Tuesday, 0600h, at the hotel, LA
Forgive me if this isn't the most glittering prose - the body clock realignment thing is still underway.
And attending a pumping unveiling for an all-new car is not the kind of thing to be done when your body is telling you it's 4am but I blundered on through the brow-beating that was the Macan reveal. I've got a few quotes in my notebook, including from the intro video the boast that "Porsche has always built sports cars" and that "Porsche STILL builds sports cars" and the Macan "embodies the spirit of the brand". Or, at least, its bottom line. And how much Q5 is there actually in it? While admitting it had enjoyed the benefits of being part of the VW family we were told "More than two-thirds of the components are completely new." Impressive! "Or re-engineered to our specification." O-K...
And how does the Macan look in the metal? Hm. Well it is ... what it is. And it'll sell by the truckload, obviously.
I did the dutiful motor show thing of waiting patiently to sit in it, first in the driver's seat where I attempted to thoughtfully take it all in and attempt meaningful appraisal but all I've got noted down is 'a lot of buttons', which isn't too helpful. Like a proper roadtester I even tried the back seat which is cosy behind a driver's seat set for my six-foot frame. Knees up against the back of the seat, head brushing the ceiling ... it's not a car grown-ups are going to enjoy riding in the back of.
"Why have we done it?" asked Porsche's Wolfgang Hatz in a scripted exchange during the presentation. "I could give you a complicated engineering answer but instead I give you a simple one - just drive it."
Well take you up on that Dr Hatz...
Blundering out of the show hall, still in set-up phase, I did catch sight of a refreshingly non-Porsche item on show. Yes, that's Steve McQueen's Jaguar XKSS. Nearly as cool as the man who once owned it.