Ciao everyone, here it's Marchettino and today we look for a road to drive with the new Macan!
Today I'm behind the wheel of the Porsche Macan 2019,
needless to say we see Macans everywhere, it's a fashionable SUV and just consider that Macan and Cayenne represent a big sales market for Porsche.
Imho I find it pretty, it's a compact SUV with the right size, I don't like big SUVs.
I also like the spec, this grey "light-blue'ish" with black wheels and external carbon fibre details.
In terms of look, comparing it to the Macan it replaces, it doesn't change that much.
The biggest difference lies in the back with the LED light that covers the whole trunk.
By looking it at the front, probably you struggle to regocnize the new by the old one.
In the recent years manufactures have done big steps forward towards the dynamic qualities of the SUVs,
it's my first time driving a Macan, I've always been curious as I heard great feedbacks of its sports driving, after all this is a Porsche
so I wonder whether also the Macan has the dynamic qualities of a real Porsche.
In terms of quality, Porsche hardly disappoints, I like this interior very much it truly showcases lots of quality.
I'm sorrounded by leather, aluminium, I also like this alcantara steering wheel with manettino to change settings, just like on a 911.
Currently I'm driving in Normal with soft suspensions and it's rather pleasant to drive, the steering is soft yet direct,
it doesn't give me the feeling to be driving a compact SUV that after all is still a big car, compared to a city car.
The Macan has the Porsche logo in front but let's say there's not only Porsche here,
just think that the platform is from Audi and by looking around, it's not that hard to find logos from other manufacturers.
The biggest change on this car comes from the engine, here we have a 2.0L turbo 4cyl derived from Audi,
replacing the 3.0L turbo diesel.
This version starts at 61.000€ so for the Porsche world it's a quite accessible car
but if you want to spec it properly, the price raises very much. By playing with the configurator I've put effortlessy +15k € of options to make it like the Macan I'm driving today.
How's this 4cyl turbo petrol engine? Let's find out by setting Sport mode and hitting the throttle.
For being such a tiny engine, it sounds good.
By pressing the button on the manettino we set Sport Response which allows to have extra boost from the turbo for 20s, so more power!
This engine develops 245hp and 370nm of torque,
a right power to use this car mainly in the city but what leaves me perplexed is that it replaces the 3.0L turbo diesel engine.
I think that engine was better under every aspect,
it was more powerful, quicker, with this engine it goes to 100kph in 6.7s, with the diesel in 6.3s,
top speed of the diesel was slighty higher but what impresses me are the co2 emissions
because the 3.0L diesel produces less co2 than this petrol engine!
Sadly it's a mandatory choice, in the recent years we've seen a very aggressive direction that dicredits the diesel
which most manufacturers are ditching.
In the recent time there's been a good development of diesel tech and I think it's wrong what's been doing against diesel.
Regarding fuel consumption, diesel engine allowed lower consumption than this petrol engine, my average is about 10km per litre,
with a heavier foot of course the consumption gets higher.
Even though it's not a power engine, it's a fun car to drive.
Gearbox is a 7-speed double clutch PDK, it's not bad, gear changes are neat and quick but what I dislike about this gearbox on the Macan
even if I set the manual gear change and hit the redline, it changes gear by itself!
It's not as manual as you may think!
Dynamically talking, I think Porsche did a good job on the Macan
because I find it very balanced and as you know, SUVs are not really the synonym of sports car.
High center of gravity, heavier than a sports car, you can hardly have fun on a car like this but Porsche is able to make you feel its DNA even on this car.
As you know it's not powerful, here we have a permanent AWD which makes the Macan glued to the road even in these conditions.
Nice, I like the steering too because in Sport it's very sharp and comunicative, unusual for a car that big and high from the ground.
Let's switch to Sport+ and turn the electronics off,
in this setting the steering is even stiffer and direct, see that? I don't like it, manual gear change and it downshifted gear by itself
in this mode, the steering offers more satisfactions, so does the throttle response which is more ready.
The engine, just like the turbo aren't big so it's hard to feel turbo lag.
I also like these supensions that are quite customizable, there's 2 settings to make 'em stiffer and you can also lower or raise them depending on the road,
if you want to go offroad, the Macan raises up to 4cm and considering the little offroad I did, in not extreme situations it moves effortlessy.
Even if it's in manual, it's still automatic, I really dislike this!
Gearbox is good, both in downshift and upshift it's fast but I wanna change gear whenever I want!
I don't snob an engine like this on such brand,
it's a smart engine that will be sold very much, it's the right engine for most people that want a car like this.
Still, I'm disappointed by thinking that Porsche has been forced to take off the market an engine that imho it was better than this under every aspect.
Overal, I appreciate this car and engine, the Macan 2019 has popped on the market recently but I'm sure in the next months we'll se them everywhere!
It's not plenty of power, that's true but it's able to let you have fun and make the car quick,
in terms of chassis the car is agile, it moves nicely for the kind of car it is.
It's an engine that for a urban use or for these roads, it's able to offer good satisfactions.
Make sure to Like the video if you enjoy it, subscribe to my YouTube if you haven't yet and as always thanks for watching, ciao!