@Tom G, I really like the photos of your Macan but could you perhaps edit your post to change the font? It's difficult to read just now.

Thanks!

 

That looking frking amazing! Im glad you liked it.


Love the exterior color and interior combo. Love the fact you have no sunroof too! Im sure a lot of people disagree about that but I'm rooting for you haha.

 

I'd love to change the font but when I click on edit it just takes me to a blank box. Help.

 

I've had that happen as well. Usually I resolve it by copying the text from my original post, pasting it into the blank box, then editing it as required.

Another way to strip out unwanted formatting is to paste the text into a very basic word editor that doesn't support too many options - such as Notepad in Windows - then copy it back from there.

 

This is probably the easiest way. Just did it in my editor.
I’m very grateful for this Forum because it has given me many good ideas when I was configuring my Macan. There were some items I had no knowledge of that I added because of what was written here. So to help pay back, I’m including as many pictures as I can and including some first thoughts after having it for a short time. I’m not an expert on the operation of many features but I thought it might help someone to hear a firsthand account from someone driving the Macan now. Keep in mind that these items are based upon my option and observation.

First, let’s talk about the color. That’s one area I’m glad I didn’t listen to many on this forum. In my first post I said that I had ordered Impulse Red because I have always had red cars for the most part and I considered a bad red better than no red. And I didn’t think this was a bad red even though I had only seen it in a few pictures. This has turned out to be a huge understatement. The first time I saw this color for real was when I picked it up at the dealer. And I was absolutely thrilled and delighted! It was worth every dollar I paid for it. My wife says one of the problems people may have with this color is the name. Porsche shouldn’t have called it Impulse Red. It should have been more descriptive. She suggested the name Cherry Maroon. In any case I am absolutely thrilled with the color. As many here have said, color is a very personal and subjective thing. One thing I’m trying to show here with my pictures is a true representation of the color. That’s why I took the pictures (with my iPhone 6 Plus) in several different lighting situations. Some were on cloudy days and some were in bright sunlight. One more thought on the color. The real reds I have liked before are Guards Red on the 911s I’ve had and Mars Red on the 2013 MB SLK250 I traded in on the Macan. I think bright reds look best on sports-type cars, not larger SUV/CUV cars like the Macan. If I had a choice between Impulse Red and Guards Red on the Macan, I would take IR. I guess the Porsche designers know what they’re doing.

As I said, I’m not an automobile expert, although I had several years’ flight testing airplanes during my 20 years as an Air Force pilot so I have some experience checking out the operation of vehicle systems. I’ve only had the Macan for a short time so I can’t comment on the long range operation of many systems but while I was waiting for delivery, I made of list of many of the complaints people had about problems they were having. I’ve had a chance to check mine against that list and will cover a few.

First, of course, is the infamous backup camera. I’ve only had one other camera and that was in a 2013 MB GLK350. The Macan camera is at least as clear as the one I had in the GLK. One of the problems that may lead to the complaints is that the Macan camera lens is a much wider angle than the GLK. This leads to distortion in faraway objects, such as off-center trees looking like they are leaning. Although this doesn’t look that good, I’m really not that interested in objects that far away. Other than that, I think it does the job that it’s designed to do.

I got the 18 way Sport Seats and am thrilled with them. I wanted seats comparable to the Recaro seats I had in my 911s. And these seats really fit the bill. They are very comfortable and fit like a glove. The trip back from the dealer was 2 hours and my wife and I both were very happy with them. And believe me; my wife is very picky about how car seats feel. I’m not a petite size but not huge either. I didn’t try the 14 way seats, so I can’t compare them. The only issue I had is a slight problem getting over the outside seat bladder when getting into and out of the car. It is a little high.

Auto Start/Stop: Again, the only other car I’ve had with this feature was the GLK. When I was trying to decide between the GLK and a BMW X3, one of the things that made me go with the GLK was the Start/Stop feature. In the X3, the engine starting was loud and rough. It was very obvious that it was being started. With the GLK, it was barely noticeable. I’ve found the Macan to be very much like the GLK.

Turn signal, cruise control, and wiper stalks being very flimsy: This one really has me flabbergasted. The stalks in the Macan are as substantial and strong as any car I’ve ever had. The only complaint I have is about the operation of the cruise control stalk. The movement is the exact opposite of the MB system I am used to and to change the cruising speed in 5mph increments, you have to hold the stalk in the same position as for 1mph changes. When it starts to increase or decrease by 5mph, it goes very fast and I usually end up overshooting. It’s very frustrating. It would be nice to use the MB system—first detent for 1mph change and second detent for 5mph.

