alexb76

Hi all,

I am in the market for a Macan, to become my daily driver, albeit would be low miles as I work from home. I have a 997 as daily, but now with 2 kids, it's not possible as I can't fit child seats. We have a Touareg SUV as well (wife's car), so need a sportier SUV or Wagon (so few options), to be my daily with occasional kids duties.

In terms of Macan, have narrowed it to 2019/2020 models either Macan S or GTS, as it has some of the updates I want, yet prices are within my budget. Question is, is GTS THAT MUCH better?! I don't care as much about brute force power/handling, but I want a good engine for the car, not so much turbo lag, and a nicer ride which I assume GTS with standard Air Suspension should ride better... but it does seem to be costing more premium than original sticker price diff vs. "S". Is it worth the extra money? Is the engine that much better, with same reliability? What about gas mileage, on paper they seem to be the same.

Anyone else having owned or driven both to chime in? I am sure most enthusiasts go for GTS, but trying to get a balanced view.

Thanks!

#1SomeGuy

I own a 21 GTS and have had 20-21 S's as loaners. The 3.0l single turbo in the S is definitely more laggy (say a half second or bit less to spool) than the 2.9l twin turbo in the GTS. The suspension feels more floaty in the S as well (mind you I've only had 19's on those, never the 20 or 21's) and drives more Cayenne like, whereas the GTS is buttoned down and better controlled. The other thing is you do get a better standard interior on the GTS, more leather even if you don't option the GTS interior package thing, if the S doesn't have an upgraded interior it's a lot more plasticy/cheap, I really noticed that in the bare options loaners.

The GTS is definitely "worth it" if you want a nicer and more sporty vehicle, but the S can still be a really nice run around.

Larson E. Rapp

For what it's worth, I had exactly the opposite impression when test-driving 2020 S and GTS cars. The 2.9L felt more sluggish, which made absolutely no sense. I actually went back and asked to test-drive them both again to verify.

#1SomeGuy

I've heard that from some people, but probably depends on how you drive it and what mode and such.

Vise

GTS. All day, every day.

chassis

RPMs with the 2.9 need to be kept on the boil for best results. Boldy hammering the gas pedal gets the attention of all the ECUs to get their jobs done.

What conditions are folks finding the 2.9 laggy? The 2.9 launches with gusto, so maybe it's an operator thing?

Larson E. Rapp

Just taking off from a stoplight at a brisk but not full-bore pace. The GTS I drove offered no advantages over the S in that common scenario, and in fact felt like it would rather be driven more sedately.

The cars were brand new dealer stock, not broken in, so I didn't test the full-throttle capabilities. I'm sure the GTS does fine there.

(Yes, both cars were in Sport+ mode.)

chassis

Understandable real-world use case. And an uncontrolled experiment. It's impossible to precisely duplicate accel pedal input profile on two different test drives. Powertrain output is nonlinearly sensitive to accel pedal input, so small differences in pedal input have large differences in powertrain output. Accel pedal velocity in particular is hard to repeat and powertrain output is particularly sensitive to pedal velocity. It is easy to demonstrate this to oneself once aware of how the system works.

Gone are the days when pedal displacement was the primary input to the powertrain. Remember the first attempts at nonlinear pedal input to powertrain output? Aggressive and bizarre mechanical throttle body cams, connected to a cable which was eventually connected to the accel pedal. Chrysler 4 bangers in the late 80s were notable for crazy nonlinear accel cams intended to improve drive-off performance from a stop light at a brisk pace.

In summary: apples to oranges comparison. More power is more power. More torque is more torque. Make the decision on these factors, if price is no object and the two cars meet your appearance (color, leather, etc.) requirements.

Russian Mafia

I’m not an auto tranny lover but as we know there’s no manual option for the Macan. When I’m tooling around town I’m in Sport or Sport + but when I want performance I’m paddling. Manual mode + a Pedal Commander type device makes mapping somewhat of a non-issue. For those who haven’t made paddling your standard performance mode you might give it a try, along with a PC type mod.

Larson E. Rapp

Very true, and it's also necessary to consider how a GTS might benefit from throttle remapping with a Pedal Commander or similar gadget. The dealer probably wouldn't be open to such an experiment, so I'll never know...

Point being, someone considering an S versus a GTS really needs to drive both, rather than accept the conventional wisdom that the GTS will automatically be the best fit for their interests/needs as a driver.

chassis

A pedal commander is not needed if the user knows how the system works. The user him/herself is the pedal commander. WOT is WOT. A piggyback device can’t command more than WOT. The human foot also is capable of commanding WOT - slam the pedal to the carpet. A pedal commander is analogous to a 1980s Chrysler four banger goofy throttle cam.

Train your foot to use pedal velocity. For example, practice commanding 1-gear downshifts and 2-gear downshifts at constant speed, for example 45mph or 60mph. Another training exercise is to start at 30mph and slowly and smoothly continue to depress the accel pedal almost to the floor without experiencing a gear kickdown.

The two exercises inform the user on how to extract the desired performance from the system. A pedal commander is unnecessary if the user has this skill.

turbo power

The 2.9L is good but need to work the accelerator pedal -- that makes a big difference. Car & Driver has the S and GTS at 3.8 and 3.5 respectively 0-60......so they both are fast.... S+ mode keeps it in the rev range although still need to work the manual mode at times to extract power

alexb76

Thanks guys... now, I also found some 2017/2018 cars, which are not ideal in terms of tech... BUT I can get a CPO Turbo, or GTS for lower priced than 2019/2020 Macan S.

Now, that gen has a 3.0V6 bi-turbo engine, AND 3.6V6 bi-Turbo... could someone help understand all of the engine options for Macan?! Which is an Audi/VW engine, and which is Porsche variants?! From what I can gather, here are the engine options from 2017-2022

1. 2017 Macan S/GTS: 3.0V6 Bi-Turbo (340-360HP)
2. 2017 Macan Turbo I: 3.6V6 Bi-Turbo (400HP)
3. 2019 Macan S: 3.0V6 Turbo (348HP)
4. 2020 Macan GTS/Turbo: 2.9V6 Bi-Turbo (375-440HP)

alexb76

Is that the new S with 2.9, or the old one?! I don't believe the 2019 model is that quick.

Update (that's for the 2022/23 models). It says the new one with 2.9 bi-turbo is 1 second quicker. So, the 2019 model should be around 4.9.

TikiLou

#1 & #2 in your list are Porsche engines
#3 & #4 are Audi-sourced engines that Porsche has tweaked for the Macan