Performance and 0-60 time
There are six Macan derivatives available and even the least of those, the turbocharged 2-litre, can be considered fairly brisk: at its slowest, the Macan is still a car capable of reaching 62mph in 6.9sec and going on to 142mph given a suitable stretch of autobahn. Given a diesel engine in the Macan S those figures improve to 6.3sec and 143mph, so parsimony does not come at the expense of performance.
The petrol Macan S is faster still, dispatching the 0-62mph sprint in 5.4sec and hitting 158mph flat out. But it’s the Turbo models that are by far the most impressive: a 4.8sec 0-62mph time in Sport+ mode is coupled with an equally as impressive 0-100mph time of 10.9sec, and a 165mph top speed - just a few decades ago you needed a 911 to reach such velocities.
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We recently drove the Macan Turbo Performance Package, which is both quicker and faster still. It's slightly strange the car doesn't carry Turbo S badging, but perhaps that's a face-saving exercise for the bigger Cayenne Turbo S: the Macan hits 62mph in 4.4sec from rest, and won't stop accelerating until it reaches 169mph.
Less impressive on paper, the driver-orientated Macan GTS is nevertheless still quick, its turbocharged V6 delivering a 0-62mph time of 5.2sec (enough to see off all but the quickest hot hatchbacks, despite a 1940kg kerb weight) and a 159mph top speed. There's a sporty rasp to the exhaust too, which makes exploiting the GTS's performance quite satisfying, even if there isn't the outright punch of the Turbo-badged models.
Even the diesel feels punchy, thanks to a strong wallop of torque produced low in the rev range (you can read full facts and figures on the next page), while the Turbo cars are positively ballistic. And when you're not trying to reach mile-a-minute speeds, all the Macan's powerplants are suitably cultured and blessed with smooth, consistent responses.
To gauge just how impressive the Macan Turbo’s performance is, we raced it against a BMW M3. See the results here:
