Dan Nagy

Thanks for sharing this experience! That’s helpful. I have a 911 so I don’t expect to duplicate that. My concern is highway use. I live at the beach in Delaware, and need to commute to an apartment in D.C. weekly. There are two lane country roads for about half of the commute, so I need something that can overtake slower cars at the short passing lanes. Does the four banger have the stuff for that? I intend to get the sport chrono, so maybe that would help with passing?

One final point. I am going to lease and a fully loaded base versus S is about a couple hundred a month difference.

wwahl

Your description of power needs says the base is the wrong car.

tk-porsche

The key here is not the 0-60 mph acceleration time, but when you are already at some highway speed and need rapid acceleration to overtake a vehicle, or other required quick adjustment. These charts might help:
http://accelerationtimes.com/models/porsche-macan
vs
http://accelerationtimes.com/models/porsche-macan-s
For example 60-80 kph is 1.6 sec vs. 0.9 sec in the Macan vs. Macan S, or 50-70 kph is by comparison 1.1 vs. 0.9 sec.
I would think your savings on gasoline with the base vs. the S would make a big difference in your commute over time, as well.

wwahl

You just proved my point that given the roads he has to travel he can't have enough uff da to get the job done with the base. He should get at least the S with maybe the Cobb AC reflash.

tk-porsche

More realistic is 100 kph to 120 kph (around 60-70 mph): 5.3 sec vs. 2.8 sec for the base vs. S. That's a really big difference!]
That said, my X3 28i xDrive (4-cyl, 2.0 liter, 240 bhp)) has never lacked for acceleration when I've needed it, it seems (also around 5.3 sec from 100 to 120 kph).

Dan Nagy

Thanks so much for digging that out. That’s helpful for sure.

Also thanks for the other replies. I’ll take a look at both next week.

tk-porsche

Happy to help! Again, sorry, the acceleration times on those charts are in kph, not mph, but easy enough to convert ( 1 mph = 1.609344 kph; 1.61 is close enough for calculations of this nature).

n2cars

I may have missed an earlier comment about "overtaking slower cars." The base won't cut it especially at speed. The sport chrono won't help either. That was the main reason we passed on the base model. When you're traveling at 70 mph and need to pass quickly the base can't do it. I lived in New Jersey. Drove from Princeton to Parsippany on the Jersey Turnpike. As you probably know the Jersey Turnpike is like a Nascar race. Bummper to bumper at 80 mph. As Mr T would say "I pity the poor fool driving a base model in this traffic." Get the S.

tk-porsche

This discussion reminds me of the old bear joke. Out in the woods, one camper asks another why they are wearing running shoes instead of hiking boots. The reponse is so that I can run in case a bear chases us. The person is asked whether they think they can outrun a bear?! The response is of course not, but there is no need to outrun the bear, just anyone else!

The point is, even a base model will give you acceleration above the average other motorist out there and, yes, having some extra umph is nice, but how often is it really necessary? Granted, I have not driven that much in the eastern US but am aware of the traffic congestion after a recent trip to North Carolina. Even the basic rental car we had proved to be adequate. Also, if the average speed of traffic is 70-80 mph, what need is there really to go any faster?

But to each their own ... if someone wants to pay the extra up-front and on-going operating costs of an S or Turbo and can afford it, that is their prerogative.

cometguy

I have driven across the USA in my base Macan, on lots of two-lane roads where I've needed to pass quickly. Not an issue. In fact, I've not noted any significant difference in getting the power I need to accelerate from, say, 50 mph to 80 mph quickly, vs. my 462-hp Panamera (which can do 0-60 in well under 4 sec). Never have I been concerned in passing quickly in my base Macan -- but then I don't do risky passing, either (nor should anybody).

John Ferguson

Bought a new 2018 Macan S off the lot almost two years ago as a DD to compliment my 981 GTS garage queen that I special ordered with almost 20K in options. This is my fourth new pcar, first pcar SUV.