Lane Keep Assist being rough: Wow, I don’t see this at all. My wife made me order all of the safety features and this was one I was really interested in. I tried this out extensively on the 2 hour drive on the interstate back from the dealer. It was very impressive. As I would steer toward the center or side lines, it would gently pull me back from the line. It was subtle but firm. I also got adaptive cruise control and it too worked perfectly. With the two together, it’s almost an autonomous driving car. The only thing keeping it from that is the requirement that there has to be a steering wheel input by the driver after about 10 seconds or it puts up a warning and turns off the lane keep assist until there is a wheel input by the driver. I imagine this is a liability issue with Porsche to keep people from reading books or some other activity while they should be paying attention to the road.

I got the heated carbon fiber steering wheel, which I love, but I have one small suggestion for Porsche. In the short time I’ve had the car; I’ve accidentally hit the switch to turn on the heat several times. The only indication that I’ve done that, other than the wheel warming up, is a short duration notice on the multi-function display. It would be nice to have a warning light somewhere. Also, about the complaints that the carbon fiber gets very hot in the sun—does anyone remember the time when all steering wheels were made of plastic? That’s why god created sun shades.

The standard radio is terrible: This complaint reminds me of the time when I started downloading MP3 files. They were 1/10 the size of the WAV files used at the time. When I played them for my friend, he said the music didn’t sound as good as the WAV files. To me, I couldn’t tell the difference. If you can tell the difference with the BOSE or Burmester systems, then go for it. The standard radio sounds great to me.

The PCM is terrible: Again, I don’t see the problem with it. It’s better than the system I had in the GLK. It has more capability, is user friendly, and does what it’s supposed to do. The only thing I don’t like about it is the fact that I use the map most of the time and every time I start, I have to push the confirm button to acknowledge that I won’t be distracted by the system. Maybe there’s a way to make it go away after a few seconds, but I haven’t found it yet. For now, I’ve assigned this task to my wife.

The rearview mirror shape: Hasn’t anyone noticed that the shape of the mirror perfectly matches the view out the rear window? The only complaint I have about mirrors is the price I had to pay for the SportDesign Side Mirrors. That’s the only really extravagant option I added to the car. And I had to pay a heavy price with the wife. I think they look so much better than the standard mirrors and look a lot like the ones I got for free on the SLK. And why didn’t I get any credit off for the cost of the standard ones?

So far, I haven’t heard any strange noises coming from either the engine or PDK transmission. Speaking of the PDK, what can I say that hasn’t already been covered numerous times in this forum? It is as close to a perfect transmission as you can get. I still haven’t been able to feel when it shifts gears.

One other thing on the turn signals: My wife tells me that she really likes the sound of the turn signal when it’s on. I don’t know because I can’t hear it. Over the many years of flying jets, I lost the upper frequency range of my hearing. I can’t hear high notes. This is the only car’s turn signal that I haven’t been able to hear. Come on, Porsche, lower the frequency for us old folks!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the weeping rear wiper nozzle is still with us. On the drive back from picking it up at the dealer on a clear, sunny day, I noticed a small streak of fluid on the rear window. It has happened a few more times since then. Thanks to this forum, I’m not going to have this fixed because of the stories from several of you about the damage caused by service personnel to the center stop light when they tried to fix the weeping problem. I’ll just live with it. It’s not a big deal.

Finally, how do we like the Macan S? We got the Macan because we came to the conclusion that with just the two of us and being retired, we really didn’t need 2 cars. The only problem, I have always had sports cars and love the feel and handling of these cars. My wife likes the comfort and carrying ability of SUVs. So when we read about the Macan and test drove one, we decided this could be the car that satisfied both of us. We were so right! We both love this car. It drives and handles at least as good as any sports car I have had, and better than most, and is as comfortable and useful as my wife wants. So, how do we like the Macan? We absolutely love it. We also love the Agate Grey interior. At first we had decided to go with the Luxor but decided against it because of the possible reflection problem off the dash. It was a good decision.

The configuration code for our Macan S is PGYRRV34.

The first few pictures below were taken on a cloudy, overcast day. The rest were on bright, sunny days.

 

@Jammer


Thanks. My editor is MS Word and I tried to increase the font a lot but it would only get as big as the second entry above. Hope you can read it better.

 

@Jammer


Thanks. My editor is MS Word and I tried to increase the font a lot but it would only get as big as the second entry above. Hope you can read it better.

