EQUIPMENT
Porsche Cayenne Porsche Macan
Porsche Macan
Porsche Cayenne support, you’ll need to fork out for 14-way seats (£1044 on the Macan, £1137 on the Cayenne).
Both cars’ steering wheels offer plenty of manual adjustment for both height and reach. The Macan’s footwell is more cramped and its pedals are offset to the right, though. The windscreen pillars aren’t too thick in either, so forward visibility is decent, but reversing isn’t quite such an easy task, because their chunky rear pillars get in the way. Both cars come with front and rear parking sensors, though, and you can add a rear-view camera for £884 on the Macan and £1002 on the Cayenne.
Although the Macan’s buttonheavy centre console looks rather intimidating, after a while you learn how to operate everything by feel. We prefer it to the Cayenne’s touch-sensitive buttons, which force you to look away from the road in order to find them.
Our contenders’ infotainment systems are similar, except the Cayenne’s touchscreen is 12.0in to the Macan’s 10.9in. They feature super-sharp graphics and respond quickly to inputs, and while some of the icons are small, the menus are quite straightforward.
Despite the difference in price, there’s very little to split this pair when it comes to interior quality. Both feature plenty of dense, squidgy plastics and switches that operate with slick precision, along with supple leather upholstery in the Cayenne and part-alcantara trim in the Macan.
SPACE AND PRACTICALITY Front space, rear space, seating exibility, boot
Despite its sleek silhouette, the Macan doesn’t feel a whole lot smaller than the Cayenne up front; both offer enough head and leg room even for tall occupants.
However, it’s rather different in the back. Head and leg room are more restricted in the Macan, and anyone over six feet tall will find their knees brushing the back of the seat in front. Two larger adults will be absolutely fine in the back of the Cayenne, while three can fit easily enough, whereas they’ll find it a squeeze in the Macan.
Although the Cayenne’s boot is broader and longer than the Macan’s, it’s much shallower, due to the battery under the floor. As a result, it can hold only seven carryon suitcases, whereas the Macan can take eight. Both have handy 40/20/40-split rear seatbacks.
BUYING AND OWNING Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
The Macan is far cheaper to buy if you’re thinking of taking out a PCP finance agreement (by more than £300 per month). That’s also true if you’re paying cash, and you’re unlikely to get a discount on either car. Resale values are similarly strong, but factor in the Macan’s cheaper servicing and insurance and it’s only superior fuel economy that sweetens the pill for private Cayenne buyers.
How much better is it? A lot, if you recharge its battery regularly (which takes about two and a quarter hours) and do mostly short trips. Even with an empty battery, it returned 28.5mpg on test, versus 24mpg for the Macan. Overall, the Cayenne will cost private buyers roughly £4700 more to run over three years.
However, it’s a different story for company car drivers. If you’re in the 40% tax bracket, you’ll sacrifice about £4200 less in benefit-in-kind payments for the Cayenne over the same period.
Neither car is particularly well equipped as standard, but you do get things like climate control, power-folding mirrors, cruise control and automatic lights and wipers. If you want ‘luxuries’ such as keyless entry or heated seats, you’ll have to pay extra.
Euro NCAP awarded both cars a five-star safety rating, although the Macan was assessed in 2014, when the tests were less stringent. Today, it would be penalised heavily for lacking standard automatic emergency braking (AEB), which the Cayenne gets.