The PASM thread

Technical Forum for the Porsche Macan
Post Reply
Col Lamb
Posts: 9323
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:38 pm
Location: Lancashire

Post by Col Lamb »

PASM questions and all permutations have been repeatedly asked and very many comments posted so I thought a PASM specific thread would be handy for us all.

To include PASM or not to PASM that is the question?

It totally depends upon what ride comfort you want and just how well you want the Macan to handle.

Wheel size has a very marked effect on both ride and handling as well as a Macan with and without PASM.

Best advice that can be given is to test drive a whole range of Macans of various wheel sizes and suspension setups to decide what is best for your needs.

To give you my own experiences of test drives:-

By far the best riding Macan that I have driven was a 2.0 with Air and on 18” wheels, superbly comfortable ride but more body roll when driven with gusto through the corners.

By far the worst ride quality was an S with no PASM and 21” wheels, a hard ride, the whole car moved around on uneven surfaces, in the corners far more body roll than a Macan with PASM.

A compromise is a Macan with PASM and 19/20” wheels, for a smooth comfortable ride and very good handling, for an SUV that is.

21” and PASM will give a slightly firmer ride, better slightly better handling than the 19/20” wheeled Macan but with a bit more tyre noise.

Personally my first Macan it was an SD on 20” wheels and it had PASM and the ride comfort was very good.mmI thought long and hard about including Air (which includes PASM) Suspension in the Turbo, so I of course drove both back to back and chose to include Air for the superior ride comfort which for me was paramount, the Turbo would have been on 19” wheels which were standard but I did not like the look if them so compromised slightly on the ride comfort by going with 20” wheels. 33 months later I am still extremely happy with my choice.

I hope others will add there own Macan related experiences and Macan related comments to ensure a balanced and informative thread.
.
.
.
You may be unsure specifically what PASM ( Porsche Active Suspension Management ) is and does so following is text from the Porsche website.
The last line is imho the most relevent.
.
.
.
PASM is an electronic damping control system. It actively and continuously adjusts damping force based on current road conditions and driving style.

When a car is driven off-road or assertively in a manner that demands hard acceleration and braking, the forces acting on the car will normally induce perceptible body movements. PASM intervenes in these situations to reduce them. You can select from three modes: ‘Comfort’, ‘SPORT’ and ‘SPORT PLUS’.

PASM is permanently active, adapting automatically to the current driving situation with the aim of increasing driving stability and comfort.
Col
Macan Turbo
Air, 20” wheels, ACC, Pano, SurCam, 14w, LEDs, PS+, Int Light Pack, Heated seats and Steering, spare wheel, SC, Privacy glass, PDK gear, SD mirrors, Met Black, rear airbags

Col Lamb
Posts: 9323
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:38 pm
Location: Lancashire

Post by Col Lamb »

Current link to Porsche PASM webpage.

https://www.porsche.com/international/m ... ment-pasm/
Col
Macan Turbo
Air, 20” wheels, ACC, Pano, SurCam, 14w, LEDs, PS+, Int Light Pack, Heated seats and Steering, spare wheel, SC, Privacy glass, PDK gear, SD mirrors, Met Black, rear airbags
User avatar
Paul
Posts: 8603
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 6:19 pm
Location: Bristol
Contact:

Post by Paul »

1st Sapphire SD
2nd Sapphire GTS
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4296
Current 992 S Cab
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9845&p=196465#p196465
User avatar
pmg
Posts: 2983
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:31 pm

Post by pmg »

I would stress the comments on wheel size. The S I drove at Pec today was identical to my own, i.e Air and PASM but 19 rather than 20 wheels. I spent must time in my usual settings of low and sport. I gained the impression there was a fair bit more role with the 19s than I have experience with the 20's. How much of that is due to the narrow tyres as well as the slightly higher profile I cannot say expect I was definitely happy I had chosen 20 for my summer set.
2019 Macan S Porsche code PKW8WKI8
User avatar
Ian.g
Posts: 1156
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:04 pm
Location: Worcestershire

Post by Ian.g »

I have 20in with PASM and am happy with it. I usually drive it in the sport setting (1 light) because most of my driving is country roads (it limits body roll better) or town but I switch to comfort on motorways. I don't generally use the sport plus (2 lights) setting.
I have also driven 21in on steel springs on the road (too harsh a ride for me) and at PEC where it was fine on the smooth tracks. Also driven 20in on Air at PEC but I am unsure how much better it would be on a road. It did give an odd effect on one of the handling circuit bends. Before really commenting on that setup I would want to drive it on roads that I know. I imagine it would be great for long commutes, but not sure about country roads. Not driven 18 or 19in. Road noise seems significantly worse with 21 than 20in. But then each to his own. We all like slightly different things. The problem is that you can't drive every combination as no-one has all 12 sitting there for you to try!
On-Track
Posts: 2135
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: Staffordshire

Post by On-Track »

Paul wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 5:44 pm ..posted previously.....

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7986&p=166824&hilit=PASM#p166824
Thanks for the link. I missed that post first time around.
Peter

Current: 2020 Carmine Red GTS http://www.porsche-code.com/PMST9ZI9
Gone- 2015 Sapphire Blue Diesel
Gone -2013 Cayenne Diesel
Post Reply

  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post