No probs @Tom G - I followed @SoCalS5's lead and just enlarged my screen fonts a few times. I'm reading your original post now.

 

Love the pictures. That is a great color! Very nice build.

On my PC, I was able to hit Ctrl + a couple of times to enlarge the window and font. Made for easier reading.

 

Excellent review @Tom G! I think I agree with every point you made and opinion you expressed.

As for the Impulse Red color - yes, I think it looks great as well. If it wasn't for the fact that it's close to the color of the car my Macan replaced I might have gone for it myself.

On the rearview camera, although I agree with many of the criticisms posted about it by others, it dawned on me that the real issue with it is probably shared by most of the other rearview cameras out there on other cars as well - there's no real depth perception to the display.

The ultra wide-angle view and the sometimes indistinct sharpness don't help in that regard, but even without those factors it would still be difficult to tell how close the rear of the car was to objects in the display. As a test I've tried to judge how close I was to a brick wall and to my garage door, with poor results. I can tell from the view straight down what's about to pass directly underneath the car, but other than that - nothing. Perhaps a rangefinder overlay driven by updated proximity sensors would be helpful. If the rearview display was closer to normal vision rather than ultra wide-angle that might make it easier to judge the distance, although at the expense of showing a much more restricted view. Where's a good 3-D display when you need it?

Anyway, I digress. Nice review!

 

Honestly, I didn't read a single word of your post for obvious reasons, but the pics look fantastic. Enjoy. Thats a killer color.

 

The Impulse Red Report

Epic post @Tom G! Congratulations on the new car and great of you to share your detailed impressions. I'm starting to warm to this colour and appreciate the pictures!

 

Congrats Tom G, the car looks beautiful! Love the colored wheel caps. Interesting that just a small dab of color can have such a huge impact. Very thoughtful and interesting post (I passed the eye test, with my magnifiers).

 

I'm sorry the pictures disappeared. I originally used Photobucket to post the pictures but for some reason the photos were linked to my Photobucket account so when you clicked on the photo, it took you to my account. I deleted my account which unfortunately removed them from the Forum. It's taken me awhile to figure out another way to post them. So here they are again.

 

@Tomg, thanks for the pics and thorough write up . Hi hope you and your wife enjoy many, many safe , healthy and happy miles in your new Macan .

Congratulations !


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

The Impulse Red Report
Finally, how do we like the Macan S? We got the Macan because we came to the conclusion that with just the two of us and being retired, we really didn’t need 2 cars. The only problem, I have always had sports cars and love the feel and handling of these cars. My wife likes the comfort and carrying ability of SUVs. So when we read about the Macan and test drove one, we decided this could be the car that satisfied both of us. We were so right! We both love this car. It drives and handles at least as good as any sports car I have had, and better than most, and is as comfortable and useful as my wife wants. So, how do we like the Macan? We absolutely love it. We also love the Agate Grey interior. At first we had decided to go with the Luxor but decided against it because of the possible reflection problem off the dash. It was a good decision.

Glad to hear that. We made our decision based on similar assumptions. Your impressions confirm that it was the right decision to take. I only test drove the Macan S Diesel for about 2 hours, but was absolutely thrilled with the car. One thing that positively surprised me was that the suspension was very good and the ride was smooth even on the most horrible cobblestone streets in Prague.

The funny thing is that I wanted to buy BMW X4, had no idea that something like Macan existed, and only came over to Macan side once I saw a youtube comparison of X4 vs Macan. X4 looked to me from the rear as a sort of layered cake compared to clean lines of Macan.

Enjoy your car and thanks for the report.

 

Love my Turbo in Impulse Red.


Color is a matter of opinion. Having a great color that's rare in the scheme of things is only a plus.

 

Car looks beautiful and I agree with most of what you say, especially wives being expensive

I too like the sport mirrors, but don't like that they don't fold in. I believe I'm correct about that.

Btw, if you want to really show the color correctly, ditch the phone and use a proper camera

 

They do fold in





The sport mirrors do fold in. I've done it many times. I just haven't found a way to do it automatically. The SLK would fold when the car was locked. I've read through the manual twice but haven't seen how this can be done.


I stopped using real cameras after smart phones became so good.

 

There's always been a burning desire within me to get a red car... but I've never had the guts to follow through!! Sad!! :crying:

 

on my computer and ipad it shows the pictures cannot be found.

 

Look to later on in the thread. I reposted them and explain what happened with the original pictures.