2019 Porsche Macan vs 2020

What's the difference?

If the Cayenne saved Porsche, the Macan consolidated its gains. SUVs print money for premium manufacturers, and you only have to have seen the Germans pivot to SUVs as their first major EV products to get the full force of what these types of cars mean.

The Macan held the distinction in Australia of being the first affordable Porsche, breaking well below $80,000 and nabbing yet more customers who had never thought, or ever dreamt, that they could take the wheel of one of Stuttgart's finest.

And with the sort of commercial and marketing nous few can manage, the fact it was basically an Audi Q5 largely passed unremarked. Possibly because the Q5 is pretty good to start with, but also because the Macan feels like a totally different car.

It's already time for a facelift, and in true Porsche style it's a hard one to spot. We've already driven the mid-spec S, but now it's time to get to grips with the base spec Macan.

In the grand scheme of Porsche as a brand, an SUV like the Macan is as controversial as it is inevitable.

I mean, we’re talking about a brand with a fan-base which turned its nose up at the entire concept of water cooling, let alone having the Stuttgart crest defiled with a bloated SUV body.

The march of time and changing tastes of the world have had their way with Porsche though, and the reality is, if those fans still want to see the iconic 911 continue much further into the future, they’ll just have to accept the only reason the storied automaker can stay alive at all is because of SUVs like the Cayenne, and the car tested here, the Macan.

Is it all bad news though? Does the Macan earn the Porsche badge? Would you really sit one next to a 911 in an all-Porsche garage? We took a second-from-the-top GTS to find out…