Not long ago, we at Autocar India declared that the Porsche Macan was quite simply the best driving SUV in the world. Trouble is, when I say ‘we’, I mean my colleagues; unfortunately, I wasn’t around when they tested it. The months since have been agonising. I mean, if someone were to make a claim so bold, wouldn’t you want to see, no, feel it for yourself? Itching doesn’t even begin to cover it. Now I’ve finally got my chance. I’ve slyly requested Porsche to bring the Macan to me, rather than to the office, and before anyone else knows it, I’m going to head out by myself in the wee hours of the morning to see what all the fuss is about.
The perfect storm
I’m going to make sure I do it right too, and that starts with the road. As with any of our road tests, the car has to be subjected to all kinds of conditions. There need to be straights to let the engine stretch its legs, corners so that the suspension can flex its muscles, gradients to see what the torque makes of all the weight, surfaces of varying grip to evaluate the traction, and maybe a few rough patches; this is an SUV, after all. Oh, and hairpins – you always need hairpins. Amazingly, all this and more can be found just outside Pune, a few kilometres off AH47. Just beyond the town of Lavale is Paud, where this great road starts. It then winds around the scenic Mulshi lake and up towards the Tamhini ghat –and that’s where the fun really begins.
The other thing that had to be just right was the car itself. You see, the Macan the team tested back then was the Diesel S, which I’m sure was incredible in its own right. The one I have with me, however, is the whole hog – the Macan Turbo.
Yes, I know, all Macans are turbocharged, but if you know your Porsches, you’ll know that the ‘Turbo’ badge gets stuck onto only the very fastest models. Fittingly then, this one uses a powertrain that no other car does. It’s the 3.6-litre petrol V6, onto which the crazy folk at Porsche bolted two turbochargers for the Macan Turbo. The 395 horsepower and 56.1kgm then makes its way through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, through all four wheels, through 265- and 295-section tyres, to the road. Instantly, it would seem.