Both my cars have PPP, including Entry and Drive, which I like. On either, press and hold "SET" until it beeps and lights. Release and immediately press and hold the number you wish to save those settings to until it beeps. If you wish to save the settings so that your car will recognize which key fob you have in your possession, press and hold "SET until it beeps and lights, then press and hold the "Key" button until it beeps. This will save the current seat / outside mirrors but not the rearview. That's it, don't press "SET" again. The problem I have is the "comfort access" setting causes my automatic settings to be confused, intermittently not returning the driver's seat to the correct position. Sometimes it moves a little, sometimes halfway, sometimes not at all until I press a button. Not uncommon and my dealer can't seem to fix it as it's intermittent and hard to replicate. I have demonstrated this behavior to the service advisor who acknowledges the problem but still no fix. My only fix is to turn off the "comfort access". This has resolved the issue as the seat doesn't move back when I shut it off so it doesn't have to return to the correct position. With "comfort access" off, it properly distinguished between my fob / settings and my wife's fob / settings. Since my back seats are always down, thought maybe it's bumping into the headrest with "comfort access" enabled but can't see evidence of this being the issue. Could return the seat to the upright position but don't want to have to leave it upright even if that fixes the issue.

When I first bought it, the right side mirror dipped when placed in reverse but stopped for some reason. Dealer had to reset some timer in PIWIS and it has worked fine since.

Twin Turbo V6 lags at low RPM in normal mode, improves in Sport but it's a turbo after all. The four didn't have enough power for me and even with PSE on the SE models, sound is wimpy. Pre 2019 S exhaust is a big improvement. Only get 16 mpg in normal mode using premium without ethanol combined driving is a little disappointing. And I don't drive fast.

Have 14 ways in my Macan, 18 ways in my 981 GTS. Macan replaced my 4WD Tacoma DD and wanted AWD or 4WD minimum. Test drove Bimmers, MB, Tacomas etc and found the Macan 14 ways ventilated / heated were the most comfortable seats available for me … have had 3 fusions and a spinal cord stimulator and must have adjustable lumbar support.

Never activated Porsche Connect, not even the "free" year. Useless to me but wanted NAV.

For those complaining about brake dust, my Porsche sports cars have all been much, much worse. IMO the brakes have excellent feel and love love love the functionality of the "Hold" when stopped. My 981's "Hold" feature only works on steep inclines, wish it worked like my Macan's on flat surfaces. Mine came with 20 inch black wheels, looks great but would have been happier with better riding, quieter 19s.

Warms up enough for the heater to work in a couple miles. As soon as you start it the engine temperature indicator starts to climb, not sure where it's located but the water jacket temp lags. My 981 GTS seems like forever to warm up.

Overall am very satisfied with my Macan S and would purchase again. IMO the difference between the S and the base is worth the cost, much of which will be regained on the back end.

tk-porsche

As my hope is to do that sort of traveling in the near future, I'd be very interested in what sort of mpg you experienced, both on Interstates as well as more rural two-lane highways. Thank you!

Spyerx

I'm a 10 and find the gas pedal very close to the brake. Too close. Like, I find myself kissing the gas under braking. It's a very different position than my other 4 porsches...

cometguy

I did a 6200-mile trip across the USA last summer and averaged 28-29 mpg on open, flat highways usually. I drive fast, but usually use ACC for long drives, and I notice that that helps gas consumption. Mostly interstate driving to go the long distances, but lots of 2-lane roads of all sorts (winding, mountains, gravel and dirt roads, cities, towns) outside of the long day drives. I'll have to check my records to see what the average for the entire trip was (I write down odometer mileage with each fill-up receipt, which includes gallons filled), but I'd guess 25-26 mpg average for the whole trip. I can say that my Macan is the best long-distance cruiser I've ever driven outside of my 2018 Panamera.

tk-porsche

Thank you very much for that information! That's really encouraging and not all that different from overall what my current BMW X3 28i xDrive gets. It seems like there were enough changes between the 2018 and 2019 models years and that while the official EPA rating for the 2019 model is actually slightly below that of the 2018 model, you are getting good results and I've also heard the responsiveness is a bit better (perhaps due to a slightly different torque curve?) in the 2019 edition. In any case, those details are much appreciated.