- First Name
- Tomek
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- Sep 28, 2024
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- Macan 4
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- #1
I’ve had a chance to extensively compare my fully loaded Macan to the newest (J1.2) and a mid-spec Taycan CT. By extensively I means weeks and thousands of kms.
For those interested and perhaps cross-shopping between the two models, here is my take:
1) Sport seats with Club Leather in the Macan are WAY, WAY more comfortable than the sport seats with extended leather in the Taycan (they feel small, tight, and firm). You do get used to the Taycan seats after a while and they can be comfortable on longer drives, but they are miles behind the Macan in terms of comfort.
2) Seating position is very different. In the Macan you sit more like on a chair; in the Taycan your legs are stretched far in front, as the seating position is very low. It really comes down to personal preference.
3) Getting in and out is very different. It’s easy and comfortable in the Macan and difficult in the Taycan. My wife, who is small and nimble, does not like the Taycan because of this, and the bigger you are or the stiffer your back, the harder it gets. You bang your head, sort of fall down into position - very much like in other sports cars. You get used to it after a while and can adapt your technique (“legs last” mode), but it won’t be OK for everyone.
4) PCM in the Taycan feels outdated. It’s very slow and the touch panel is basically useless. The Macan is miles ahead in terms of feeling “fresh” in this area. Using maps and navigation in the Macan is quick, like on a smartphone; using navigation in the Taycan feels like dusting off your 15 year old Garmin.
5) Suspension - my Macan has air suspension, and the Taycan has it by default (Active Ride was not fitted on this one). This is where things get interesting. The Taycan CT combines what Porsche does best: firm suspension that is still comfortable. This is something very unique to the brand and something BMW, for example, has not mastered. The Taycan feels and drives like a Porsche sports car, which is hard to explain other than saying it combines sportiness with comfort, gives you a unique feel of the road, and handles incredibly well. It’s hard to find cars that drive better. It puts a big smile on your face every time you drive it. When you go back to the Macan, you immediately notice it does not drive like this. For me, it does not drive like a Porsche (sorry guys). I would say the previous ICE Macan had some of this unique feeling, but the EV does not - and this becomes very evident once you compare it to the Taycan.
6) Sense of occasion - this is where these cars really differ. The Macan is a daily driver. You can enjoy driving it (I very much do), but the Taycan gives you a different level of excitement. It’s the whole package: how it looks, how it feels inside, and how it drives. It’s a special car in ways the Macan is not.
7) Build quality - if you think the Macan is very well put together (mine is and feels very solid), the Taycan is on another level. This car feels rock solid; everything feels like you could take a hammer to it. This is not the case with the Macan. You can even tell this by how the suspension works. The Taycan is firm, but when you hit road imperfections you don’t worry whether the car can take it. The Macan is softer, but the suspension feels less solid, more “loose,” and I find myself avoiding road imperfections - even though it should be the other way around.
8) Handling - it’s not fair to compare an SUV to a sports car, so let’s just leave it at this: for an electric SUV, the Macan handles very well (I compare it to Tesla Model Y and BMW iX which both are not even close). So it’s good but nowhere near the level of handling you get with the Taycan.
9) Battery and range - the Taycan with the Performance Battery charges faster (up to 320 kW), can hold ~200 kW up to 80% SoC, and is far superior to the Macan. The Taycan with the base battery (which I also tested) is inferior to the Macan in these aspects. Consumption in low temperatures is surprisingly similar in both cars. I suspect the Macan has a more efficient heat pump or cabin heating solution - it seems to use less energy to heat the car and does it faster. The Taycan uses less energy at very high speeds (over 150 km/h). What surprised me is that on very comparable road trips, the Macan and Taycan can show similar consumption (say ~30 kWh/100 km), but the Taycan battery lasts longer and gives you more range. This is puzzling to me and I don’t really know how to explain it.
10) Platform maturity - I won’t go into details about my Macan experience, but TL;DR: my car has been plagued by both minor and major issues, some very serious, and has spent over a month in the shop. The last issue involved a burning smell and smoke coming out of the vents. The Taycan had its share of problems in the first generation, and you can read many similar stories. J1.2 feels like a very mature car, down to small details like closing the doors. In the Macan you often have to try again and close them with more force. The Taycan lowers the side window a bit more, so you don’t have this problem. Same goes for seatbelt rattles and other small annoyances.
11) Assistance systems – I’ve never felt fully confident in my Macan, even after the latest 28.13 update. LKA, blind spot monitoring, front collision protection, Innodrive, and the rest all suffer from frequent false positives. The car often overreacts, and it feels like something Porsche is still struggling with here. The Taycan does not feel like this at all. LKA, for example, and the way the car reacts when you cross a lane marking feels confident and exactly as it should. I haven’t experienced a single false positive in the Taycan, and it seems to me that Porsche actually does know how to do this properly—they just didn’t get it right in the Macan. This should be relatively easy to improve via software updates or in future generations.
Overall, I think it’s very good to cross-shop these two cars when looking for a Porsche EV. There are very good deals on Taycans - you can buy fresh CPOs for the price of a new Macan - so pricing can be comparable, even though the Taycan is the more expensive car. The Macan is comfortable and often an entry point to Porsche, but driving the Taycan reminds you what this brand is really about. The Taycan delivers such an amazing sense of occasion and such a strong driving experience that, honestly, you don’t really care about the old PCM or other flaws. The Macan doesn’t have the same advantage and lacks the attributes that can “cover” for its shortcomings. As a result, you can end up feeling frustrated by outdated tech or various issues, because there isn’t that much else to compensate. Hopefully, what the Taycan J1.2 shows is that a future “Macan J1.2” can also be a great, refined platform - but I don’t think it’s there yet.
