Porsche Macan Review 2024

If you want your sporty SUV to be as sporty as it can possibly be, the Porsche Macan is the only choice. It drives with a level of polish that no rival can even come close to matching, making it terrifically enjoyable and hugely desirable. Yes, rivals like the Audi Q5, BMW X4 and Mercedes GLC are more practical, and better equipped, and although they’re also really good to drive, they can’t get close to the Macan for fun. Read on for our full review of the Porsche Macan.

Cynicism is a funny old thing. The cynic in you might suspect that the Macan is nothing more than Porsche being, well, cynical.

After all, SUVs - especially small ones, and especially ones with prestige badges - have been flying out of showrooms for a number of years now. So surely, the Macan is nothing more than Porsche attempting to cash in on this success and get a bigger slice of the pie than the larger Cayenne can get on its own, right?

Well, maybe, maybe not. But whatever the case, that doesn’t stop the Macan being a proper Porsche. As we’ll discover, the Macan isn’t perfect by any means, but at doing the things that Porsche is famous for, it’s pretty much flawless.

Obviously, there’s one area above all others where a Porsche has to deliver, and that’s in how it drives. And on that score, the Macan is nothing short of sublime.

It displays physics-defying levels of body control when you change direction, and with massive grip and wonderful balance from a rear-biased four-wheel drive system, it’ll simply drive away from any rival along a twisty road, putting a broad grin on your face as it does so.

Even better is the steering, which just like all the best Porsches, immerses you in the action every step of the way. What’s more the ride is comfortable enough for family car duties, and refinement is good enough to make long stints at the wheel an absolute pleasure.

All the engines punch hard, with more and more punch as you progress up the range, so performance levels are easily worthy of the Porsche badge. All in all, this thing isn’t just great to drive by SUV standards, it’s great to drive by any standard.

The other area in which a Porsche must dazzle is quality: after all, if you’re going to pay so much for a car, you want it to feel worth it. The Macan might be one of Porsche’s most affordable models, but it doesn’t feel like a poor relation, with a sumptuously trimmed and substantially built interior. 

In fairness, there are a fair few areas in which the Macan isn’t quite so dazzling. As we’ve said, it’s pricey compared with most rivals, and most of those rivals are considerably roomier, considerably more practical and considerably better equipped, particularly when it comes to safety (automatic emergency braking isn’t provided as standard, which defies belief at this money).

However, if the areas that are important to you are the areas in which the Macan does well, or you simply want to know that your family SUV is the sharpest-driving SUV on the face of the planet, then the Macan is your only choice.

Most versions come with a passive suspension as standard, where the pricier versions get an adaptive setup (this is optional on other versions) that varies its stiffness according to which of the various driving modes you select. Air suspension can also be specified across the board.

Body movements are so well controlled that you’d swear you were in a hatchback rather than a high-riding SUV, while there’s bags of grip and traction, not to mention wonderful balance from the Macan’s rear-biased four-wheel drive system.

The steering is the really special bit, though, because it’s responsive, precise, beautifully weighted and packed with confidence-inspiring feel.

Ride comfort is impressive, too, not quite as cosseting as the Audi Q5 on which it’s based, perhaps, but forgiving enough to keep you comfortable in the vast majority of situations.

The more complex arrangements - particularly the air suspension - do shield you a little better from the pitter-patter of grainy road surfaces, and are a little better at taking the sting out of potholes. They control their body movements a fraction better in corners, too.

All Macans are very fast, it’s just a question of how fast. The entry-level Macan has a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with 265PS. It feels lively, eager and keen to rev, and will see off the benchmark 0-62mph dash in 6.4 seconds. The T model uses the same engine and transmission but dashes off 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds, but shares the same 144mph top speed as the base Macan.

The S, meanwhile, has a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol with 380PS, and it feels a lot quicker. The GTS version uses a 440PS version of the same engine for even more authoratative acceleration.

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, Euro NCAP now lists the result as expired.

Were it to be re-tested, there's a good chance the Macan would score equally well as models now come with automatic emergency braking, which Porsche calls Multi Collision Brake. There's also the usual roster of airbags, lane keep assist, front and rear parking sensors, and cruise control with speed limiter.

All Porsche Macans can tow an unbraked trailer with a weight up to a maximum of 750kg. With a braked trailer, the maximum permissable for the Macan and T models os 2000kg, while the S and GTS can haul up to 2400kg.

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, headroom and legroom 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 above that 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.

The boot is a decent size, big enough for buggies and a few bags, and it’s a useful square shape with no load lip to negotiate.

However, rivals like the Audi Q5 and BMW X3 offer considerably more 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.

You won’t find many panels that fall below a very high 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 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. 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.

You can also upgrade the stereo with BOSE or Burmester options, which respectively cost £917 and £3695, so neither is cheap.

Porsche has dropped the diesel from the Macan line-up, so it's now an all-petrol range. It starts with the plain Macan that costs from £53,400, while the S with the same engine and PDK automatic gearbox is another £5000 on top of this.

The Macan S costs from £59,800, while the top of the range and quickest model is the GTS that starts at £71,700 to be considerably more expensive than the others.

The Macan is also a good bit more expensive than rivals from Audi and BMW, but it also holds its value extremely well, which will be good news for those who buy brand new, as they’ll get a decent chunk of their cash back when they sell on.

It’ll also be good news for finance customers, because it’ll help keep monthly bills down.

These strong residual values won’t be such great news for second-hand buyers, though, because they mean used examples will be that much pricier. Looking on the bright side, though, the car has been on sale since 2014, so lots of used examples are available and early ones have had plenty of time for their value to drop.

The Porsche Macan is not likely to be the first choice for anyone looking for the ultimate in fuel economy, especially as there's no diesel option anymore. Best of the petrol bunch for fuel efficiency are the Macan and T models, which both manage 28.0mpg under WLTP testing.

Next in line is the S version that register a combined average of 25.4mpg, while the GTS trails in last with a less than impressive 25.0mpg.

You wouldn’t expect insurance 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 44 (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 the cars have, especially the versions at the top of the range.

Porsche’s reliability record is somewhat less impressive when compared with Audis and BMWs, although to be fair, all those manufacturers sit disappointingly close to the bottom of the standings in the Warranty Direct Reliability Index.

You'll be saddled with paying at least £2220 for the first year's road tax in a Macan, while the GTS version tips into the even higher category with a charge of £2605. THat's going to hurt, but at least all models then revert to a £180 charge in subsequent years.

The 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 priceir your Macan is, the sportier it looks), or enhancing its dynamic performance (suspension systems, exhausts, Sport Chrono Pack). 

The base Macan has a powered tailgate, cruise control, auto headlights and wipers, climate control, heated seats, and part synthetic leather upholstery. It also comes on 19-inch alloy wheels, while the T and S models upgrade to 20-inch items, and the GTS sits on 21-inch rims.

The S and GTS come with the three-mode suspension set-up, as well as the Sport Chrono Pack that improves acceleration times. The T has leather seats, like the S and GTS, and all Macans have a 10.9-inch touchscreen infotainment display.