Macan S - Reliable?

[maniz]

My wife really wants to get a new Macan S. I have no first hand knowledge on Porsche reliability and our household has never owned any model from the brand. I had, however, long heard about Porsche being the most reliable European car brand but I also know they have had well known transmission and general build issues with the 911 platform in the past decade or so. So how is the Macan? Anyone own one?

If we get it, we will keep it for 5-6 years at the minimum. I know dealer loaners will keep us on the road if need be, but making frequent visits to the dealer, or getting stranded somewhere isn't my idea of a good ownership experience.

Welcome your thoughts, particularly first hand ones.

[jamesinaz]

Can't say about the Macan. I own a Cayenne and now has 5500 miles on it and 1 year. Never had a problem and haven't seen the dealership again. Biggest annoyance is the car seems intent on telling me I should get an oil change based on 1 year. Guess I might since the first change is most important and free I heard.

All the ratings I checked when I bought were good on both Macan and Cayenne. I thought I was going to buy the Macan but decided in the end it was too small for me.

[E46ZHP2]

Personally, I have had very good experience with Porsche reliability (2 Caymans). My brother bought one of them from me, and has continued to have great results. He has kept track of repair costs for all of his cars. The Porsche has had the lowest repair costs of all BMWs, Audis between 40-90k miles. They are very well engineered/built. Test drove a Macan S on a race track. Very capable.

[Burrcold]

It's basically an Audi SQ5 with a better transmission. It's going to be very reliable.

[stein_325i]

Only issue I know of is the transfer case which received an extended warranty, however I don't know which model years were effected. Build quality is excellent, very tight fit and finish.

[c1pher]

Just buy the Porsche already. There is only one major issue that came up and that was the transfer case but Porsche extended the warranty for all of them to ten years and also reimbursed anyone who might have paid out of pocket. If the car hasn’t had the transfer case replaced, simp,y monitor the situation and take to the dealer if it comes up and it will be replaced no questions asked.

I have 52,000 miles on my Macan Turbo and it has been flawless. Best SUV I’ve ever owned so far.

[mikado463]

Originally Posted by jamesinaz

Can't say about the Macan. I own a Cayenne and now has 5500 miles on it and 1 year. Never had a problem and haven't seen the dealership again. Biggest annoyance is the car seems intent on telling me I should get an oil change based on 1 year. Guess I might since the first change is most important and free I heard.

better get it while you can for if you had to pay for it (at dealer) prepare to bend over and take it like a man ........... $4-500 !!

[dgoldenz]

There’s another major issue besides the transfer case. The timing chain cover can leak oil and the only fix is to remove the engine. Whole job costs $8-10k. I was doing a PPI on a Macan turbo when they found this leak on the car I was looking at. Search the Macan forum. As with anything German, it’s best to have a warranty. Stuff breaks and is expensive to fix. Overall Porsche is more reliable than the other Germans.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

It's basically an Audi SQ5 with a better transmission. It's going to be very reliable.

I’d actually say that’s it’s an SQ5 with less reliable transmission. Save for the transfer case, it has the same dual clutch trans as b8/b8.5 Awdi $4. Not exactly the most reliable design and it had many revisions. If you do get one, get a warranty. How do I know this? Had many problems with this unit in my b8 $4, and swapped in the mech unit from the macan (valve body part, reused the brains). Also, don’t keep it longer than 5 years, especially if you’ll drive in stop and go traffic a lot.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by dgoldenz

There’s another major issue besides the transfer case. The timing chain cover can leak oil and the only fix is to remove the engine. Whole job costs $8-10k. I was doing a PPI on a Macan turbo when they found this leak on the car I was looking at. Search the Macan forum. As with anything German, it’s best to have a warranty. Stuff breaks and is expensive to fix. Overall Porsche is more reliable than the other Germans.

I’d say that my philosophy is to rather have a few minor issues you can fix yourself rather than to have infrequent but severe issues. That’s why I vote BMW vs VW group, and when it’s not a traditional Porsche rear engined car, why bother?

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by fastboatster

I’d actually say that’s it’s an SQ5 with less reliable transmission. Save for the transfer case, it has the same dual clutch trans as b8/b8.5 Awdi $4. Not exactly the most reliable design and it had many revisions. If you do get one, get a warranty. How do I know this? Had many problems with this unit in my b8 $4, and swapped in the mech unit from the macan (valve body part, reused the brains). Also, don’t keep it longer than 5 years, especially if you’ll drive in stop and go traffic a lot.

