New Porsche a powerful SUV
The GTS hits the sweet spot in Porsche’s Macan range, writes Damien O’Carroll.
In this world dominated by SUVs, compromises are less tolerable, with car makers honing the SUV format to stretch in pretty much every direction demanded by buyers. That is why we have luxury SUVs, city SUVs, SUV coupes and that oxymoron – the sporty SUV.
And it doesn’t even matter what the original meaning of ‘‘Sports Utility Vehicle’’ is any more (it was only ever a marketing term dreamt up by Madmen-style ad execs in the United States in the 1970s anyway), because if a car manufacturer wants to build something and cram into a segment, then that’s what it is.
Call them what you will – crossovers, jacked-up hatchbacks, abominations – they are here to stay because people buy them. And they buy them because they are great allrounders that serve a variety of needs in daily family life.
And that is where the Macan GTS comes into the Porsche range – it is the German manufacturer’s ultimate allrounder that hits a sweet spot in size, performance and practicality.
While the cheaper Macan and Macan S are quality things that have some of the best handling characteristics in the medium SUV sector, they do struggle to come across as much more than more expensive Audis in a number of areas.
The top of the range Macan Turbo is undeniably a Porsche in its performance, but that also applies to its hefty price tag of $165,900, but the GTS splits the difference nicely by landing at $138,900 and winding up the power to 280kW.
Actually, that should be winding down the power, because while the last Macan GTS featured a tuned-up version of the S engine, the new one shares the same powertrain as the Turbo, but with the dial turned down from 11.
While the entry Macan uses a four-cylinder turbo engine and the Macan S a single turbo 2.9-litre V6, the GTS and Turbo models now pack a twin-turbo version of the V6 – variants of which can be found in the Cayenne S and Panamera 4S – that employs a ‘‘hot V’’ design, with the two turbochargers mounted in the valley between the cylinder banks, to reduce turbo lag.
The result is a smoothly powerful mid-size SUV with enough handling chops to be fun on a winding road if the mood strikes after you drop the kids off at school.
While it is easy to wonder ‘‘what’s actually the difference between a Macan and a cheaper equivalent Audi?’’ when you compare them on paper, getting the Macan on a winding road spells out that difference in no uncertain terms immediately.
And, while it’s not a 911, it still has a delightfully accurate nature to it that is a hallmark of the sports car and sets it apart from other mid-sizers, even the ones that share its underpinnings. The fact that our test car was fitted with the optional air suspension that dropped it down seriously low made it even more obvious.
That detuned twin turbo V6 means the GTS is good for the 0 to 100 sprint in 4.9 seconds (or 4.7 if you plump for the optional ‘‘Sport Chrono’’ pack, but more on that later), which is more than respectable, but it is the 80 to 120kmh time of 3.3 seconds that reveals the GTS’ real nature.
The mid-range shove of the fat 520Nm of torque wrung from the engine makes it a wonderfully driveable thing on the open road and around town, where it is a capable and docile commuter as well.
Inside, everything is what you would expect from a Porsche – a high-quality, classy interior with minimum gimmicks, but lots of buttons.
It is all beautifully made with an almost brutally efficient approach to ergonomics that makes it a breeze to live with.
Now, I said I would get back to that Sport Chrono package, and here’s the thing – it is a $2230 option that is fantastic, as it not only adds the little dashmounted stopwatch (that really just tells the neighbours you didn’t buy a bog standard one), but also adds a switch on the steering wheel for the drive modes and the brilliant ‘‘Sport Response’’ button that gives you a 20-second blast of everything turned up to 11, as well as the Sport Plus mode and launch control.
All of which is very good, but
I would really expect most, if not all, of these things to be standard on a vehicle that costs $138,900.
And that is the biggest niggle I have with the Macan in general – there are a lot of options that should be standard on a vehicle pushing $140k, and indeed are standard on a lot of other $140k vehicles – and sub-$140k vehicles – from other manufacturers.
Possibly the most glaring and infuriating one is adaptive cruise control. Something that even a $25,000 Suzuki Swift GLX gets as standard will sting you an extra $1940 in a Macan.
Still, that is the Porsche way and you can’t say it doesn’t work, because customers do like personalising their cars, cost be damned.
As it stands, however, the GTS is an excellent all-rounder that is the sweet spot in the Macan lineup. It would just be even sweeter if it ticked off the basics better.