On April 12 the all-new Porsche’s SUV — Porsche Macan — goes on sale. No matter where my soul gravitates, which cars make my heart beat faster forcing it to jump out, which cars I consider to be the most beautiful and perfect masterpieces, no matter how much I admire Sergio Pininfarina or Ugo Zagato, Ian Callum or Wolfgang Egger, there is still one brand which can overlap all my passions and affections by precise German perfection. It is like the golden ratio or the zero milestone — it is the reference point for everything.
Those seven cherished letters open the doors to the large and wonderful world of genuine cars which have no equals starting from 1931. People are ready to take any chances just to become members of this exclusive club. They are even ready to buy the old and sick car just to have the right to give a proud answer to the question “What car do you have?” — “It’s a Porsche!”
Back in the day they built Boxster for this kind of enthusiasts and it was even called “a Porsche for the poor” though it was clear that hardly any poor could buy a car like that. Well at least students and other representatives of gilded youth coming from rich families could afford it, while it was beyond their purse and status to drive the 911. Boxster became some type of an entrance ticket into the world of Porsche, it was the first step on the way to owning the desirable fetish. That was back in 1996.
It was a long time ago and a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. New faces and models were coming up, including the Panamera and Cayenne, and Porsche even had to leave the world of motor sports to develop these brands which actually was the right sacrifice. Then they started upgrading the existing lineup and the world saw totally fabulous all-new Porsche Cayman and 911.
So what now? Now a full circle was complete. The well-acknowledged leading car manufacturer returned to the racing tracks and together with that it revealed its new member of Porsche’s “holy family” to the world — the clean-cut sporty and handsome Porsche Macan. Like the Boxster, for someone it might become a wonderful ticket into the world of Porsche as its price starts just at... 2,550,000 RUB (approx. €52,000).
The more I think about it, the better I understand that Porsche Macan is the major consistency of the entire family lineup of these vehicles. It just completed the circuit of the engineering and designing conception, became the result of cross breeding between its “father” 911 on one side and “mother” Cayenne on the other side. Well, it’s impossible for a child to have two fathers after all, isn’t it? So now it’s the time for Porsche’s lineup to grow sideways like, for instance, it happened to the 918 Spyder.
Just look at them — 911, Cayman, Panamera, Cayenne and now the Macan. They all resemble each other like the children of the same parents, like members of one family, and that’s what the designers of these cars were striving for.
Take Macan, for instance. If you put it next to Cayenne, you might be really surprised at first. And then later, when your eye gets accustomed, you start seeing the differences — Macan is a bit lower and shorter, it uses new bonnet and roof lines. Its front part has distinctive features and the rear part looks slim and sporty. Its wheelbase is 88 mm shorter also reducing the rear compartment — it has less space for the passengers and for the luggage. It has new sophisticated lights where every diode is equipped with its own lens to shine in the right direction.
Its steering wheel, on the other hand, was borrowed from the 918 Spyder. Not in full of course, as it was modified and made bigger for the Macan, but it still has some family traits and the company is not planning to use this steering wheel in any other model. By the way, the entire steering system was developed from the ground up with 8 million Euro and an unbelievable quantity of engineering and testing man-hours spent. But now it’s almost perfect and they finally removed all those silly buttons from it! Now the Macan features just the paddle shifters which turn together with the steering wheel!
Upon our arrival to the hotel in Morocco, where the test-drive was held, we just gasped at the view of the golden beautiful car with yellow brake callipers which was waiting for us in front of the main entrance. Naturally, everyone rushed to take some pictures. But I didn’t... And that’s a pity as it was the most beautiful colour we have seen. Well, the white one was also great.
We were provided with cars featuring three types of engines and trims for the test session. The first one was Macan S fitted with the petrol 3.0-litre biturbo V6 delivering 340 hp and accelerating to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds. The second one was Macan Turbo also run by petrol featuring a 3.6-litre biturbo V6 engine producing 400 hp and demonstrating a 0-to-100-km/h time of 4.6 seconds. The third one was also a Macan S but powered by turbo-diesel 3.0-litre engine tuned to produce 258 hp. Unfortunately, the cars fitted with diesel engines will not hit our market till the year 2015 which is really a pity as this car turned out to be an all-round success. Nevertheless, the other two also made our day.
Interesting to know is that Macan has become the first vehicle in the segment of compact SUVs which has the air suspension option as standard. It means that all Macans delivered to the Russian market will be equipped with this type of suspension which costs almost 170,000 RUB (approx. €3,500) coming as an option for the Cayenne.
But in spite of this fact, the new all-wheel drive car still cannot be called an off-road vehicle. It is capable of conquering difficult road conditions, it can go up and down steep high-angle hills, it has an off-road mode but it still has the habits on an absolutely asphalt animal.
It is traditionally equipped with the dual-clutch PDK gearbox and a multi-plate clutch complemented with the active all-wheel drive layout thanks to which Macan has the behaviour of the rear-wheel drive vehicle where the torque distribution varies in the range from 20x80 to 30x70. And that is if we talk about driving on the asphalt. Changes in road surface are followed by a different torque distribution scheme. We had a 50x50 ratio but not quite often as we couldn’t meet the appropriate conditions. Theoretically, Macan might have even a two-wheel or front-wheel drive layout in some point but it’s a rather notional possibility.
All in all, it’s a very comfortable car, although it will not come as a surprise for a person familiar with any Porsche vehicle. It features the same dashboard, with the upper section focused on the infotainment options and the lower one dedicated to other controls. The tachometer is the most dominant gauge in the instrument panel paying a tribute to the sports character of every Porsche vehicle with the ignition on the left due to the company’s Le Mans heritage brought from the 70s...
It also features utterly comfortable seats which wrap you around from all sides and allow adding your own adjustments. When you sit there looking at the wonderful steering wheel borrowed from the 918 model you just forget that you are inside the cabin of a city crossover. You imagine yourself behind the wheel of a race car standing on the start line of a new competition. Then again those are the dreams of something bigger. Yes. Sure. An entry ticket into the world of Porsche.