I said better, not more reliable. The ZF in the SQ5/S4/S5 may be more reliable but it sucks (no surprise that Porsche didn't use). Throttle lag is almost unbearable.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

I said better, not more reliable. The ZF in the SQ5/S4/S5 may be more reliable but it sucks (no surprise that Porsche didn't use). Throttle lag is almost unbearable.

SQ5 trans can be made a lot better just buy flashing a tune, there’s lots of people who can custom tune SQ5/a6/q5 trans. It’s a zf 8 speed, the hardware to make it perform great is already there, just needs a better calibration. On another hand, similar b8 s4 trans is not all that hype expects you to believe.

[dgoldenz]

Originally Posted by fastboatster

I’d say that my philosophy is to rather have a few minor issues you can fix yourself rather than to have infrequent but severe issues. That’s why I vote BMW vs VW group, and when it’s not a traditional Porsche rear engined car, why bother?

I've had 5 BMWs and all of them had lots of issues including my E92 that had the engine replaced twice due to rod bearings in the span of 60k miles. I'm on my 5th Porsche (4 911's and 1 Cayenne Turbo) and have had zero issues, only routine maintenance. Just my personal experience. Porsche is better in every way.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by dgoldenz

I've had 5 BMWs and all of them had lots of issues including my E92 that had the engine replaced twice due to rod bearings in the span of 60k miles. I'm on my 5th Porsche (4 911's and 1 Cayenne Turbo) and have had zero issues, only routine maintenance. Just my personal experience. Porsche is better in every way.

Maybe, but Macan is literally an Audi)

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by fastboatster

SQ5 trans can be made a lot better just buy flashing a tune, there’s lots of people who can custom tune SQ5/a6/q5 trans. It’s a zf 8 speed, the hardware to make it perform great is already there, just needs a better calibration. On another hand, similar b8 s4 trans is not all that hype expects you to believe.

I for one want something to work out of the box. Tuning the transmission mapping is not something I'm interested in doing on a new car.

[fastboatster]

Well okay - let’s put it this way, it will be very reliable for a first few years especially with warranty. What happens after is not clear. The fact that some people had to have it checked for some cover leaks which requires to drop the engine(!!!) clearly says it’s not all rosy. If you have to make sure it’s checked and double check for that specific leak and have to turn down relatively low mile cars because of what routinely would be an easy fix on many other cars then it does not inspire a lot of confidence. But I’m going to say that it won’t matter to the first owner, and then you’ll be able to resell it later with not much loss because it has a Porsche’s badge. So yeah, get a new one, it should not be too bad for a first few years at least.

[heavyD^2]

The Macan S is basically all Audi under the skin. Audi 3.0L and the transmission is not a real PDK as it's Audi sourced. The Macan GTS and Turbo at get the 2.9L Porsche V6. That said Porsche has done a really good job dialing in the suspension and steering as no other SUV comes as close to replicating a car.

[stein_325i]

Originally Posted by heavyD^2

The Macan GTS and Turbo at get the 2.9L Porsche V6.

In the VW Group, all V6's are sourced from Audi. Porsche develops the V8's, as well as the Flat-4 and Flat-6 of course.

[Danlnyc88]

I have a 17 Macan Turbo and it's been a great daily driver with no real big issues.

There are some "must have" options like PASM or air suspension.

[dtwyim]

2015 Macan turbo owned since new, almost 50,000 miles.

Just paid 2k (after help from Porsche goodwill) out of pocket for timing chain cover leak.

Hoping transfer case will go soon so it can be replaced. I thought it was only up to 7 years coverage.

Solid car otherwise.

[heavyD^2]

Originally Posted by stein_325i

In the VW Group, all V6's are sourced from Audi. Porsche develops the V8's, as well as the Flat-4 and Flat-6 of course.

I believe Porsche was involved in the 2.9L development so while it's not 100% Porsche it's the only V6 they have co-developed with Audi.

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by heavyD^2

I believe Porsche was involved in the 2.9L development so while it's not 100% Porsche it's the only V6 they have co-developed with Audi.

It definitely is more of a "Porsche engine" than any of the other Audi/Porsche sharing. The 2.9 was developed for the Panamara and Cayenne and then trickled down to the RS5 (which I'm happy about as it's proved to be very reliable). However, it is heavily based on the 3.0 Audi engine in the S models.