Macan times eight

One car, five continents: As an all-round talent, the Macan is well equipped to handle the wide range of conditions found on trips around the globe. We’ve posed our questions to eight Macan drivers from different parts of the world. As always, the answers also come from the cars themselves.

A piece of future

South Korea/Seoul, Heunginjimun Gate

Why is the Macan the right car for Korea?
Humid heat waves and freezing cold spells alternate in Korea. These environmental factors have an impact on the road conditions and as a result on vehicle purchasing trends. An increase in preference for 4WDs and crossover vehicles, to name a few. Most cars in that segment sacrifice their driving performance. The Macan, not even a bit. Its greatest strength lies in its sports-car DNA.

What is the best tour to do?
The Macan is a sports car with explosively powerful performance. At the same time, it boasts great space usability, driving comfort, and high fuel efficiency. The type of tour that can make the most of the Macan is a camping trip. Load all your camping gear into your Macan and leave for the eastern province of Gangwon-do.

What were your impressions when driving it?
I drove a Macan S Diesel around the country for five days. Half highway and half winding roads. This car was explosive, but poised. You can feel the brute force of acceleration and sticky-but-secure grip of the tires. And most of all, fantastic driving pleasure.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Regardless of road conditions, the Macan takes 
everything in stride: jam-packed city roads, traffic-
free highways, winding roads, and even off-road conditions. And you will be most impressed when you navigate along a winding road. Because the Macan offers the best maneuverability in the curves.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
When a new car arrives, people pay attention. It’s a natural impulse to compare the new car with theirs. The outburst of reactions from people who witnessed a Macan on the street was overwhelming. While I was cruising down the road, it drew glances from everyone.

How can the driving generally be described?
The Macan can be likened to a spaceship because of its futuristic design and maneuverability. And the Macan is versatile. It performs to perfection the role of a multitasker that can handle all types of road surfaces with aplomb.

By Jung Sang-Hyun
Photo by Min Sung-Pil

Push the button

Australia/Melbourne, Hosier Lane

Why is the Macan the right car for Australia?
Because almost everywhere in Australia the quality of the roads varies from smooth freeways to broken bitumen on back roads and the teeth-rattling corrugations of major “highways” in remote outback areas.

What is the best tour to do?
One of the world’s best driving roads is the Targa Tasmania Tarmac Rally Route. All of the 45 Targa Tasmania special stages are public roads, available and ready for Porsche owners to enjoy for the remaining 51 weeks of every year.

What were your impressions when driving it?
That it is a true sports car, especially after pressing the Sport Plus button to engage the most sporting mode of Porsche Active Suspension Management and the most aggressive setting of the Sport Chrono package.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
The Great Ocean Road stretching 243 kilometers west of Torquay along the southeastern coast of Victoria, with its absolutely coastal road winding in and out of rivulets in between small coastal communities, delivering spectacular wild ocean views.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
There is one central requirement when visiting a world-famous winery like Kilikanoon, which in 2005 was judged to produce “the world’s best Shiraz”: to bring home enough cases for the cellars of yourself and fellow travelers. That was our mission when we took on a wine odyssey to South Australia’s famous Clare Valley, located 137 kilometers north of Adelaide, and our Macan S with its four occupants and 500 liters of trunk space was the perfect companion.

How can the driving generally be described?
Driving in Australia is all about making the most of every situation: the poise to cruise quietly, safely, and frugally on speed-limited freeways; the ability to cope with a range of road surfaces; the in-built talent to reward the sporting driver when the road and the occasion beckon … all within the vast capabilities of the Macan.

By Michael Browning
Photo by Michael Browning

Get out early

Russia/Moscow, Old Believers Church

Why is the Macan the right car for Russia?
Russian customers prefer to get more value for money, so an SUV seems like a lot of car for their cash. And with its drivability and image value, the Macan is definitely a number-one car to buy in its segment.

What is the best tour to do?
With its ground clearance, getting away from Moscow or Saint Petersburg shouldn’t be a problem. I can recommend the Golden Ring tour, which is the journey through famed old towns of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, a true cradle of Russian culture and character.

What were your impressions when driving it?
A very compact and powerful thing to drive. Energetic and handsome, eye-catching and surprisingly agile. Very comfortable.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Just stay in Moscow. Sadovoe koltso, which in some parts has five lanes in one direction, can give you the necessary impressions. Wait till the early morning, when the traffic is not so dense. You can do your own Le Mans 24-hour race here, but watch out for radar traps!

