2022 Porsche Macan review: Australian first drive

The Porsche Macan SUV has been putting the famous and revered badge on people’s driveways for eight years now. Following on from the bigger Cayenne, the Macan is arguably a bit more of a real Porsche than the big one. Lighter, lithe and with a shorter, sportier wheelbase.

The Porsche look works better on the Macan, too, which is why the 2019 facelift hardly did anything to upset the looks and merely improved on them.

For 2022, the Macan has had a more technical upgrade. The engine count is down to two, spread across three models, each with a mild uplift in features inside and out. Prices are up as well but the entry level still gets you into a Porsche for well under a hundred grand and with more seats than most of them.

It’s still fundamentally the same car from 2014, though, which in car years is a long time ago, irrespective of COVID’s time-bending abilities. The Macan has a lot more competition with which to contend and a much more demanding marketplace.

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Pricing and features

The entry-level Macan is just called Macan and starts at $84,800 before on-road costs. The only one of the three powered by a four-cylinder turbo, it comes with such nice things as LED headlights, 19-inch alloys, three-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, a 10-speaker stereo powered by 10.9-inch touchscreen and Apple CarPlay, electric front seats, cruise control, leather, dual-zone climate control, sat-nav, metallic paint and plenty more besides, including a huge optional sunroof.

Step up to the Macan S and you score the twin-turbo V6, 20-inch alloys, active suspension management, 14-speaker Bose stereo and slightly different interior and exterior trim for $105,800 before on-road costs.

The top step of the Macan podium is the GTS. It gets more power from the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6, 21-inch alloy wheels, the driver memory package and an upgraded Porsche Traction Management system that prioritises power to the rear. It also scores brakes with a tungsten carbide coating on the discs, which means a harder surface and less brake dust.

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The GTS Sport package swaps the alloys for different black ones, Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres, a new diff with torque vectoring, some styling changes inside and out and a heated steering wheel, as well as liberal use of RaceTex, a textile suede. The GTS will set you back $129,800 before on-road costs.

The Sport Chrono Package, which delivers faster 0-100km/h times is available on the Macan and Macan S for $1880 and is standard on the GTS.

The Macan has a curiously short safety list, with eight airbags, ABS, stability and traction control, lane change assist and lane departure warning. Add to that top-tether anchorages and two ISOFIX points and that’s your lot.

If you want auto emergency braking (AEB) – a feature that really should be standard – you’ll need to spec the nearly $2000 Active Cruise Control package. The AEB works from 30-120km/h and also detects pedestrians. There is no reverse cross-traffic alert either.

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Comfort and space

If you’re not familiar with the Macan, it’s between the size of an Audi Q3 and Audi Q5. In fact, it shares a lot with its bigger Audi cousin, based as it is on the VW Group’s MLB platform, although it rides on a shorter wheelbase at 2709mm.

The Macan is a low-rider for an SUV and so once you’re in, it doesn’t feel that much higher than a car. Remember normal cars? You also sit low behind the steering wheel, which is now plucked from the 911 and Panamera lines so you get that little bit more 'proper' Porsche in your Macan.

All three versions have very comfortable seats but the grippier and slightly grabbier front chairs in the GTS are really excellent. The RaceTex synthetic suede is a little cooler on hot days when you get in and the fabric helps hold you in place.

The biggest change is a new console layout that (mostly) chucks physical buttons and replaces it with what looks like a black panel.

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When you fire up the car, all the soft buttons light up underneath, which is quite cool and really cleans up the visual clutter of too many buttons.

There is a little bit of haptic feedback when you press something, but you can’t find the buttons by feel, which isn’t ideal – but I suppose you’ll memorise everything. Thankfully the fan and temperature controls are physical.

The rear seats are a little tighter than others in this class, including the brother-from-another-mother Audi Q5 as the Macan has a more compact wheelbase. It’s still comfortable, with a well-shaped seat, decent headroom even with the sunroof fitted (although for people too far over 180cm in height it will become difficult) and you can get your feet under the front seat.

You also get your own climate zone and the rear air vents to go with it.

As for storage, this is very much an interior that dates back a while. It’s not a bad thing, you do get cup holders front and rear and bottle holders in each door, but there’s nowhere really to put your phone.

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A wide slot on the centre console ahead of the cup holders will do but one big braking manoeuvre or fast cornering and it’ll be trapped down between the console and the seat. You know, where the key ends up when it falls out of your pocket.

All Macans have a powered tailgate, opened with a button on the base of the wiper arm, which is rather clever. In the base Macan you have 488 litres to start with and if you put all the seats down, you get a fairly decent 1503 litres.

The S and GTS have slightly less cargo space, with an opening bid of 468 litres and a maximum of 1468 litres. The loading lip isn’t flush with the floor, but it’s only a couple of inches.

