1st world problem - choosing a Macan

[Clive]

I'm tempted by the Spyder wheels but they must a pain to clean.

A little bit tricky, however the satin black ones are even worse! The satin ones really show up brake dust, and after washing are usually covered in water spots.

I cannot recommend Wheel Woolies enough - they save loads of time cleaning the wheels. The large brush in particular works really well on the Spyder design.

Wheel Woolies look good with a handy range of sizes so looks like a good tip.

My default choice for wheels is Turbo 20" with gloss black, do these clean up ok without water spot problems?

Spyders are great looking but are 21s so even more vulnerable I suppose and many more faces to clean. Also with the Turbo 20s it must be easy to reach right into the wheel to get rid of all the brake dust on the inner part of the wheel.

[Clive]

It's M-day tomorrow. I get to borrow the demo Macan S from 4pm.

I've seen a Gen 1 SD with a red interior. The red is good to my eye. Does anyone know whether Gen 1 red is the same as Garnet for Gen 2?

[PaulR]

Does anyone know whether Gen 1 red is the same as Garnet for Gen 2?

Both are the same garnet red, as far as I'm aware.

[Clive]

Ugh....I don't know whether I should say how M-day has gone. Especially after everyone has been so helpful.

The absolute killer is that the dog simply doesn't fit, nowhere near...

I still love the handling, gearchanges, ride, steering, the 14-way seat, the dash, the buttons in the central console.

There are a few things we didn't get on with.

Rear head room with the moonroof...I knew it was marginal. Rear leg room was actually ok. The headrests on the front seats are so bulky that my daughter felt queasy due to a poor forward view (could have been my driving but she says not).

Those front sensors are a pain in traffic but I could turn them off.

Now for the one aspect that I hope doesn't incense everyone. Maybe it's the WLTP engine but the turbo lag is simply awful. It's worse that my 1980s RS Turbo. Even Sport mode doesn't help much. There's little lag when on the move briskly through the lanes but in traffic it is terrible. Also in Sport the revs are held too high once you finish accelerating, I ended up using the paddles, which is fine as they are fun. Possibly the gearbox needs a reset to learn my driving style. But...the lag would drive me nuts. I know the BMW suffers from a lag fro standstill but the reasons for that are different and I don't thinking it's anywhere near a bad.

I blame the dog for being too big, lets's not get fixated on the other aspects...

[Tracky]

I’ll take the dog!

[Clive]

I’ll take the dog!

Haha....he's the baby of family - you can tell how much we adore him as we're turning down a Porsche for him.

[PaulR]

Now for the one aspect that I hope doesn't incense everyone. Maybe it's the WLTP engine but the turbo lag is simply awful. It's worse that my 1980s RS Turbo. Even Sport mode doesn't help much. There's little lag when on the move briskly through the lanes but in traffic it is terrible. Also in Sport the revs are held too high once you finish accelerating, I ended up using the paddles, which is fine as they are fun. Possibly the gearbox needs a reset to learn my driving style. But...the lag would drive me nuts. I know the BMW suffers from a lag fro standstill but the reasons for that are different and I don't thinking it's anywhere near a bad.

I'm surprised as the new twin-scroll turbo is supposed to increase responsiveness. I've the older engine, and I don't notice an obvious turbo-lag problem.

I infer you had an Escort RS Turbo - I nearly bought a Fiesta one in the nineties! Now wondering how bad the Macan would look with three-spoke alloys....

[Clive]

Now for the one aspect that I hope doesn't incense everyone. Maybe it's the WLTP engine but the turbo lag is simply awful. It's worse that my 1980s RS Turbo. Even Sport mode doesn't help much. There's little lag when on the move briskly through the lanes but in traffic it is terrible. Also in Sport the revs are held too high once you finish accelerating, I ended up using the paddles, which is fine as they are fun. Possibly the gearbox needs a reset to learn my driving style. But...the lag would drive me nuts. I know the BMW suffers from a lag fro standstill but the reasons for that are different and I don't thinking it's anywhere near a bad.

I'm surprised as the new twin-scroll turbo is supposed to increase responsiveness. I've the older engine, and I don't notice an obvious turbo-lag problem.

I infer you had an Escort RS Turbo - I nearly bought a Fiesta one in the nineties! Now wondering how bad the Macan would look with three-spoke alloys....

Yep, a bright red Escort RS Turbo. The Gen2 engine..the one I drove can't be right, it's purely in every day traffic, it's fine once on the move. The accelerator seems attached by an elastic band. The natural reaction is to push harder when nothing happens and then of course the turbo spins up and you take off like a scalded cat. I could "manage" the throttle I suppose but not in a 60k car. Anyway as the dog doesn't fit so it's a no-go anyway.

Tick-over is also quite lumpy, shaking the car - more so than the diesel in my X3. I wonder if that's normal.

[Tracky]

It does sound like there is a slight issue there, I don’t recall any of those issues when I drive ours and the dog fits too!

[Clive]

The lumpy tickover I referred to I realised today is only in Sport so that's fine, indeed it may even be intended. The lag however is still there. I can drive around it but I shouldn't really be needing to think about the turbo spinning up in a modern car. It is only from standstill or very low speed. In say 3rd gear on an open road the performance and response is great / glorious. From a standstill my X3 35D goes like a rocket by comparison.

Anyway...here's the dog issue. He's sitting with his tail-end pressed against the rear seat backs. Yes he can lie down but closing the hatch would be tricky and he'll end up being sick because he won't be able to see out or move around.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hamLaK][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hamLaK]Ru Car[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/132168588@N08/]Clive M[/url], on Flickr