Macan gets a nip and a tuck and it’s a beauty

I told you a few weeks ago that you’d better get used to it: you are going to be seeing the words Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) over and over in the coming months.

Every manufacturer is pushing SUV products into their range or refreshing their SUV products to remain competitive because this is where the sales numbers are. Don’t believe me?

Porsche started building SUVs a few years ago and the car world choked on their tea biscuits. Now think Bentley with Bentayga, Rolls Royce with Cullinan, and even the supercar poster maker Lamborghini is in on the act with the Urus. How long before Ferrari brings out a SUV?

Enough of the silliness. Let’s get to the refreshed Porsche Macan. It has not only undergone a bit of a nip and tuck, but the Macan now also gives you the best price point to enter the Porsche brand at R849 000.

On the outside you get LED headlights up front, with fourpoint brake lights and the now distinctive Porsche three-dimensional LED tail-light strip.

The front and rear ends have been subtly reworked, too, and this leaves the Macan with an evolved and recognisable look.

Four new colours are Miami Blue, Mamba Green Metallic, Dolomite Silver Metallic and Crayon. On the inside the Macan offers comprehensive connectivity via the Porsche communication management system. The full-HD touchscreen has increased in size, from 7.2 to 10.9-inches, and this user interface can be adapted with predefined tiles.

With full connectivity as standard, the new system offers improved online navigation and Porsche connect plus. You also get a GT sports steering wheel, ala 911, with a performance mode switch integrated, including a Sport Response button, all as part of the optional Sport Chrono Package.

There is traffic-jam assist that uses adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist to keep your Macan on the straight and narrow. As is the trend across all manufacturers, sweet-sounding, eco unfriendly, naturally aspirated engines are making way for smaller, eco-friendly, not so nice sounding, turbocharged engines. And Porsche is not immune.

The two engine versions available are the 260kW/480Nm, 3.0-litre V6 turbo, in the Macan S, and the 180kW/370Nm, 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo in the Macan model.

This translates into a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 254km/h with the Sport Chrono Package on the Macan S, and 6.7 sec 225km/h on the Macan. As per usual Porsche’s PDK seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and PTM all-wheel drive are responsible for getting the power down to the tar.

In Sport mode, the gear shifts are quicker and in Normal mode, the box moves rapidly up through the gears to save fuel.

In combination with the adaptive cruise control, the modified PDK now also offers coasting mode, which additionally reduces fuel consumption under real driving conditions. And the optimised auto start-stop function also makes a further contribution to increased efficiency.

We drove the 2.0-litre at the launch in the Western Cape. This particular model did everything expected in an unfussed way. Being a Porsche means the driving dynamics of the Macan remain its core claim to fame.

To stay top of the pile means you get a revamped chassis and mixed-size tyres under you. Although you would not push the limits in a 180kW 2.0-litre, during the dynamic driving we did do, the SUV acquitted itself well – and all other departments, too.

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