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On the road

Porsche offers two engines in the Macan range, both of them petrol. I get a lot of questions about the diesel Macan, but it’s a goner and has been since 2018. Porsche is also skipping hybrid for the Macan, with this car to continue alongside the all-electric replacement in 2023.

The 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder is new according to Porsche. With a new turbocharger, it delivers 195kW and a very handy 400Nm of torque, which is 30Nm more than before. Further improvements include higher fuel pressure (360 bar) and Porsche says it now runs cleaner, too.

The Macan S now has the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 spinning out 280kW (up 20kW) and 520Nm (up 40Nm) in the S, both figures being modest but useful increases. The 2.9 replaces the 3.0-litre V6 on the S, which explains the reduction in the number of available engines.

The Macan GTS, which is the top of the line, has the same V6 but with 324kW, an impressive increase of 44kW. Torque has risen by 30Nm to 550Nm.

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If you want to earn some nerd points, the turbos are in a hot-side inside installation, which means they’re in the vee of the engine. That means a very short path for the exhaust gases to spin them up, reducing lag.

All Macans are all-wheel drive and have a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission Porsche calls PDK. In the GTS you get an upgraded version of the all-wheel-drive system that is keener to push power to the rear end.

I’ll start with the Macan. On the road, it’s very comfortable and with the still-impressive power outputs of the four will sprint to 100km/h in the mid-six-second range, give or take some tenths depending on whether you have the Sports Chrono Pack (which is standard in the GTS). The 2.0-litre spins very cheerfully and the PDK shifts equally happily in either direction.

The calibration of the automatic mode is very impressive, even more so when you shift into Sport mode which amps up throttle and gearbox response. You can feel that the Macan is lighter but also that the wheels are smaller and therefore higher-sidewall tyres are fitted.

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When you’re puddling about town or on the highway, it’s a very comfortable and swift SUV. Quiet, too; you’ll barely notice it even has an engine in Comfort mode and in Sport you just get a very subtle bark on the upshift.

Pushing through the corners, the Macan moves around a bit on its tyres, but the stability systems keep things in check while still letting you have some fun.

Jump up to the GTS and it’s immediately apparent that this is quite a different machine to the base car. The air suspension delivers a very compliant ride in any of the three pre-set modes (selectable on a Manettino-style dial) but from the get-go you know it’s the most purposeful of the three.

And it should be for the money. The 2.9-litre twin-turbo serves up the power very quickly and the all-wheel drive just grips and goes. The brakes are huge and coated in tungsten carbide which Porsche says is ten times harder than grey cast-iron discs. The GTS and S share red-painted six-pot calipers but the GTS’s discs are a full 30mm further across at 390mm.

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The GTS feels like a big hot hatch – it’s agile, fun and unlike its rivals from BMW and Mercedes, won’t try and spit you off a bumpy road. The brakes are super strong and the steering is well-weighted, with plenty enough feel to let you know what you need to do next. It’s terrific fun.

The pick of the range, however, is probably the S (unless money is no object). It’s a leap up from the entry-level car, with the twin-turbo V6, bigger wheels and tyres and adaptive damping. Together that delivers plenty of power, grip and a big step up in handling prowess.

Like the GTS, the V6 in the S pulls hard and from low revs and while the ride will run out of answers on a really bumpy road, you’re not that far behind the flagship overall – although it’s worth pointing out that the S I drove was fitted with optional 21-inch wheels and Pirelli P-Zero rubber.

While its limits aren’t as high as the GTS, with more body roll and a less compliant ride, it’s really not that much slower either in a straight line or in the twisties.

I mean, you’d get the GTS, but if you didn’t have the twenty grand, you’re not getting short-changed in the S. The entry-level car isn’t a slouch, but it’s looking for an easier life than the V6 versions.

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Ownership

Porsche offers a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty which, like BMW’s and Audi’s, is too short for this price level. Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km and there isn’t a capped-price regime or pre-paid servicing.

Like the safety package, it could and should be better.

VERDICT

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Macan is how the depth of engineering of the 2014 original is still delivering today. It’s not like Porsche rested on its laurels – the SUV has evolved on an almost yearly basis as the market has expanded – but nor has it just waved a few bits and pieces at the Macan.

It’s still tremendous, civilised fun. It’s a Porsche the whole family can enjoy and even in GTS form is still very friendly despite near-supercar straight-line performance and a very accomplished chassis. The entry-level car will work for those fans of the brand who just want to get on the ladder and the S will likely satisfy everyone.

It could do with better safety and aftersales package but as you can probably tell, they’re about the only things that haven’t gotten better in the last eight years.

This Macan is going to live on for a while longer too as Porsche will continue to sell it alongside the all-electric next-generation car due in 2022. It should do just fine.

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2022 Porsche Macan specifications