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
People were constantly coming to see “the new Cayenne,” but were leaving with even more surprise and expectations after they were given a short briefing on the new model. The price-friendly Macan should be a hit here.

How can the driving generally be described?
Russians in general know the road laws quite well, but obeying them is a different matter and may depend on the mood or temperament of each individual whom you meet on the road. So if you monitor the situation constantly and don’t try to mimic common behavior, including overtaking on the right, driving into busy intersections, and speeding, you should do pretty fine.

By Alexander Evshtokin
Photo by Alexey Sulima

The metamorphosis

Scotland/South Queensferry, Forth Rail Bridge

Why is the Macan the right car for Scotland?
You’ll struggle to find more exhilarating roads than those of Scotland, and the Macan’s metamorphosis into a sports coupe allows you to maximize the pleasure from driving them.

What is the best tour to do?
With a car as talented as the Macan, it would be a shame not to hit the open road. Consider a tour of the lochs, the western coastline, or perhaps venture further northwards, into the majestic Highlands.

What were your impressions when driving it?
The sports-car DNA of a true Porsche can be found in abundance from the moment you first turn the steering wheel, but it also offers the space, raised driving position, and comfort of an SUV.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
From Edinburgh, cross the Forth Road Bridge and head northward on the M90, to Perth. Consider a stop-off at Knockhill racing circuit, then after Perth head west on the A85 toward the wilderness and the lochs. At Tyndrum, head north on the A82 to Glencoe.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
Huge vistas filling the windscreen; a glorious road stretching off to the horizon with very little traffic—that was the essence of our drive in this beautiful country. Then a stop for tea and cake; a chance to chat with new acquaintances, and to enjoy a spectacular view of lochs and mountains, with a fresh breeze and warm sun on our backs.

How can the driving generally be described?
In Edinburgh you drive for the view, yet you also discover how clever Porsche’s engineers are at squeezing so much technology into such a compact, nimble footprint. The roads are usually well-signed and sweep lazily across the landscape, and traffic is scarce. Venture to the north, and you really will have the roads to yourself.

By Adam Towler
Photo by Malcolm Griffiths

City for chameleons

USA/Los Angeles, Hollywood Sign

Why is the Macan the right car for Los Angeles?
The Macan is agile and powerful in city traffic, a delight on highways, nimble in twisty canyons, and goes off-road with confidence: it represents the best of all vehicular worlds.

What is the best tour to do?
Start with hairpin curves on Latigo Canyon Road, above Malibu, where there’s even a challenging dirt road. Then Pacific Coast Highway to Sunset Boulevard and the park under the iconic Hollywood sign.

What were your impressions when driving it?
The Macan is a perfect blend of performance features: power and agility mesh with comfort, just the right amount of interior space for passengers, and a sizable trunk. On an open road, straight or twisty, it defines automotive joy.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Los Angeles is a chameleon city for driving: mountains along its spine, beaches defining its western boundary. Picking a single road is as easy as choosing which of your children you love most.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
The Macan’s responsiveness and handling encouraged my love of urban exploration. When traffic on the commercial Olympic Boulevard in mid-L.A. was at a standstill, I’d dart down residential streets, where I enjoyed seeing block after block of well-maintained craftsmen and California Spanish houses: the L.A. Raymond Chandler wrote about.

How can the driving generally be described?
Los Angeles drivers used to be polite, but increasingly impenetrable rush-hour traffic on freeways and streets has frayed people’s nerves. Residents have strategies to get where they’re going. A visitor trapped in bad traffic will wonder how anyone lives here. Sunday morning’s empty streets and freeways answer that question.

By Lawrence Dietz
Fotografie Axel Koester

Tiger’s preserve

South Africa/Western Cape, Franschhoek Pass

Why is the Macan the right car for South Africa?
The Macan S is like a tiger, made for an adrenaline boost on South African roads, and yet it’s also ideal when it comes to practicality.

What is the best tour to do?
What can titillate the motoring senses more than meandering through the vineyards, taking on the challenge of the rugged mountain passes, and venturing off-road to exotic viewpoints along the Cape winelands?

