Macan Diesel – Your Daily Performance SUV

Can a diesel Macan have Panamera performance? Yes it can. All the way to 310HP and 650Nm of torque!

Another Porsche SUV?

Let’s go on a little trip down the memory lane. It’s 2006. Some whale got stranded in the River Thames in London. Borat came out and put Kazakhstan on the international stage for a variety of reasons. Google purchased YouTube. New Zealand wins 31 medals at the Commonwealth Games. They were simpler times – life was good.

There was one more event in 2006. Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet, and without any correlation to that, an Audi designer drafts up a slightly smaller version of the Audi Q7 – which is about the same size as an average planet. The Q5 is the beginning of a new class of vehicles – the mini-SUV.

Fast forward to 2012 and the Porsche division drafts up the concept for the Macan based on the Q5 skeleton. With its release in late 2013, the Macan becomes Porsche’s top selling model. It is still the most sold Porsche in the world, followed closely by the Cayenne and the Panamera.

Is it good?

It’s not a Porsche top seller for nothing! The handling is sedan-like, the suspension is perfect for anything from motorway to light off-road, and there’s loads of boot space for the weekly trip to Countdown or a trip to Rotorua.

The diesel Macan has a little pitfall, and that is its power output. Some came with a 211HP engine and others with 258HP. A diesel Macan with 211HP is a bit infuriating, and takes a while to get used to since the performance doesn’t match the brand. The 258hHP version is a bit better, but still lacks a bit of Porsche performance feel to it. Many forums got filled with people looking to make it more…. “Porsche”?

Is there a fix?

From 2015, EuroSurgeon has loved working with diesel Macans. The power goal is already available and performs well – the Porsche Panamera – that puts out 300HP from the factory. Luckily there are a great bonus of shared components, and we’ve already had a good track record with getting performance upgrades on the Audi Q5 that shares the 3.0L TDI engine with the Macan.

The end result is nothing short of phenomenal. With the EuroSurgeon Porsche Performance package, the Macan now sports 310HP and 650Nm of torque. The power delivery is now your choice, controlled entirely by the accelerator. Would you like a feeling of a jet plane taking off? No problem – just push the pedal all the way in. A quick overtake in a passing lane? With that much torque, 50% throttle will suffice. Are you towing a trailer? Uphill through the Kaimai Ranges won’t be a problem.

One of the commonly reported things with the Macan diesel tuning from ESP is the sheer joy of driving the car. It actually becomes extremely hard to replace a tuned Diesel Macan, as there is not much left to try on the market that would come close to the power, drive-ability, control and comfort.