2022 Porsche Macan

2 0 2 2 P O R S C H E M A C A N ~ B Y T O N Y Q U I R O G A

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Highs: Looming large in sports cars’ mirrors, smarty-pants automatic. Lows: Occasional moans from the engine room, relatively soft on power.

Who put a Volkswagen engine in my Porsche? It’ s a question as old as Porsche itself, so it shouldn ’t surprise anyone that the brand equips the base Macan with a VW Group turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four. Now, what if the Macan had the 718’ s 2.0-liter flat-four under the hood? That’d be amazing, of course, but playing these what-if games always ends with Bugatti’ s quadturbo 8.0-liter W-16.

We ’ ve long had some what-ifs about the base Macan, as Porsche has never lent us one. It’ s the bestselling Macan, accounting for 60 percent of sales, and its engine is a ripper in things such as the GTI and the Audi A4. In the Macan, the 261-hp engine finds itself pushing against 4199 pounds. But equipping the car with the Sport Chrono option ($1220) adds a wartlike stopwatch to the top of the dashboard and some critical launch-control software. Engaging the system revs the Macan ’ s four to 5200 rpm before sending all 261 horses charging into the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Thanks to the aggressive takeoff procedure, 60 mph falls in 5.0 seconds. Remove the hard launch and the Macan requires 5.9 seconds to get from 5 to 60 mph.

If this is the only Macan you ’ ve driven, this engine will rate somewhere between lovely and more than adequate. But we ’ ve driven other Macans, and next to the rich timbre and backrest-imprinting thrust of the rest of the lineup ’ s turbocharged V-6s, the four works harder and will occasionally sound like it’ s gathering a loogie. The automatic tries its best to give you a Porsche experience, downshifting quickly and holding lower gears to help you get the most out of the engine, but even it seems to recognize the futility of sending the 2.0liter to its 6900-rpm redline. Unlike the engines Porsche builds, this one doesn ’t get better as you get closer to max revs.

Thanks to the selection of chassis options, this Macan can untangle a canyon road like a Porsche should. Option the adaptive dampers ($1360), Torque Vectoring Plus ($1500), and summer tires for the standard 19-inch wheels (that one ’ s a freebie), and this lightest version of the Macan, with its 0.89 g of grip, will reel in poorly driven sports cars. Drive it aggressively and opt for the badge delete, and no one will ever suspect there ’ s anything but a Porsche engine under the hood.

Vehicle Type: front-engine, all-wheeldrive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon

Base/As Tested ...... $56,250/$63,270

Engine: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, direct fuel injection Displacement ................. 121 in3 , 1984 cm3 Power ........................... 261 hp @ 6500 rpm Torque ...................... 295 lb-ft @ 1800 rpm Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic

Dimensions

• Wheelbase ...................................... 110.5 in • L/W/H ............................ 186.1/75.7/63.8 in • Curb Weight .................................... 4199 lb

t e s t R E S U L T S

60 mph ................................................ 5.0 sec 1/4-Mile ......................... 13.7 sec @ 98 mph 100 mph ............................................. 14.4 sec 130 mph ............................................ 32.5 sec Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.2 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph .............. 5.9 sec Top Speed (mfr’s claim) ............ 144 mph Braking, 70–0 mph ............................ 163 ft Braking, 100–0 mph ......................... 342 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad ..... 0.89 g

EPA Fuel Economy

• Comb/City/Hwy ............... 21/19/25 mpg

T T I M E I N S T U T T G A R T

To inject more driving pleasure into the base Macan, Porsche now offers a T version that bundles the performance and handling options enthusiasts want. The 261-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four remains, but standard equipment includes 20-inch wheels with summer tires and Sport Chrono with launch control. Combine the optional air springs with the T’s stiffer anti-roll bars and optional brake-based torque vectoring, and the Macan T acts more like a sports wagon than a compact SUV. We expect the T to start around $63,000 (as much as a base Macan with all the handling bits). —Connor Hoffman