What were your impressions when driving it?
Even in some extremely windy conditions, the Macan was stable and subtle to drive. And the controls always seem to be just waiting at your fingertips, with the instruments telling you what you need to know, without any frills.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Start at the Porsche Center in Century City and take N1 to Paarl. Turn off at R304 to Stellenbosch and, while passing through the tempting vineyards, select R45 to scenic Helshoogte. At the T junction go right to the quaint village of Franschhoek and then R321 to Grabouw, joining N2 to Caledon. Turn off on R44 through Hermanus and find R43 to Gansbaai.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
Passing through the Cape Winelands. The placid green cultivars are broken up by rugged and picturesque mountain passes which boast good, well-marked asphalt roads with many opportunities to take the Macan for a little off-road adventure.

How can the driving generally be described?
One word sums up the performance of both petrol and diesel versions: responsive. This dashing tiger, which sits lower on its haunches than the best-selling Cayenne and has a clear DNA match with the iconic 911, is itching for a touch on the accelerator.

By Derek Watts
Photo by EJ Langer

Dream of parking

India/Mumbai, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Why is the Macan the right car for India?
In a country with a sizable amount of really bad roads, the Macan, as an SUV, has some serious ground clearance. Plus, compact and agile cars make a lot of practical sense, given our generally unpredictable traffic conditions.

What is the best tour to do?
A road that allows you to drive it at the limit in terms of both speed and dynamic capability is perfect. Like the national highway from Satara in Maharashtra to Belgaum in Karnataka. I normally test-drive sports cars there.

What were your impressions when driving it?
Enchanting. It behaves like a car, so you need to get used to the fact that you are sitting a bit higher than you normally would. Still, it handles and behaves like a car.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Take it to the hills. I would like to take it to the world’s most dangerous road, from Sangla to the Indo-Tibet border. There is a nice highway leading to the final, treacherous stretch. The compact and agile Macan is perfect for conquering that.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
The TopGear office in Mumbai is at a prime Mumbai location with absolutely no parking. But when I arrived and requested a slot, they took one look at the car and said, “Sure, park right here!” Unbelievable.

How can the driving generally be described?
Because Porsche isn’t a common sight, people do give it a lot of respect. In the city, the compact dimensions help, and it has a comfortable interior. On the highway, building speed is so easy, you don’t mind slowing down for the constant barrage of slow traffic that we always encounter.

By Girish Karkera
Photo by Rajeev Gaikwad

The south–north axis

Brasilia/Rio de Janeiro, Sugar Loaf Mountain

Why is the Macan the right car for Rio de Janeiro?
Rio is an overwhelming place, spread between great beaches and green mountains. On the same day you can surf in Ipanema and walk through a forest trail in Tijuca, 1,000 meters above sea level. With the Macan you not only enjoy the beauties of the city, but also the driving experience in the mountains—it is the right car for all terrains and lifestyles.

What is the best tour to do?
An amazing place in the city is the Aterro do Flamengo, a beautiful park surrounding a calm water bay at the foot of the Sugar Loaf—incredible scenery, where the Macan completes the perfect postcard picture.

What were your impressions when driving it?
The Macan is the ideal car to cruise with in the city. It has the perfect balance between comfort and sportiness, different from most sports cars. At the same time, once you push the accelerator, you feel the urge to drive this car on a racetrack. At this point, you realize that this car is a Porsche sports car, through and through.

What roads or trip would you recommend to a visitor?
Porsche cars are born to take the road. And this is especially true for Macan drivers in Rio, with its natural destinations that include the beaches of the Lakes Region, north of the state, and the magnificent littoral of Angra dos Reis, to the south, with its bays and islands. Another favorite road goes to the mountain cities of Petrópolis and Teresópolis, not far away—a winding and steep road, perfect to enjoy the Macan’s sporty character.

What was a typical episode when doing this story?
Porsches are not uncommon in front of the Copacabana Palace, Brazil’s most traditional and celebrated hotel, but still the Macan was the attraction wherever it appeared.

How can the driving generally be described?
Traffic in Rio can be very heavy, and some people may think that you cannot really enjoy the qualities of the Macan under these circumstances. What most people do not know is that in addition to its Porsche-typical handling characteristics and sportiness the car displays perfect behavior in urban traffic. Besides a smooth ride, it offers much comfort, making what should be a boring time a relaxing everyday experience.

By Jorge Meditsch
Photo by Jorge Meditsch