2022 Porsche Macan GTS First Test: So Quick, So Grippy, So So Good

If you want a sports car, but you absolutely, unequivocally need an SUV, there's a Porsche for that. The 2022 Macan GTS wears track tires that latch to the pavement like leeches. With a 4,900-rpm launch, this all-wheel-drive SUV hammers to 60 mph quicker than a mid-engine 718 Boxster S. And its steering is so precise, you can splash through parking-lot puddles and use the wet tires to write little cursive love notes to the engineers who brought it to life.

Porsche's GTS models have always been benchmarks within their model ranges, whether you're talking about sports cars, sedans, or SUVs. Normally sandwiched between the S and Turbo versions, they beautifully balance handling and power. But for the moment, at least, the Macan GTS isn't Baby Bear's just-right porridge. New for 2022, the GTS inherits the 434-hp twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 of last year's Macan Turbo and takes that model's place as the hottest dish.

How Quick Is the Porsche Macan GTS?

The GTS happily carries that mantle. At 3.6 seconds to 60 mph and 12.2 seconds through the quarter mile, it is the quickest MacanMotorTrendhas ever tested. (We never had a chance to test the Turbo model that the GTS replaces.) That quickness directly translates from the track to the road, where it's nearly impossible to catch the engine sleeping. Squeeze the throttle, and the Macan snaps into action with a lightning-quick downshift that reminds you it's not just 434 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque that make this car so sharp, but also Porsche's seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

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When the road turns wriggly and speed limits drop, the experience only intensifies. Adaptive dampers and stiffened air springs that lower the body by 0.4 inch are standard on the GTS, while the $12,010 Sport package builds on the capability with brake-based torque-vectoring and 21-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Corsa PZC4 tires that are wider on the back axle than the front. It all adds up to 0.96 g of lateral grip on the imperfect pavement of our temporary Michigan skidpad. On smooth asphalt, this is easily a 1.00-g car, er, SUV.

I'd be lying, though, if I said the Macan handles like a sports car. Between those staggered tires, the nose-heavy weight distribution, and splitting the torque to all four corners, the GTS doesn't balance grip across the front and rear ends as evenly as a 911, Cayman, or Boxster does. In many ways—and I mean this as a compliment—the Macan GTS drives like the world's greatest Volkswagen GTI. It's endlessly predictable and so easy to place where you want it, and it changes directions with supernatural immediacy. It's exhilarating, and yet you know that dialing some of the effortlessness out of these capabilities could make for an even more thrilling drive. Besides, running the expensive and fast-wearing Corsa tires on a daily driver seems like a silly proposition—even in Southern California's most idyllic climates.

"Small" Annoyances

In many ways, the Macan is a strange little SUV. Is it too small? Too low to be called an SUV? Why does it look like it's had a dentist's cheek retractor jammed into its grilles? You shouldn't ponder these questions for long, though, because Porsche is at its best when it's weird. The Macan's eccentricities are more subtle than mounting a sports car's engine in the least logical location or bolting a two-speed transmission into an EV, but they are every bit as instrumental to its character.

Chief among the quirks is the way that the Macan shrinks around you, and not just in the cliched "drives smaller than it is" sense or in the way it feels a half-ton lighter than its 4,467 pounds. Those attributes are very real, but there's also a simpler physical sense of smallness to the Macan. Its exterior dimensions are on par with those of the BMW X3 M and Mercedes-AMG GLC 63, and yet to stand next to a Macan with four adults raised on a Midwestern meat-and-potatoes diet is to wonder when you signed up for the circus and how you managed to be so talentless that your only job is to cram into the clown car.

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It takes some light calisthenics to clear the tight door openings, and the center console does eat into the driver and front passenger's legroom, but once inside, there's more room than you expect. Four of those full-grown Americans will fit, although bringing their luggage may prove challenging. If you're the type of discerning buyer who understands bigness is not always a virtue when it comes to cars, though, the Macan feels like it's sized just right.

Porsche's infotainment and capacitive controls, on the other hand, still feel wrong after more than a decade of using this system. It seems particularly un-Porsche-like that so many driving controls—the damper stiffness, stability control, and active exhaust, among others—are located so far back in the center console, behind the shifter. Since they can't be located by feel, you have to crane your neck and dip your eyes to find what you're looking for, taking your eyes off the road for too long.

The Price of Near-Perfection

Hopefully you've been saving your allowance, because the Macan GTS starts at $84,350. Have I been desensitized by too many six-figure Porsche window stickers? Maybe, because even this particular GTS's $98,950 as-tested price seems reasonable considering what you get—namely, an experience few other SUVs can match. There are other SUVs that can imitate the Macan's acceleration and cornering prowess. Few of them feel so natural while doing so.