Thread: Macan Turbo
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Old 09-30-2018, 10:56 AM   #1
equ
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: 981S, 340i
Posts: 9,580
Macan Turbo

I had been shopping for the JGC replacement for a while, irrespective of the accident. I genuinely like diesel. Criteria were:
- Snow capability: AWD a must, clearance a plus
- Better ride/handling than the JGC
- Tow hitch a must, roof rails a plus

Touareg TDI was where I started. It handled better, but did not "pop" enough. I could also feel strange rpm/shift/warm-up/sluggishness post-emissions diesel fix.

This made me move to Cayenne Diesels. Similar space to T-reg. Better drive (not by much but a bit) and much better interior. Much better warranty.. In case you guys are interested, they are now going for 4/50 + 2/unlim diesel warranty extension for all of them. With CPO, that takes it to 8 years...

I drove a few, the color/options of the close ones weren't right. I was getting ready to make a distance purchase. I thought I'd drive the Macan after a so-so Cayenne test. And wow, it was no baby Cayenne, it drove like a reasonably sporty car that had been reasonably well set up for the world. Neither audi nor bmw awd sedans have as good turn-in and steering unwind on slow turns. It felt good.

Drove the 4-banger, it felt peppy-ish, but reminded of the same engine of my A4 of yore and C's current GTI, pass. Drove the S a few times. Not bad engine, but not enough torque at low rpm. Hardly any, actually. The way to make it feel ok is to constantly work the PDK. I wasn't in love with that experience.

Found a lower priced CPO Macan Turbo. I imagined that the 3.6 instead of 3.0 would give it better bottom end, and it does. Even without high revs, the car gets going smartly. And since it's a turbo it has pretty much every option once a package or two are specified. The Turbo I drove had the hitch and the roof rails. It had steel suspension (but with adjustable PASM shocks) and I felt a connection to the road. "Steel is real". I wasn't particularly interested in air suspension. I liked the idea of having both as the Macan is not a very large car. Luggage space is reasonable, back seat space is tight if the front seats are pushed back.

I looked at several colors. I absolutely disliked it in black. Grays were meh. I thought blue, white and silver were the best. Having two silver cars as it is, I limited to blue and white. Between that, the roof rails and tow hitch, I found two white ones at Porsche of Conshohocken. The hotter one had a red/black interior, 20" RS Spyder wheels and air suspension. I passed on that one (it also had 42k miles) and got a sleepier stealthier spec, beige interior with 30k miles. Ida's shedding won't show as much. I also like that the 19" tires will be much cheaper to replace. 235/55/19 and 255/50/19 front and rear vs. 265/40/20 and 295/35/20 front and rear.

It feels a bit strange to be driving a CUV, capable or not. Magazine tests put it at about 0.90g and it does have 400hp/406tq. Gets about 22 to 23mpg on the highway, which is a bit low but it is very comfortable in the front row and very confident at high or low speeds.
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