This black Porsche Macan with a black interior is based in Orange County, the only five seat SUV in our Porsche fleet. It exists for the booking that is not about being seen, moving people and luggage while extra ground clearance shrugs off Newport and Laguna's steep driveways. Book it for a family weekend a 911 could not manage.
The Macan is a small SUV that drives like a hot hatch, a sentence people do not believe until they have driven one. 261 horsepower from a 2.0 litre turbo four, all-wheel drive, sixty in six seconds. The numbers are ordinary and the way it corners on Santiago Canyon Road is not. The steering is quick and weighted like a sports car, the body control is far tighter than the seating position suggests, and it hides its height completely once you are moving. Five seats, a proper boot and a ride that stays comfortable make it the most useful Porsche we run for a group.
Black over black makes the Macan look like a premium daily driver rather than a rental, and that is the right register for what it gets booked for. Family weekends, a run up Ortega Highway, anyone who wants a Porsche badge in the driveway without the theatre. The shape is compact and clean, so it photographs best from a low three-quarter that gives the wheels presence. Black needs late light, shot near Fashion Island or against the hills inland. It is the most sensible-looking car we rent and the one that draws the least attention, which for some bookings is exactly the requirement.
This is the only Porsche in our fleet with five seats, a real boot and a school run in it. Everything else we keep with this badge is a sports car or a four-door sedan. It is also one of the least expensive Porsches we run. Book it when you want the badge in the driveway for a family weekend on Ortega Highway and a 911 would mean somebody stays home. Nothing else on our Porsche row does this job at all.
This is the Macan, black over black, the only five-seat Porsche in our fleet. A 2.0 litre turbo four makes 261 horsepower and 295 lb-ft, sent through all four wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Standard on this trim: all-wheel drive, front and rear park assist with a rear camera, and a centre analogue tachometer sitting in front of the driver at SUV height. Five seats, four doors, and a boot that folds flat for more. It is the only Porsche on our row built around carrying people rather than just a driver.