Porsche Macan review

The former, meanwhile, might be considered powerful enough to play the top-of-the-range performance starlet by most makers in the premium SUV niche – but it won’t for Porsche. That role will be played by the updated 400-and-something-horsepower Porsche Macan Turbo, which is set to join the range slightly later on, and will likely leave room for an upper-mid-range, extra-driver-focussed Porsche Macan GTS model to come later still.

Each of the Macan’s engines mount longways and low under the bonnet, and drive the rear axle primarily through a seven-speed twin-clutch ‘PDK’ gearbox – with a clutch-based ‘hang-on’ four-wheel system vectoring torque to the front wheels when the rear ones begin to slip.

For suspension, the car has fully independent axles and, in most cases, steel coil springs as standard, with Porsche having replaced the steel front struts of the pre-facelift car with aluminium ones and, it claims, consequently improved steering feedback and ride comfort. The car’s anti-roll bar rates have been reappraised, too, for even more balanced, neutral handling, while its front discs and brake pedal assembly has been redesigned for better stopping power and pedal feel.

As an alternative to fixed-height coil suspension, meanwhile, Macan owners can have height-adjustable air suspension, just as they could before – only now with new spring characteristics as a result of new rolling pistons and shock absorbers being fitted.

The interior of the Macan is little changed.  By comparison with Porsche’s newer, bigger models, it’s a cabin that’s beginning to look a touch antiquated, the transmission tunnel particularly being so busy with switchgear that a motoring journalist partial to the odd benign cliche might reasonably describe it as 'festooned' with buttons.

The car’s reshaped air vents, and the upgrade of its ‘PCM’ infotainment system, at least mean there are places where the cockpit looks more up to date, however, and it’s entirely well-built and comfortable. Although there are richer-feeling luxury SUVs you might spend Macan money on, there’s almost nowhere that the car’s cabin looks or feels anything but solid and expensively hewn. The driving position is great – much more recumbent and sporty-feeling than the SUV norm – and the placement of the major controls and instruments are spot-on. Second-row occupant comfort is decent, with taller adults more likely to notice a shortage of under-thigh support than of headroom: a result of the Macan’s fairly low hip point.

The ‘EA888’ 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine sounds slightly thin and reedy in the entry-level car, even when you use the car’s Sport and Sport Plus driving modes; it has enough torque to move the Macan along very smartly, but doesn’t rev out over the last 2000rpm of the tacho range quite as freely as in a VW Golf R or Cupra Ateca. Porsche’s paddleshift PDK gearbox is just about the best companion any performance engine could wish for, though, and works smartly and in slick style in ‘D’, and also shifts quickly in manual mode.

Even at the very bottom of the model range, then, the Macan feels unmistakably like a driver’s car. Move up to the 3.0-litre turbo V6 in the Macan S and you’ll find an engine that’s sharp and responsive, as well as being strong enough under a wide-open throttle to make you wonder if a more powerful Macan is really necessary.

How does the Macan perform on the road?

We’ve yet to drive the updated Macan on its standard steel coil suspension, but on its optional air springs it serves up ride and handling every bit as remarkable as the original version did five years ago, even compared with an updated set of rivals. The car steers with the weight, precision and feel of a sports saloon – and a really good one, at that. It turns with true agility, and can be positioned and guided with an accuracy and instinctiveness unknown to other over-assisted-feeling highrise performance SUVs. The car really involves.

Having a lower body profile and centre of gravity than the best compact SUVs, the Macan doesn’t need particularly firm spring rates to produce this handling dynamism, either – and so it rides surprisingly fluently in its more comfortable modes. The air suspension system lets you choose between three damper programs and two ride heights, and there’s no doubt that the car produces its most immediate, absorbing handling when hunkered down on its mixed-width alloy wheels.

At times, you wonder if the steel sprung version might deal slightly better with the lumps and edges typical of UK cross-country roads: there’s a slight sense of hollowness, and of minutely floating disconnectedness, about the car’s ride over tougher topography – particularly when bigger optional alloy wheels are fitted. In terms of close body control for fast B-road driving, then, standard steel suspension might actually be better for the car.