Switched from Taycan Turbo 21 to Macan Turbo 25 Questions Answered

[Aquin]

Hi

I thought people thinking of switching from Taycan to Macan would have questions regarding many topics.
In short, what i can tell so far.
The Bad:
-The comfort is worse on the Macan, suspension (even with air suspension) is much stiffer compared to Taycans Comfort mode. My Macan is on 21s.
-There is no individual mode to speak of, dont know why they removed that.
-The Wow factor is no longer there, you are just another SUV.


The Good:
- The PCM is light years ahead, feels like a new thing. Android auto startsup as soon as you open the door. Its insane quick. Moving through things in the menu is like a breeze, no stutter nothing. That really annoyed me on Taycan.
- It handles extremely well, i can say almost as good as a Taycan.
-Its fun to drive, for me more fun then the Taycan for some reason, it feels more rear biased.
-The extra booth space is welcome.
-The range is better although not by long, i can get around 450-500km if im careful, around 350km if i drive as the car demands. I was able to get maximum 300-350km from my Taycan and never 400.


If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

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[Noan]

What was your reason to switch?

 

[Reanimator]

You were supposed to help us defeat the SUVs, not join them!

But sounds like you are happy with your switch, which is great!! Do enjoy

Would you say it has a lot of "body roll" with turns, or does it do okay with that? Is that what you meant by handling well?

 

[Aquin]

You were supposed to help us defeat the SUVs, not join them!

But sounds like you are happy with your switch, which is great!! Do enjoy

Would you say it has a lot of "body roll" with turns, or does it do okay with that? Is that what you meant by handling well?

I do miss the Taycans look to be honest, but i truly hated the PCM man. Its just not right to have that kind of a PCM in a car like that. Macan really feels that its an upgrade over the older one, its buttery smooth.

I also own a new IX60 , and that is a proper SUV with insane comfort and very bad body roll, compared the that Macan is like a supercar. There is, at least for me no bodyroll whatsoever. That has its downsides as well, since the car is stiffer than other SUVs, the comfort is not that great, especially on small bumps. My Taycan was handling those much better even with low profile tyres since my Taycan Turbo had optional 21s. That being said, my Macan has the optional rear wheel steering.

 

[Reanimator]

Truth. That PCM is a disaster and will only worsen with time ...

Glad you had a great swap, thanks for info!

 

[JackSparrow]

Disagree about PCM disaster.
Really no issue with day to day use, I don’t see any response issues, just some poor design choices, burying settings in an unusual manner. (3 dot menus, plug&charge and other setting require specialized knowledge rather than just residing in settings, timer and charge limit functions are not user friendly)
I drove a well equipped loaner Macan 4, it was way nicer than any prior ice macan loaner.
My opinion is that the Taycan had a more sophisticated ride & handling, more communicative steering, better seats, nicer materials, etc…
The Macan was quite good too, no one really needs a Taycan, or a Porsche for that matter. Note I didn’t drive the Turbo version, the 4 was reasonably quick but lacked the edgy acceleration I like.

 

[Boss Hogg]

Glad you are enjoying the new ride.

I've had a few mccan loaners, outside of handling and performance, my main take way is how different the interior feels vs taycan, but to be fair none of the loaners have been high spec models with upgraded leather. The main instrument display is also an odd one, the narrow/taller mccan one is just not a nice or as well animated/crisp as taycan.

I also noticed a clear difference in efficiency, the mccan is more efficient at low speeds around town and less efficient at higher motorway speeds -different tools for different jobs. For me covering a lot of motorway the taycan works better.

 

[Bao1303]

Also driven the macan quite a few times including on some of my favourite roads. Objectively excellent to drive for an SUV or other heavy car but do not agree it compares to the taycan, at least not when considering the whole package: refinement / sportiness / comfort. Main gripe was road noise on bad asphalt - same as the q6 etron.

Subjectively however - did not get any "must have" feeling for it - nice but nothing special. thats highly personal though and I should mention that I am part of the seemingly very exclusive club that find the pcm excellent for my needs both looks, simplicity in daily use and responsive enough. Must be getting old

 

[dutchcourage]

I recently traded in my Taycan GTS for a Macan 4.
The only reason was really a practical one: I often have to take some older passengers with me, and they were finding it harder and harder to get in and out of the low Taycan. The higher seating position of the Macan is definitely a big plus in that regard.

But other than that… the Macan just can’t be compared to the Taycan GTS.
In my opinion, the Taycan looks much better, handles way more precisely, and the interior feels a lot nicer too. In the Taycan you feel much more surrounded by the cabin, which gives it a special vibe.

So the Macan is mainly a practical choice, nothing more.
I already miss the looks and the feeling of the Taycan.

I’m really looking forward to the Cayman EV — that would be the perfect “fun car on the side.”

 

[ze_shark]

- The PCM is light years ahead, feels like a new thing. Android auto startsup as soon as you open the door. Its insane quick. Moving through things in the menu is like a breeze, no stutter nothing. That really annoyed me on Taycan.

I have been driving a Macan 4 as a loaner for 2 weeks, am stuck with it for another 7-8, and my statements refer to my J1.2 CT4S as a point of comparison.

"Light years ahead" does not reconcile with my experience at all. It is on par. Certain latencies are very annoying and i feel like there is some caching at play. And extremely annoyingly, it resumes playing music on my phone (from Android Auto) after the car turns off, something my Taycan never does.

- It handles extremely well, i can say almost as good as a Taycan.
-Its fun to drive, for me more fun then the Taycan for some reason, it feels more rear biased.

This Macan 4 has 21" PZeros on PASM suspension. It is not a Turbo and i won't speculate as to what that changes (or doesn't). But both comfort and handling are laughably bad compared to my Taycan. Someone asked me to describe and i replied "like a rubber rodeo horse".

