I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d say this but (and I’m somewhat ashamed to say) I like an SUV, the Porsche Macan.
I didn’t really have high hopes for it, and my scepticism goes back a few years, when the Macan was but a rumour that the internet nicknamed the Cajun (short for Cayenne Junior).
It was no secret Porsche was plotting something smaller and less pricey to slot in below its runaway best-seller, the Cayenne (the big SUV accounts for nearly half of all Porsches sold today). After all, if the Cayenne was such a big hit, just think what the Cajun could do for Zuffenhausen’s bottom line.
Going by that logic, if I thought the Cayenne was a cynical car, designed to fuel profits rather than the petrolhead’s soul, the Cajun would be an even more cynical one. Even back then, it was known that the baby Cayenne would rest on Audi Q5 underpinnings and have shared drivetrains with its automotive Group sibling.
Profit margins, therefore, would be enormous, and coupled with Porsche’s fabled options list (body-coloured headlight washer nozzles are cost-optional items, for instance), you could almost hear the bean-counters in Stuttgart squealing with delight at the prospect of the Macan.
Fast forward to the end of 2013 and Porsche officially announced the newest addition to its family with a concurrent launch on both sides of the Pacific at the LA and Tokyo motor shows.
The Macan, as the Cajun would eventually be known, takes its name from the Indonesian word for “tiger”, and to be fair, this “cat” looks like a particularly funky one, with a rump that takes cues from the Sport Turismo concept car.
Attractive though I thought it was, I still can’t get around the feeling that the Macan’s sole purpose in life is to make money; to be sold in the thousands to people who care more about their own self-image than the marque’s heritage.
Indeed, Porsche predicts the Macan will sell around 50,000 units a year. It’s doing just as well in Singapore – around the time of its local launch, dealer Stuttgart Auto collected some 250 orders for the Macan, which would nearly double the Porsche dealer’s total annual sales in 2013.
In light of all that, I was prepared to hate it. My loathing of the Macan lasted until I found myself picking up the keys to one for the purpose of a review. Even within the first five minutes, I knew the Macan would be something special.
Unlike the Cayenne, which feels more than a little bit overweight, the Macan feels every bit as lithe as its animal namesake. The chassis is taut, its suspension brilliantly damped and it’s a hoot to drive quickly. Most of all, like the best sporting Porsches, the Macan has a neutral, biddable nature that’s docile when driving “normally”, but comes alive when charging hard. And I haven’t yet gotten to the Macan’s stellar drivetrain with its lightning-quick PDK dual-clutch gearbox. And oh, did I also mention the Macan is practical?
It is quite simply the most complete car in Porsche’s range at the moment – a jack of all trades and a master of most of them.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have to start my holiday bingeing early by eating my own words…
