by function instead of form. By the time the vast air intakes are positioned in front of the tires, and the dominant headlamps are installed, there’s little else for the Macan’s skin to do but shoot toward the windshield and disappear behind the front wheels.

Driver controls reflect Porsche’s bias toward physical switches and buttons instead of the touchscreen mania sweeping up most automakers. There are at least a dozen controls on each side of the shifter, and a high-resolution touchscreen stands by for redundancy.

The Macan S uses a rear-biased all-wheel drive system that favors rear power. Driving enthusiasts know that rear power is best for speed, and all-wheel drive is best for handling. Porsche’s system attempts to provide the best features of both, which keeps it busy hustling power back and forth among wheels as you careen through corners far quicker than you should and make the term “flooring it” more of a rule than an exception.

The Macan Turbo, however, is where the crossover rises above the pedestrian level of “new car” to “an historic vehicle.” Here we have to quote Motor Authority directly:

“If any SUV could be called unflappable, the Porsche Macan can. It blows by sluggish autobahn traffic in vast, Amtrak-sized chunks with a part-throttle foot on it. With plenty of wastegate noise and a deep-throated exhaust, the Macan Turbo drives as if it could light up the neatest, cleanest driving line from beneath the pavement. Yank it into a steep right-hander, and it falls into line, complying with a bare second of tire noise. Paddle down, and crank out of a corner, hopping curbs to save a hundredth of a second, and it resets itself, shuffling torque to the outside wheel, passing briefly through a mild stage of understeer. It’s really, really hard to overcook it inside its Sport+ modes–and even if you do, it takes just a brief pause to let it blur over your, er, oversights, and blaze on.”

The Porsche Macan will be available at Leith Porsche in May.