Porsche Macan Turbo vs BMW X5M
Discussion
As the title suggests i'm currently trying to decide between a Macan Turbo and X5M.
Both cars are 2017 and the exact same price.
Porsche has 18,000 miles, BMW has 28,000 miles.
Slightly concerned about the transfer case issues with the Macan, but it would be from an OPC, so covered by 2 year warranty and the transfer case is now covered for 7 years from manufacture i believe.
Had a look and not really read about too many issues with the X5M, so would be interested to hear if anyone knows of any.
I appreciate that it's perhaps not a fair comparison, as the X5M is more aimed at competing with Cayenne rather than Macan but was wondering if anyone out there had any real world experience of both and how they compare?
Both cars are 2017 and the exact same price.
Porsche has 18,000 miles, BMW has 28,000 miles.
Slightly concerned about the transfer case issues with the Macan, but it would be from an OPC, so covered by 2 year warranty and the transfer case is now covered for 7 years from manufacture i believe.
Had a look and not really read about too many issues with the X5M, so would be interested to hear if anyone knows of any.
I appreciate that it's perhaps not a fair comparison, as the X5M is more aimed at competing with Cayenne rather than Macan but was wondering if anyone out there had any real world experience of both and how they compare?
No experience of either but just curious why not the Cayenne? Similar in size to the X5M.
However if you're ok with the size of the Macan I would go for that purely because it's not huge and will be better if you just want to go for a blast.
Looks nicer as well, not in your face as the X5M.
However if you're ok with the size of the Macan I would go for that purely because it's not huge and will be better if you just want to go for a blast.
Looks nicer as well, not in your face as the X5M.
No real experience of the Macan. I do have experience of the Cayenne though (Turbo) and a 3.0d X5.
Aesthetically there are few X5M's around where i live, they are MASSIVE things. The Macan size wise i would imagine was much more aligned with city and town driving as its not as big by far and i am certain dynamically the Porsche is better than the X5M from a driving standpoint.
I've never really rated the BMW X(series) SUV's. Compared to the Cayenne the 4wd capability was poor - the Cayenne we drove to Germany and back included 3 days of driving around the Nurburgring and it held its own, you could feel it had some Porsche wizardry. And it negotiated the offroad around the ring really well.
The X5 my friend had was just bad. It didn't handle as well as the Porsche and the 4wd was useless, we got stuck in a muddy car park once. I know its only a trivial gripe but it just didn't do anything it was meant to do really well. Fuel economy around town was not great so no good as a short commuter. Long journeys was ok.
The Porsche was nicer to be in, quieter, faster, didn't use as much fuel as you would expect. It was just a better thing overall - though still compromised.
I would suggest the Macan would be better as its smaller, more discreet and i imagine, you will still feel that Porsche DNA underneath it. Where as i very much doubt you'll feel the "M" heritage in the X5 unless its just straight line grunt and that isn't really all that useable in the real world unless you are at an airstrip. Whereas i'm quite sure you could if you wanted take the Macan out of a weekend and have some fun on country roads. But the X5M is just too big to do that. IMHO.
Aesthetically there are few X5M's around where i live, they are MASSIVE things. The Macan size wise i would imagine was much more aligned with city and town driving as its not as big by far and i am certain dynamically the Porsche is better than the X5M from a driving standpoint.
I've never really rated the BMW X(series) SUV's. Compared to the Cayenne the 4wd capability was poor - the Cayenne we drove to Germany and back included 3 days of driving around the Nurburgring and it held its own, you could feel it had some Porsche wizardry. And it negotiated the offroad around the ring really well.
The X5 my friend had was just bad. It didn't handle as well as the Porsche and the 4wd was useless, we got stuck in a muddy car park once. I know its only a trivial gripe but it just didn't do anything it was meant to do really well. Fuel economy around town was not great so no good as a short commuter. Long journeys was ok.
The Porsche was nicer to be in, quieter, faster, didn't use as much fuel as you would expect. It was just a better thing overall - though still compromised.
I would suggest the Macan would be better as its smaller, more discreet and i imagine, you will still feel that Porsche DNA underneath it. Where as i very much doubt you'll feel the "M" heritage in the X5 unless its just straight line grunt and that isn't really all that useable in the real world unless you are at an airstrip. Whereas i'm quite sure you could if you wanted take the Macan out of a weekend and have some fun on country roads. But the X5M is just too big to do that. IMHO.
Thanks for the replies.
Really useful what’s said about the Porsche's still feeling sporty despite their size, especially compared to the X5.
I’m coming out of a B7 RS4, so think if I went down the X5 route I will probably miss the ‘chuckability’ of the RS4, whereas the Macan may still be able to provide a bit of that.
I guess part of the appeal of the X5M was that I couldn’t find any reports on common problems they suffer from, whereas the Porsche has the well documented transfer case issues which is putting me off.
I’ll have to look a bit closer at the Cayenne, for some reason I’d discounted them but not entirely sure what that reason was now!!
Really useful what’s said about the Porsche's still feeling sporty despite their size, especially compared to the X5.
I’m coming out of a B7 RS4, so think if I went down the X5 route I will probably miss the ‘chuckability’ of the RS4, whereas the Macan may still be able to provide a bit of that.
I guess part of the appeal of the X5M was that I couldn’t find any reports on common problems they suffer from, whereas the Porsche has the well documented transfer case issues which is putting me off.
I’ll have to look a bit closer at the Cayenne, for some reason I’d discounted them but not entirely sure what that reason was now!!
Blakeyjersey said:
I’m coming out of a B7 RS4, so think if I went down the X5 route I will probably miss the ‘chuckability’ of the RS4, whereas the Macan may still be able to provide a bit of that.
I’m not sure I would describe a B7 RS4 as chuckable...I bet the Macan would comfortably leave it even in the twisties and I bet the X5M would handle almost as well too (road conditions). The modern fast SUV’s are ridiculous
Macan all the way. I had an 2017 S5 before hand. Macan handles better, fun to drive, can get the backend out nicely. 
. Nice size, not too big. Comfortable. Air Suspension is great.
I've thought about X5M, RR SVR but I'm thinking why would I? It does everything I need for my family. And added bonus the they hold value well.
. Nice size, not too big. Comfortable. Air Suspension is great. I've thought about X5M, RR SVR but I'm thinking why would I? It does everything I need for my family. And added bonus the they hold value well.
Have a look at this Video..
BMW Looks ridiculously capable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coEA618Qfxo
BMW Looks ridiculously capable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coEA618Qfxo
I went from a B7 RS4 Avant to a Macan S Diesel (couldn’t stomach any more B7 sized bills). Ours has PASM and it really does defy its size in corners - I find it very nimble. I have no experience of the X5 though. We’ve had our macan for 18 months and we love it. the only issue we had was the drainage channels on the sunroof getting blocked which caused some water ingress. This was sorted quickly under warranty by east london, something which I’ve extended for 2 years. 
edd1e said:
Congrats mate , enjoy. Turbo will be a different animal. I had a ride in a gts and the noise is amazing. If it has a sunroof, just mind those drainage channels (altho I'm sure you can see how mine got clogged!)
They’re a nuisance on the Cayenne but simple enough to fix on the drive with bamboo cane for a lazy fix if you didn’t want to crawl underneath and remove the bungs. Some chap on YouTube actually found a use for those annoying car flags in fixing his blocked drains. Is the Macan different / more complex to sort?
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