For those interested and perhaps cross-shopping between the two models, here is my take:
1) Sport seats with Club Leather in the Macan are WAY, WAY more comfortable than the sport seats with extended leather in the Taycan (they feel small, tight, and firm). You do get used to the Taycan seats after a while and they can be comfortable on longer drives, but they are miles behind the Macan in terms of comfort.
2) Seating position is very different. In the Macan you sit more like on a chair; in the Taycan your legs are stretched far in front, as the seating position is very low. It really comes down to personal preference.
3) Getting in and out is very different. It’s easy and comfortable in the Macan and difficult in the Taycan. My wife, who is small and nimble, does not like the Taycan because of this, and the bigger you are or the stiffer your back, the harder it gets. You bang your head, sort of fall down into position - very much like in other sports cars. You get used to it after a while and can adapt your technique (“legs last” mode), but it won’t be OK for everyone.
4) PCM in the Taycan feels outdated. It’s very slow and the touch panel is basically useless. The Macan is miles ahead in terms of feeling “fresh” in this area. Using maps and navigation in the Macan is quick, like on a smartphone; using navigation in the Taycan feels like dusting off your 15 year old Garmin.
5) Suspension - my Macan has air suspension, and the Taycan has it by default (Active Ride was not fitted on this one). This is where things get interesting. The Taycan CT combines what Porsche does best: firm suspension that is still comfortable. This is something very unique to the brand and something BMW, for example, has not mastered. The Taycan feels and drives like a Porsche sports car, which is hard to explain other than saying it combines sportiness with comfort, gives you a unique feel of the road, and handles incredibly well. It’s hard to find cars that drive better. It puts a big smile on your face every time you drive it. When you go back to the Macan, you immediately notice it does not drive like this. For me, it does not drive like a Porsche (sorry guys). I would say the previous ICE Macan had some of this unique feeling, but the EV does not - and this becomes very evident once you compare it to the Taycan.
6) Sense of occasion - this is where these cars really differ. The Macan is a daily driver. You can enjoy driving it (I very much do), but the Taycan gives you a different level of excitement. It’s the whole package: how it looks, how it feels inside, and how it drives. It’s a special car in ways the Macan is not.
7) Build quality - if you think the Macan is very well put together (mine is and feels very solid), the Taycan is on another level. This car feels rock solid; everything feels like you could take a hammer to it. This is not the case with the Macan. You can even tell this by how the suspension works. The Taycan is firm, but when you hit road imperfections you don’t worry whether the car can take it. The Macan is softer, but the suspension feels less solid, more “loose,” and I find myself avoiding road imperfections - even though it should be the other way around.
8) Handling - it’s not fair to compare an SUV to a sports car, so let’s just leave it at this: for an electric SUV, the Macan handles very well (I compare it to Tesla Model Y and BMW iX which both are not even close). So it’s good but nowhere near the level of handling you get with the Taycan.
9) Battery and range - the Taycan with the Performance Battery charges faster (up to 320 kW), can hold ~200 kW up to 80% SoC, and is far superior to the Macan. The Taycan with the base battery (which I also tested) is inferior to the Macan in these aspects. Consumption in low temperatures is surprisingly similar in both cars. I suspect the Macan has a more efficient heat pump or cabin heating solution - it seems to use less energy to heat the car and does it faster. The Taycan uses less energy at very high speeds (over 150 km/h). What surprised me is that on very comparable road trips, the Macan and Taycan can show similar consumption (say ~30 kWh/100 km), but the Taycan battery lasts longer and gives you more range. This is puzzling to me and I don’t really know how to explain it.
10) Platform maturity - I won’t go into details about my Macan experience, but TL;DR: my car has been plagued by both minor and major issues, some very serious, and has spent over a month in the shop. The last issue involved a burning smell and smoke coming out of the vents. The Taycan had its share of problems in the first generation, and you can read many similar stories. J1.2 feels like a very mature car, down to small details like closing the doors. In the Macan you often have to try again and close them with more force. The Taycan lowers the side window a bit more, so you don’t have this problem. Same goes for seatbelt rattles and other small annoyances.
11) Assistance systems – I’ve never felt fully confident in my Macan, even after the latest 28.13 update. LKA, blind spot monitoring, front collision protection, Innodrive, and the rest all suffer from frequent false positives. The car often overreacts, and it feels like something Porsche is still struggling with here. The Taycan does not feel like this at all. LKA, for example, and the way the car reacts when you cross a lane marking feels confident and exactly as it should. I haven’t experienced a single false positive in the Taycan, and it seems to me that Porsche actually does know how to do this properly—they just didn’t get it right in the Macan. This should be relatively easy to improve via software updates or in future generations.
Overall, I think it’s very good to cross-shop these two cars when looking for a Porsche EV. There are very good deals on Taycans - you can buy fresh CPOs for the price of a new Macan - so pricing can be comparable, even though the Taycan is the more expensive car. The Macan is comfortable and often an entry point to Porsche, but driving the Taycan reminds you what this brand is really about. The Taycan delivers such an amazing sense of occasion and such a strong driving experience that, honestly, you don’t really care about the old PCM or other flaws. The Macan doesn’t have the same advantage and lacks the attributes that can “cover” for its shortcomings. As a result, you can end up feeling frustrated by outdated tech or various issues, because there isn’t that much else to compensate. Hopefully, what the Taycan J1.2 shows is that a future “Macan J1.2” can also be a great, refined platform - but I don’t think it’s there yet.
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