Porsche Macan Review 2024

If you buy an SUV, chances are that you have a family. After all, if you didn’t, you could get away with driving a Cayman or a Boxster instead. However, if you want a car that’ll get as close as possible to true-blue thoroughbred sports cars like those, but still have room for 2.4 children and a family labrador, then the Macan is your best bet. 

Yes, rivals like the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC are more practical, and they’re also really good to drive, but on the latter score, the Macan simply leaves everything else for dust. This is a car that can drop your kids at school and your labrador to the dog-sitter’s, and then thrills your socks off on the way to work. Performance SUVs are nothing unusual these days, but in terms of pure driving thrills, this is the best of the lot.

Sporty SUVs were something of a rarity once upon a time, but not any more. Audi, BMW and Mercedes all offer powerful, performance-focused versions of the Audi Q5, BMW X3 (and BMW X4) and Mercedes GLC, respectively, so they will all have a say in where your money goes. 

Jaguar Land Rover might also have a say with the Jaguar F-Pace and the Range Rover Velar, while the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio might tempt you with its flamboyant styling and its nutcase of an engine. There are cheaper options on offer, too, such as the Cupra Ateca, which gives you lots of performance and handling ability for a fraction of the price of the rest.

You'd expect a Porsche’s interior to impress here, and the Macan’s obliges in fine style. The materials on show look and feel suitably plush, with touchy-feely cushioned surfaces sprinkled liberally all over the cabin, giving a very sophisticated feel. You won’t find many panels that fall below that standard, and those that do are all tucked away well out of sight. 

The assembly feels just as solid and as sturdy, too, giving you the feeling that the Macan will last the test of time. Sure, an Audi Q5 and BMW X3 are just as plush and just as solid, but the Porsche Macan lacks nothing in comparison.

The standard upholstery in most versions is a part-synthetic-leather-part-synthetic-suede affair, and it makes the cabin feel posh enough without need for an optional upgrade. That said, the Turbo comes with full leather and a suede-effect headliner as standard, and this does feel appreciably posher.

Early Macans were rather disappointing in this area. All versions got a rather diddy 7.2-inch touchscreen system, meaning that the on-screen icons were rather small and tricky to hit first time without concentrating super-hard, distracting you from the road ahead. What’s more, early Porsche Macans required customers to pay extra for a whole heap of things, and so unless the original buyer stumped up a few quid, your system will be missing some key functionality. Even a Bluetooth phone connection isn’t standard.

The 2019 facelift, however, brought in a new infotainment system that was much more like it. This utilises a bigger 10.9-inch touchscreen, making the icons easier to pick out, while the graphics are much sharper and the responses to inputs were quicker. A few of the menus are rather convoluted, but it’s still a big improvement. So is the functionality on offer, as Bluetooth, a DAB radio and sat-nav are all provided as standard. So is Apple Carplay, but Android Auto isn’t supported.

If you’re looking for the most practical car of this type, then the Macan isn’t it. The front seats are fine for space, but in the back, legroom and headroom are quite a bit tighter than they are in most rivals, particularly the latter. You should fit okay if you fall short of the six-foot mark, but anyone taller might struggle. 

You won’t want to try fitting three people in the back on a regular basis, either. The cabin is rather on the narrow side and a bulky central transmission tunnel robs the middleman of foot space. What’s more, while many rivals offer rear seats that slide, recline and all sorts of other clever stuff, there’s none of that in the Porsche.

The Porsche Macan's boot is a decent size at 458 litres, big enough for buggies and a few bags, and it’s a useful square shape with no load lip to negotiate when lobbing heavy items in. However, rivals like the Audi Q5 and BMW X3 offer considerably more in the way of capacity. That said, the Macan does give you rear seats that fold in a 40-20-40 arrangement, giving you extra versatility when carrying large loads, taking rear boot space up to 1503 litres.

If your Porsche Macan will be tucked away in a garage overnight you'd be interested to note its dimensions make it 4,726mm long, 1,596mm tall and 1,927mm wide (with the mirrors folded in) and 2,097mm with them out. 

The engine you get in your Macan will depend on the version you buy, obviously, but also when it was made. Porsche made tweaks to the engine lineup through the car’s life, so there are quite a few small variations in the precise figures involved. All you really need to know is that all of them are very fast, it’s just a question of how fast.

The entry-level Porsche Macan received a few tweaks, but it always had a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with somewhere in the region of 250PS. It feels lively, eager and keen to rev, and will see off the benchmark 0-62mph dash in a little over six seconds.