It inevitably rides way too high, even in the lowest setting. Primary damping feels heavy, lardy and vague in Normal mode, and body rolls far too much, to the point of squirming diagonally at turn in. The sideways motion are an inherent and typical flaw for SUVs, due to the geometric amplification of camber defects.
Sport then Sport Plus contain body movement, but secondary damping gets so bad that the whole ride is fidgety. Vehicle weights are comparable, but turn-in response and balance at apex are leagues apart.

To compensate roll, sway bars must be quite beefy, which makes small speed bumps really uncomfortable if you must take them at an angle.

-The range is better although not by long, i can get around 450-500km if im careful, around 350km if i drive as the car demands. I was able to get maximum 300-350km from my Taycan and never 400.

There i agree. On same commutes, i am getting ~15% less consumption, and the Macan is particularly more efficient in very slow traffic where the Taycan is massively inefficient.

But other than that, i think that one would have to be mad to consider a Macan EV and a Taycan comparable experiences. So for me, absolutely no thanks. I cannot wait to return that thing.

 

[Aquin]

I have been driving a Macan 4 as a loaner for 2 weeks, am stuck with it for another 7-8, and my statements refer to my J1.2 CT4S as a point of comparison.

"Light years ahead" does not reconcile with my experience at all. It is on par. Certain latencies are very annoying and i feel like there is some caching at play. And extremely annoyingly, it resumes playing music on my phone (from Android Auto) after the car turns off, something my Taycan never does.



This Macan 4 has 21" PZeros on PASM suspension. It is not a Turbo and i won't speculate as to what that changes (or doesn't). But both comfort and handling are laughably bad compared to my Taycan. Someone asked me to describe and i replied "like a rubber rodeo horse".

It inevitably rides way too high, even in the lowest setting. Primary damping feels heavy, lardy and vague in Normal mode, and body rolls far too much, to the point of squirming diagonally at turn in. The sideways motion are an inherent and typical flaw for SUVs, due to the geometric amplification of camber defects.
Sport then Sport Plus contain body movement, but secondary damping gets so bad that the whole ride is fidgety. Vehicle weights are comparable, but turn-in response and balance at apex are leagues apart.

To compensate roll, sway bars must be quite beefy, which makes small speed bumps really uncomfortable if you must take them at an angle.


There i agree. On same commutes, i am getting ~15% less consumption, and the Macan is particularly more efficient in very slow traffic where the Taycan is massively inefficient.

But other than that, i think that one would have to be mad to consider a Macan EV and a Taycan comparable experiences. So for me, absolutely no thanks. I cannot wait to return that thing.

I think we agree except for the handling part, i never track my EVs so i wouldnt really know if its APEX exits are much better or not, but to me, at least day to day driving, My macans handling is a beast, if you think this is wobbly, you should try the IX

When it comes to the PCM ; i think we totally disagree, my Taycan had latencies that inevitably caused me to double tap some buttons. The new PCM is much better, and in a technological standpoint. New Macan has a Central Control unit whereas the Taycan still uses the old system with many smaller compute units. Also The PCM on Macan runs native on Android, whereas the Taycan doesnt. That provides a much better experience. I wont argue Taycan is superior or not, ofcourse it is almost in any way as its simply the best EV and the price speaks for itself. But i love the Macan, especially after my first kid is born and i need the space, i was expecting a worse experience where im surprised that its this good.

 

[ze_shark]

Was your car J1.1 or J1.2 ?
My point is that, compared to the J1.2, i see no empirical benefit to the new PCM and the major drawback of this extremely annoying issue of music resuming on my phone when the Macan turns off. Sure it runs natively on Android OS, but the UI on my J1.2 is essentially the same, minus occasional comical latencies on the Macan.

You love the space, okay, but it comes at a massive sacrifice. The sacrifice that SUV owners try to rationalize a bit too much in my view.

 

[Aquin]

Was your car J1.1 or J1.2 ?
My point is that, compared to the J1.2, i see no empirical benefit to the new PCM and the major drawback of this extremely annoying issue of music resuming on my phone when the Macan turns off. Sure it runs natively on Android OS, but the UI on my J1.2 is essentially the same, minus occasional comical latencies on the Macan.

You love the space, okay, but it comes at a massive sacrifice. The sacrifice that SUV owners try to rationalize a bit too much in my view.

Mine was a 21 so it was J1.1 , never drove the 1.2 so sorry i missed your post mentioning that detail.
I cannot speak for the PCM on the new Taycan so you are probably right, also the music continues on my phone as well but i think that has to do something with the software on the car or can be an option to tick off, doesnt bother me alot. The space comes with a massive sacrifice, but Taycan also comes with a massive increase in price bump as well, i would have opted for the new Taycan Turbo or Turbo S but The price i paid for the Macan Turbo is exactly %50 less that what i would have paid for the new Taycan Turbo. At least where i live.

 

[ze_shark]

I forgot to mention another bonkers miss of the Macan PCM: audio does not pause when muting. It keeps playing in silence. You cannot pause music/podcast from the steering wheel button. I do not know what could be more basic than this.

 

[IrishCarNerd]

I wanted to chime in and thank everyone for the input. My J1.1 Taycan GTS ST lease is up next September and I need to order a car early next year.

Pricing another new Taycan GTS ST with a high spec is over $200k usd which had me thinking about the Macan GTS EV. More room for the kids, higher snow clearances, slightly better range and ~$75k cheaper. My worry being I’ll dislike the slower Macan and end up buying a Taycan a year later. Seems silly but I hate how the steel brakes dust so bad (I live up a canyon so brakes get used) and there’s no PCCB option on the Macan GTS. First world problems

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