Each week, the world's automakers put about 1,000 U.S. Most are dropped off in the reviewer's driveway, option-laden, gassed, prepped and insured for a week's free use. Some are delivered to airport valet parking lots for vacationing reviewers. Some go to bloggers with a following, some to influential voices such as NPR "Car Talk" hosts Ray and Tom Magliozzi on the off chance of a mention. So abundant are free cars, at least for A-list reviewers, that they can easily score two a week, according to reviewers and car company publicists. Fred Heiler, a publicity manager for nearly 30 years at Porsche, Audi, Subaru and Mercedes-Benz. Second-car requests, he adds, are decided case by case. Reviewers rarely disclose this extraordinary livery service on which their livelihoods depend--or the many other carmaker subsidies that reviewers and publicists say are commonplace. They don't mention, for example, free business-class flights and expense-paid stays at places like Archerfield House, an exclusive seaside golf resort north of Edinburgh. 285,000). Nor do reviewers mention, when reviewing Mercedes-Benz products, the free iPads with prepaid service contracts that the automaker offered to favored writers at the Detroit auto show this year.
Or the special "promotional" prices that reviewers get on personal cars, or the parking-garage decks full of long-term "test" cars that car magazines have scored for decades. While acknowledging that such freebies look bad, car reviewers insist that they can't be bought and some bring authentic expertise to their work. Steven Cole Smith, for example, a syndicated Tribune Co. reviewer, takes free weekly cars, but no junkets. The automotive editor of Tribune's Orlando Sentinel and its Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, he says the company forbids junkets, and that's fine by Smith. Unlike some reviewers who, he notes, rely on test cars and own none, Smith owns several, is a licensed race driver and has checked out nearly every car model sold in the U.S. If he likes most new cars nowadays, Smith says, it's because they're better made than ever, a trend that rising owner-satisfaction rates confirm. And although he checks in periodically with the Sentinel's advertising department and offers to talk to anyone he's upset, Smith says his independence remains intact.
But even on smoother roads, it feels planted. When the Macan launches in the U.S., it will be with either a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder or a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. And while it's an auto journalist cliche, we liked the less powerful Macan a lot. It doesn't sound all that exciting - there's just 248 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. Opt for the Sport Chrono Package - pro tip: always spring for the Sport Chrono Package - and the 2.0-liter Macan takes 6.1 seconds to get to 60 miles per hour with a modest 142-mph top speed. That's identical to the current base model. But it's intensely likable. As my co-pilot during the drive so eloquently argued, the 3.0-liter Macan S is certainly more powerful, but the 2.0-liter feels like it's giving its all; like it's in its highest state of tune. The Macan S, meanwhile, always feels like it has more to give (which is probably true, considering the inevitable Macan GTS and Macan Turbo will likely use the S' new turbocharged 3.0-liter V6).
Low-end torque is impressive in the 2.0-liter, and the exhaust note is throaty for a base model. It's a fun engine to play with, to wind out, and to enjoy. There's a degree of turbo lag, despite the twin-scroll turbocharger and the hot-V configuration. That said, we experienced this in standing-start, wide-open-throttle situations - at speed, the turbo spools up more readily, giving the Macan S a more engaging character. The 3.0-liter is also the more ear-pleasing engine. Switch the active exhaust to the louder setting (and leave it there), and the result is rich, sonorous exhaust noise that's as smooth as Cool Whip. The turbocharger's whistle dominates the intake noise, but it's easy to tune this out with the radio, in case you want a more au naturel voice. Like the base Macan, the S uses a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. The computer does a fine job when left in automatic and Normal mode, but the transmission is at its best in Sport or Sport Plus and with a human working the perfectly sized, metal paddle shifters. Mounted to the steering wheel, these two units have a perfect action that feels as sharp and purposeful as the PDK's upshifts.
But focusing exclusively on the Macan's performance misses some of the most substantial improvements to Porsche鈥檚 entry-level model. What the cabin does get is more cohesion. The addition of a larger screen necessitated a new home for the air vents - Porsche flipped them 90 degrees and positioned the twin vents below the larger display. The result is that the 10.9-inch screen feels like a part of the dash, rather than something that an unimaginative designer simply tacked on. The change also allows the eye to move more naturally from the center display to the instrument cluster. The only thing separating the two is a simple, subtle strip of the selected dash inlay and aluminum trim. And once the driver plants their eyes on the twin displays of the mostly digital gauge cluster, they can take a solid grip on a new, 911-derived GT steering wheel. Thick, properly bolstered, and finished in Alcantara suede, this steering wheel has no business being on a crossover, but we're thrilled it鈥檚 there.