Porsche Macan Forums

Macan SD or GTS


Ever since I took delivery of my Macan SD in March 2017,
I wondered – would a GTS have been a better road car for me.

Yesterday with an Ex F1 driver- Porsche instructor, I had a chance to do a back to back test under exactly the same conditions each time, and the results surprised me.
Using my Silverstone Porsche experience track freebie I picked August thinking it would give me a lovely sunny day, but instead it rained all day which as it happened ended up being a good thing, because it demonstrated how fantastic the Macan and its 4 wheel drive is in slippy conditions.
First I drove the GTS for two hours learning all the various tracks/corners etc.
Was amazed how it corners/slides/stops, and kept up with all the other Porsches on the track. The instructor did say the 4X4 Macan was the best/safest car to be in on the track under these conditions. Quite stunning even right on the limit/sliding the chassis is amazing. I was blown away.
The howl of the GTS petrol engine with crackling exhaust, and the long power delivery right up to the red line, is something the Diesel does not offer.

I then jumped into a Macan SD and drove it over the same track areas for a further hour.
I was shocked this SD handled amazingly well /if not the same as the GTS, I thought.
The instructor did say he felt there was not a huge difference in how the two cars handle in these conditions... We did several acceleration test (0-60mph) the diesel pulls very well but we felt looses time as its reduced rev range means several gear changes are needed where as the GTS does not need to do this, thus gaining time.
But my biggest surprise was the diesel power delivery on the track , could not believe how well it performed. Well that put to rest my previous thoughts about the Diesel being slow


I then jumped into a Cayenne as they said the Macan was not suitable to go on the extreme off road course. Having already just done a Land Rover off road test, I was very impressed with the Cayenne, it did most off road things with ease, and all I can say be careful Land Rover.


OK, accepted we did not do any timed sections and the SD does not have the GTS Porsche engine noise/power, but I think the SD is not a million miles away as I had previously thought.
I am glad I had a chance to do this test as I have I came away much happier with my SD, surprised how well it performs which for day to day road use now ticks all my boxes.
These are just my personal thoughts of my day out, which I thought might be of interest to other SD drivers.

Interesting to see a view from the other side of the fence for a change. Most people doing a chip fat vs. petrol comparison will prefer the petrol (as long as it's not a 2.0).

I dare say the petrol fans will defend their choice to the hilt, but at the end of the day SD and petrol owners have chosen their cars for different reasons.

Diesel engines by nature have a limited rev range and this means that the gear ratios need to be higher than for an equivalent petrol engine to achieve the same road speed. So those impressive diesel torque figures are diluted by the taller gear ratios. In the case of the SD vs GTS, the GTS has more or less 100 hp advantage, which most people would notice when pushing on. But on a very wet track it would be much less obvious I would have thought and your experience appears to confirm this.

Certainly on the PEC tracks an SD does handle well, the engine does drive outof the corners well, then the BUT emerges, the SD runs out of go, whereas the 3/3.6l petrol engines do not.

Even on the PEC circuits that are designed for handling the SD does plateau in its delivery.

When I drove the SD there it was not a full wet day but there was drizzle and the SD did a great job of keeping up with a GT3 in the corners but of course it was different on the straights, particularly the long straight next to the acceleration run lanes, where the GT3 pulled away, but not by as much as I expected, into the next series of corners and I could cactch him and over three laps he only gained about 50m.

The SD is a great road car in Sport mode, its pickup is effortless.

It is very easy reading this forum and owning an SD to think I have made a mistake. But when I did test drive an S I found it to be quite high revving and not so effortless as the SD. Maybe I would buy a GTS if I was buying again (or maybe not), but I have no plans to change my SD.

I did post (some while back) that I do miss my SD on occasions.
Before you all call for the men in white coats with with the nice button up backwards jackets for me, I'll clarify......

The SD is a brilliant, long distance, motorway / cross continent cruiser. You can carry 4 people with a fair amount of luggage and drive 500 miles in comfort on a tank of fuel. It will also see a clean pair of heels to 95 + % of everything else out there when needs must.

The GTS can be a little tiresome (in the nicest possible way) - always teasing you to go a bit faster,and then a bit faster again, to take the corner a bit faster than you should, and then a bit faster again.....great fun but licence threatening and so on.

On balance, for my current usage and mileage (12K per annum) I'm keeping the GTS, but any higher and I'd revert to the fuel of the devil

Ian.g wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2017 6:26 pm It is very easy reading this forum and owning an SD to think I have made a mistake. But when I did test drive an S I found it to be quite high revving and not so effortless as the SD. Maybe I would buy a GTS if I was buying again (or maybe not), but I have no plans to change my SD.

I agree. I like to push on and find that the SD in Sport gives all the performance I need in congested GB.

Just back from a short break to the Brecon Beacons National Park area - everything from the M4, to open moorland A & B roads to small rural C roads was covered. The SD was magnificent with effortless torque to clear other slower traffic. We even did some light off-roading on wet grass. No problem. Overall for this trip 40.2 mpg = bonus.

I think the SD is the perfect engine for an SUV like the Macan.
I can only agree with the other comments above regarding its prowess, economy and versatility.
It's by far the most popular variant of the Macan family for good reason!

Sidscott wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:02 am I think the SD is the perfect engine for an SUV like the Macan.
I can only agree with the other comments above regarding its prowess, economy and versatility.
It's by far the most popular variant of the Macan family for good reason!

When the first Macan was released there was the S, SD and Turbo.

After a while the wait periods settled and the waits was approximately: -

SD was 9m

S was 15m

Turbo 12m

The OPCs I spoke to could get 6 to 9 SD's a month with only 1 petrol S every two or three months.

That is why there are so many numbers of SD's.

I was going to put this in the random chit-chat thread, but perhaps we need a 'Random Photos' thread.

Anyway, sort of on topic, here's a piccy of my SD in Sighisoara, Transylvania last weekend. I was going to 'do' the Transfagarasan (again) on the way home but it was in cloud, and quite possibly busy with tourist buses, so I'll go back another day.