Right then, let’s get to what the car’s about. In a Porsche – any Porsche – seats and a-c vents and buttons are one thing, but the engine and feel of the car, as a whole, that’s what stands out, sometimes by a country mile. Named after the Malaysian tiger, Porsche have gone many extra miles to make sure that the Macan does feel light on its feet and is extremely agile, like its namesake.
The heart of this tiger is a 3.6-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol. With a wide 96-mm bore and 83-mm stroke, it’s a big bore motor, very rev-happy and sports car-like, and the peak output of 400 PS at 6,000 RPM is joined by a hefty 550 Nm of torque, which peaks at as low as 1,350 RPM and stays flat and strong till the needle approaches peak power revs. The seven-speed Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) twin-clutch automatic transmission drives all four wheels, with the front running a higher ratio than the rear.
Pop the Porsche-shaped key in the slot, turn it and the blown V6 comes to life with a growl, the glory amplified by those quad exhaust pipes. Slot the tall gear lever into ‘Drive’ and off we go. On the road, the Macan Turbo is nimble and picks up speed like a tiger chasing down its supper. The sprint to 100 km/h takes just 5.2 seconds and the top speed is over 260 km/h. That’s commendable for a near two-tonne compact SUV.
Yes, the Macan may be the smaller of the two SUVs from the Porsche stable, but this V6 bi-turbo still weighs in at 1,925 kg. That weight is never a discernible figure, mind you. The Macan gathers speed and sheds it just as quickly, making it seem a few hundred kilos lighter than it actually is. Dropping the anchors at 80 km/h saw the Macan Turbo come to a standstill in just 2.5 seconds, having covered just about 23 metres. Impressive stuff that. More impressive is the ride quality. Even on those big, optional 20” wheels, the ride was very good. The optional air suspension is a class-first, responsible for the sublime ride quality. At no point did a thud or a jerk upset me or, for that matter, the balance of the car.