The Porsche Macan S, meanwhile, has a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol with around 340PS, which cuts that dash to around five-and-a-half, although the precise figures will depend not only on the age of your car, but also whether the optional Sport Chrono Package (which makes it a shade quicker) is fitted. It feels a good bit quicker than the entry car, and makes for an appreciably more frenetic experience behind the wheel. The Porsche Macan GTS version uses a 360PS version of the same engine for a fraction more freneticism.

For the most frenetic experience of all, you’ll want the Porsche Macan Turbo. Early ones had a 3.6-litre twin-turbo V6 with 400PS, while post facelift Turbo swap this out for a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 with 440PS. Both are dazzlingly fast, searing from 0-62mph in less than five seconds, and because there’s effortless pull from anywhere on the rev range, this blistering performance is only ever a flex of your right ankle away.

If you want your Porsche Macan to combine its strong performance with decent real-world fuel economy, you can even have a diesel version, although it’s worth noting that this engine was discontinued in 2018 after diesel fuel became evil in the eyes of environmentalists. It’s a 3.0-litre V6 unit with a very useful 258PS, so it’s easily quick enough to let you make the most of the car’s thrilling handling. It’s impressively flexible, too, with bags of low-end urge.

All Macans come fitted with a seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox, which is nothing short of fabulous. Changes are smooth and unobtrusive when you want them to be, yet brisk and businesslike when you’re getting a move-on, and it always seems to select the correct ratio at the first time of asking.

Mostly, Porsche has got its engines spot-on here. Bung a few revs on the dial, and they sound as throaty and as melodic as you expect as you pile on the speed, the Turbo especially. And then, once you’re up to speed and you ease off, they fade away neatly into the background, with only the merest hint of noise and vibration making their way into the cabin. Even the diesel is pretty good on that score. 

The exception is the entry-level petrol. It’s fine in isolation, but compared with the rest, it sounds a little bit buzzy and breathless when you’re picking up speed. It still stays hushed at 70mph, though.

Wind noise is also really well contained at motorway cruising speeds, and although you do hear a bit of road noise being kicked up by the fat tyres, it’s nothing that’s going to spoil the calm. Yes, the Porsche Macan is at its best in twists and turns, but this is also a very civilised way to munch through motorway miles.

The Macan has been crash tested by Euro NCAP, and achieved the full five stars. However, that was way back in 2014, and because the standards and thresholds of these tests get tougher year on year, we’re not sure the result would be the same if it were tested today. 

Why? Well, because there’s a key piece of equipment missing from the Porsche Macan’s roster of standard safety kit: automatic emergency braking. It’s available, but buyers are required to pay extra for it, and very few bothered. This is a system that’s commonplace on most hatchbacks these days, and for it to cost extra on a car as expensive as the Macan is, in our opinion, really cheeky. Lane-keeping assistance and blindspot monitoring also live on the options list.

The standard roster does include lane departure warning, though, along with six airbags, electronic traction and stability systems and a system that locks on the brakes in the event of a smash to help prevent further impacts.

Porsche has a good reputation for reliability, scoring in the top 10 manufacturers in the HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index with a rating of 88.7%. As with all modern vehicles with advanced electrical components, there's always the risk of something acting up but the Porsche Macan has not received reports of any major faults or common issues. 

You wouldn’t expect premiums to be a snip on any Porsche, even one that’s relatively small and affordable as the Macan is. And indeed they aren’t. Insurance groupings sit between 35 and 47 (of 50, with 50 being the most expensive) depending on which version you go for. Even so, it’s still a little surprising they’re not even higher considering the power they have, especially the versions at the top of the range.

Buy a Porsche Macan registered after April 1st 2017, and you’ll pay the flat rate of £150 every year, and between years two and six of the car’s life, you’ll also pay an additional £325 surcharge on top. That’s because all Macans cost more than £40,000 when new. Cars registered before that date pay VED based on their CO2 emissions. You’ll pay £205 per year on the diesel and £240 per year on the 2.0-litre petrol, while on all other versions, you’ll pay an annual fee of £330.

The Porsche Macan doesn’t really have trim levels as such, with each version differing mostly by the engine that’s under the bonnet. The pricier models do add a few items of extra kit, but it’s mainly stuff aimed at either enhancing the styling of the car (the pricer you Macan is, the sportier it looks), or enhancing its dynamic performance (various suspension systems, exhausts, etc). 

The precise amount of luxury kit you get with your Macan will depend on how old your car is. Post facelift models all came with three-zone climate control, front and rear parking sensors, alloy wheels, a powered tailgate, cruise control, part-Alcantara seats, LED headlights, power-folding door mirrors and automatic lights and wipers. Bear in mind, though, that earlier cars came with a lot less as standard, requiring buyers to add items as optional extras, so used examples will probably have fewer features.