What is it?
Having been launched in 2014, the Porsche Macan recorded its best ever year of sales in 2017.
With upwards of 97,000 of these entry-level Porsche five-doors having been sold around the globe in those 12 months alone - an outright record for any Porsche model - demand for the Macan is showing little sign of slowing down. By the end of this year, Porsche expects close to 400,000 to have found homes over the past five years.
Given that the Macan was still proving to be such an unqualified hit among compact SUV buyers, we shouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that this midlife facelift amounts to not much more than a tweaked front end with LED lights, plus a restyled rear that now incorporates a full-width light bar – a nod to the Porsche Panamera and Porsche Cayenne that have been replaced wholesale in the past 18 months or so.
Within the cabin, there is now a 10.9in touchscreen and the latest Porsche Communications Management software, which again keeps the Macan in line with Porsche’s more expensive family models, although its centre console is still the festival of buttons that Porsche has moved away from with the Panamera and Cayenne.
No specific claims are made for revised spring rates here or tweaked damper curves there, apart from the usual fine tuning that goes on throughout any car’s life cycle. The V6 engine in this mid-range Macan S, however, is new, borrowed from higher up Porsche’s model range with its turbocharger located within the valley formed by the two banks of cylinders for sharper throttle response. The 3.0-litre unit develops 349bhp and 354lb ft of torque.
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Porsche Macan
Of the Macan Andrew Frankel says ‘brake so early and corner relatively slowly’ and Dan Prosser ‘you just drive it the way you would a hot hatch’. Hmm. I know who whose comment I believe.
Progress. The Macan is almost
Progress. The Macan is almost as good to drive as a hot hatch. Much more expensive and less efficient than a hot hatch of course, but that’s the price you pay for your self-esteem issues.