2019 Porsche 911 Speedster First Drive: Happy Belated 70th!
Behold Porsche's belated 70th birthday present to itself: the 2019 911 Speedster. Yes, it's arriving a year late鈥攖he GT3-based Speedster concept stood in at the various festivities鈥攂ut that's a credit to a company unwilling to rush an incomplete car to market. Turns out that homologating this race-bred engine to meet the latest Euro regs took longer than expected and required so much re-engineering, covered here, that Porsche considers this its third generation of the 4.0-liter GT3 mill. Now that it's ready, we were invited to sample the Speedster on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Fun facts: Together, Sardinia and neighboring French island Corsica exist on their own mini tectonic plate, isolated from the volcanic and seismic drama that neighboring Sicily and the Italian mainland endure. They are therefore considered a mini continent. And it's a real convertible top. After briefly considering minimalist "bikini" tops or no top at all, the team settled on a manually operated, fully sealed, lined canvas top. The Cabriolet's power-top buttons are used to latch and release it; when down, it snuggles under a 22-pound carbon-fiber lid that ranks as the most complex component Porsche has ever used on a production car. Then there's this spectacular 4.0-liter engine. The engineering team worked a minor miracle achieving compliance with tighter European particulate emissions regs while also netting 9 more horsepower and 7 additional lb-ft of torque. Two important mods were increasing fuel injection pressure and adding individual throttle bodies for each cylinder, which also improves throttle response.
The optional wheel is a delight to work, helping the driver of even the base Macan get into the mood for some corner carving. This steering wheel has no business being on a crossover, but we're thrilled it鈥檚 there. By now, we've recommended a few particular options. You want the Sport Chrono Package, and you should at least consider the air suspension. And the GT steering wheel is neat, too. But as with so many Porsches, it's easy to get into trouble with the options catalog. 58,600. And if you want something like the Chalk colored car featured in our gallery, plan on spending a good bit more. 33,000 in optional extras. 91,000 for a compact crossover is no small ask, but with a little more restraint, it's entirely possible to build a Macan S that even the most demanding customer can happily drive every day. The 2019 Porsche Macan is more composed and comfortable, but it's equally able to dance on a twisty road. If the suspension was all that Porsche had changed, we'd be satisfied. That the new Macan adds smarter, better-integrated technology and extra power along with a fresh look is simply a happy bonus. If you were worried that Porsche's smallest CUV was too hardcore for family work, the 2019 Macan will change your mind.
It helps the Macan S feel plenty quick, but never mind-blowingly so. It pairs well with Porsche's PDK gearbox, which proves, as ever, to be one of the best dual-clutches around. It's probably the only one that can match a torque-converter automatic for refinement in regular use, and it certainly beats one with crisp fast shifts. All that said, I did determine one situation where the V6 and PDK didn't quite play nice: When in rolling to a near stop heading towards a roundabout, in Normal mode, the transmission won't downshift to first. In second gear at low speeds, there's a moment where you get on the gas and nothing happens. It's frustrating, though I imagine it could be solved with some software programming. And otherwise, the transmission is top-notch. A really pleasant surprise was the four-cylinder engine in the base Macan. I only had around an hour in this model, and I expected to be underwhelmed by what is Porsche's least powerful car by a significant margin. This four actually has plenty of power and torque, and in the real world, it doesn't feel all that far behind the V6.
More importantly, opting for a four-cylinder Macan over a V6 Macan S shaves 140 lbs off the curb weight. Owing to its Audi-designed platform, the engine in a Macan is located almost entirely ahead of the front axle. The inline-four weighs less than the V6. In the base car, the steering is noticeably lighter, and the car feels more eager to change direction. It feels a lot more tall hot-hatch to the V6's luxury sports-sedan. But for all its sporting ability, the Macan makes no sacrifices to comfort. It's an excellent cruiser, quiet and refined, with torquey engines that make passing effortless. If you needed an SUV to do a driving tour of Vermont tomorrow, you could do a lot worse than a Macan. Given its best-selling status, the Macan is a car that Porsche can't afford to screw up, and for the 2019 update, Porsche didn't. No huge surprise when you consider that ultimately, not that much is different than before.