2023 Macan base model - first impressions

[DJMCUK]

OPC loan car with 5,200 miles, Papaya with orange seat centres. Hmmm...

Arrived from OPC Wolverhampton this morning. Demo car.

Noticed it had averaged 35mpg for today's 50 mile trip. I'd managed 37mpg in our 2019 S on the way home from the same OPC.

Average mpg for its 5,200 miles was 26, about the same as our S at 27 over 1,500 miles since we bought it 3 weeks ago.
But then the demo is a demo so likely to have been on short trips, more foot down. However, I do think it's too small a unit for 2 tonnes.

Things I liked:

It has vanity mirror lights.
The Sport Chrono mode switch, when rotated at traffic lights, made the suspension go up and down.
The stop/start cut the engine AFTER the car had stopped, thus proving that's how it should be. (see other thread).

Things I didn't like:

No sense of power under the right foot compared to the S. Had about the same feeling as with our old X1 2.0d so far as acceleration goes. A bit smoother than the diesel of course. Glad we went for the 3 litre S. PSE made no difference to the sound inside the cabin. Sport made it livelier. If I was looking for a 'standard' posh SUV and hadn't tried an S or GTS I could be satisfied I guess, but no more. No real fun, no sense of occasion. Nothing special.

With 21" wheels and PASM air suspension it felt very jiggly over normal roads. I was conscious of my head bobbling around. Our S on 20's and standard PASM feels much waftier. This could also be partly due to the lighter GTI engine?
I'd opted for standard PASM in our Gen 2 S after a first drive in a new Gen 3 S with air (not sure of wheel size) and preferred the standard PASM when testing that afterwards. Each to their own. Perhaps smaller wheels would have made the air better?

18-way seats. With minimum 'squeeze' selected to base and seat back they still felt more constricting than the the 14-ways in the S and my 981 (although the latter does pinch at the shoulders). Felt like I was being pinched rather than sitting comfortably. My wife commented the same. Odd for an SUV. No, we're not huge. I'm guessing there's more standard squeeze due to the extra mechanicals.

Alcantara steering wheel is awful. Very slippery, which seemed counter intuitive for what looks like a 'grippy' material. I guess the OPC specced it to show how good it is, but it feels horrible and doesn't give a secure grip on the wheel. Maybe it's to show how bad it is so buyers switch it out if standard (GTS?) before it's too late!

Overall? No, I wouldn't buy one. I'd pay the extra for an S.

[2japs]

Interesting read, I think the papaya with black leather and papaya stitching is fine, but papaya seat centres

[sd1985]

It depends on what your coming from.

With my very first 2 ltr macan I was coming from a corsa. It had sports exhaust and felt amazing and fast because I came from a corsa.

You’re coming from an S down to a base model, so the difference will be much more apparent right.

Many macan owners, it’s their first foray into Porsche and more often than not they may be coming from something less powerful so it feels a step up.

I’ve owned all models (almost), and after the GTS I could never drive a base or an S lol

[Tracky]

Where are the pics !?

[Skyway]

Difference between a Gen 3 S and GTS is extremely marginal

[sd1985]

Difference between a Gen 3 S and GTS is extremely marginal

Not really, depends on what spec you want

I want black trim, better wheels, sports chrono, better brakes, sports exhaust, the small bit of extra power, sports suspension - by the time I pay for those extras I’m at the GTS price point.

So for me, the difference is more than marginal.

If you’re just looking at speed and 0-60 time alone then yeah the difference is marginal.

But if you’re looking at all the above as a whole the difference is more.

Of course if you pay for a bunch of extras on a S you can get close but at that point you’d just get a GTS anyway.

[DJMCUK]

Difference between a Gen 3 S and GTS is extremely marginal

Yes, but I get that some people like more letters after the name. And a few more toys which I, sorry my wife, didn't want. Her car!

My Cayman is a 2.7 PDK. I tried the S but it was too fast for me (and my license) for road use. I held an RAC competition licence for many years so have no need for stupid speed nowadays. More into handling, which my race car never needed.

The Macan S matches the base Cayman in a lot of ways, 0-60 for one, seating position for another, and handling though not fully discovered after 3 weeks seems excellent for a heavy SUV.

[Skyway]

Difference between a Gen 3 S and GTS is extremely marginal

Not really, depends on what spec you want

I want black trim, better wheels, sports chrono, better brakes, sports exhaust, the small bit of extra power, sports suspension - by the time I pay for those extras I’m at the GTS price point.

So for me, the difference is more than marginal.

If you’re just looking at speed and 0-60 time alone then yeah the difference is marginal.

But if you’re looking at all the above as a whole the difference is more.

Of course if you pay for a bunch of extras on a S you can get close but at that point you’d just get a GTS anyway.

Apart from the cosmetics that is still all marginal. There are a number of side by side tests/reviews that never highlight enough differences, apart from price

[Neil1911]

Apart from the cosmetics that is still all marginal. There are a number of side by side tests/reviews that never highlight enough differences, apart from price

So are you wearing a Timex or a Rolex Skyway?

[sd1985]

Difference between a Gen 3 S and GTS is extremely marginal

Not really, depends on what spec you want

I want black trim, better wheels, sports chrono, better brakes, sports exhaust, the small bit of extra power, sports suspension - by the time I pay for those extras I’m at the GTS price point.

So for me, the difference is more than marginal.

If you’re just looking at speed and 0-60 time alone then yeah the difference is marginal.

But if you’re looking at all the above as a whole the difference is more.

Of course if you pay for a bunch of extras on a S you can get close but at that point you’d just get a GTS anyway.

Apart from the cosmetics that is still all marginal. There are a number of side by side tests/reviews that never highlight enough differences, apart from price

‘Apart from cosmetics’ - isn’t that the point, folk literally spend thousands and thousands on these extra cosmetics - so they obviously matter to everyone, otherwise no one would ever pay for them.

I guess what your saying is in your opinion you think all of these standard options on a GTS that don’t come with the S model are marginal and don’t make a difference to the actual car:

- sports Chrono
- sports exhaust
- air suspension (sports)
- tinted rear lights
- black trim
- PSCB brakes
- GTS seats
- Better interior trim
- 60 extra horses
- painted front, sides and back

The reviews are if you want comfort then go with a base level S with very few extras, if you want all the bells and whistles and a sportier look and feel go for GTS. No right/wrong answer but the differences are there to see in plain sight and don’t feel marginal.

Having owned a gen 3 GTS and driven the gen 3 S loaner I got for 3 days the difference coming down from the GTS was very apparent to me, both appearance wise and feel, sitting in a muted S model with no sports exhaust, standard wheels and trim had a more than marginal feeling I must admit.

Each to there own though.