Say hello, to Porsche’s latest family member ‘Macan’, Porsche’s first compact SUV. The Stuttgart supercar maker is expanding its range hoping to be part of a mass market player. Many of you may think, it’s just a tweaked and rebadged VW, well you are wrong.
This is Cayenne’s little brother, born, bred and Made in Germany at the 500 million euro Leipzig plant. The design itself carries the distinct Porsche DNA, the broad and low look resembles its supercar brothers. For instance, it got the sloping roof line from the 911 and headlights from its hybrid brother the Porsche 918 Spyder; the third faster car to go around the Nurburgring. Besides that, it comes in three models, the Macan S, Macan S Diesel, and Macan Turbo. Yes, the Macan is a Porsche.
By now you may be wondering why this name. Porsche says its compact SUV is powerful and ready to pounce, hence it’s named after the Indonesian word for ‘Tiger’, ‘Macan’. Not ‘Jom Makan’.
The Macan S is powered by a 3.0-litre V6 biturbo engine producing 340 bhp (250 kW) mated with a high- performance seven-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK). The PDK is capable of extremely fast gear changes without any interruption and it is a standard in all Macans. Also come as standard is the active all-wheel drive, which is part of the Porsche Traction Management (PTM) system. Together with the other elements of the system – the electronically controlled, map-controlled multi-plate clutch, the Automatic Brake Differential (ABD) and Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR) – the all-wheel drive looks after traction and safety. The Tiger S pounces from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds, with a top speed of 254 km/h. Fuel consumption figures are between 9.0 and 8.7 litres/100 km, which corresponds to a CO2 emissions level of between 212 and 204 g/km.
Porsche Macan S Diesel is powered by a 258-bhp (190-kW) 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel engine that goes further, fuel consumption is between 6.3 and 6.1 litres/100 km, CO2 value of between 164 and 159 g/km. This model accelerates from 0 to 100 km in just 6.3 seconds, top speed 230 km/h.
The Porsche Macan Turbo is set to be the most powerful vehicle in the compact SUV segment. This Tiger Turbo has 400 horses (294 kW) produced by its 3.6-litre V6 biturbo engine, Porsche’s first model to use this engine. It pounces from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds! It can get up to 266 km/h. Fuel consumption is between just 9.2 and 8.9 litres/100 km, with CO2 value of between 216 and 208 g/km.
The interior does remind me of a luxury mobile phone design. Anyway, this luxury compact SUV Porsche Macan is set to come to Malaysia around second quarter of 2014 and Porsche Malaysia website has included the Macan models. However, no display of prices at the moment.
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