The Macan Turbo and X3 M may wear practical SUV bodies, but are infused with the sports car DNA that made legends of the Porsche and BMW brands. So, which is the most worthy of the performance badges they wear?
Porsche's facelifted Macan S brings a freshened look, performance bump and infotainment lift. But can it beat out the mainstay BMW X3 M40i for blending practicality and sportiness?
You could pitch an XJR against a Panamera, or an F-Type against a Boxster or Cayman. Yet the absolute domination of SUVs in today’s sales numbers suggests the most relevant Jaguar versus Porsche comparison pits the F-Pace against the Macan. Many automotive purists would prefer neither existed, believing them to be a slight on two brands with impeccable sporting pedigrees...
SUVs are such a widely accepted part of the automotive landscape these days that few batted an eyelid when Jaguar, after 80-odd years of racing cars, and manufacturing sporty coupes and sports sedans, released the F-Pace soft-roader in 2016. (And this, after years of denying it would tread on sister company Land Rover’s toes, of course...
Buying a luxury SUV is confusing. There are so many sizes, so many options and so many brands all offering what would, on paper at least, seem like a great purchase. On the smaller end of the scale, the likes of the Porsche Macan GTS and Mercedes-AMG GLC43 go head-to-head for dominance in the all-important performance SUV war of the Germans...
We are just about getting used to the idea of sporty cars powered by diesel engines, but the Audi SQ5, BMW X4 30d and Porsche Macan S Diesel further test the scepticism of purists. Can a diesel-powered SUV be a genuine performance star? It’s fitting the SQ5 is here because it was Audi that started the modern era of diesel performance with its R10 and R15 TDI race cars that, with the exception of 2009, dominated Le Mans between 2006 and 2011 (before hybrids became trendy)...
Who will it be, the all-new Porsche Macan, or the BMW X4 for the title of best sporty SUV under 100k...
