Macan alternatives?
Discussion
Have been looking for an estate/small SUV which is good to drive and practical. Budget up to £50k but would be happy with spending a lot less.
The main requirements are:
- Must be reasonable size, Cayenne, A6, 5 Series etc. are too big. So A4 or Macan size.
- Must be 4wd if an estate so no 340i.
- Must have a reasonable range (>450 miles on a tank) - this rules out B8 RS4.
- Don't like Mercedes.
- Must have as little in the way of driving assistant systems as possible. Don't want adaptive cruise or any automatic breaking or camera controlled systems (I have this on my current 7 year old car and it drives me up the wall with its constant irrational judgement and frequent system failure). I don't want to buy another car with these systems installed. Had a loan 1 series with active lane assist and it was ridiculously bad on back roads. This rules out X340i.
- Must not have touch screen controls for common functions (radio, AC etc). Had this on another car and it was almost inoperable.
- Must have really good lights. Had BMW laser lights before and they were fantastic.
With the requirement to avoid the driving assistance functions this rules out any new car and most cars made in the last 5 years. I don't really mind about age but would prefer Euro 6 and really want good lights.
So far all I can get to is a Macan 2015-2018, potentially an Alpha Stelvio but I don't particularly like how these look and worry about long-term supply of parts, a 2015 Golf R but I previously had an S3 of the same vintage and didn't enjoy it that much. I like the B8 RS4 but its fuel tank is small.
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
The main requirements are:
- Must be reasonable size, Cayenne, A6, 5 Series etc. are too big. So A4 or Macan size.
- Must be 4wd if an estate so no 340i.
- Must have a reasonable range (>450 miles on a tank) - this rules out B8 RS4.
- Don't like Mercedes.
- Must have as little in the way of driving assistant systems as possible. Don't want adaptive cruise or any automatic breaking or camera controlled systems (I have this on my current 7 year old car and it drives me up the wall with its constant irrational judgement and frequent system failure). I don't want to buy another car with these systems installed. Had a loan 1 series with active lane assist and it was ridiculously bad on back roads. This rules out X340i.
- Must not have touch screen controls for common functions (radio, AC etc). Had this on another car and it was almost inoperable.
- Must have really good lights. Had BMW laser lights before and they were fantastic.
With the requirement to avoid the driving assistance functions this rules out any new car and most cars made in the last 5 years. I don't really mind about age but would prefer Euro 6 and really want good lights.
So far all I can get to is a Macan 2015-2018, potentially an Alpha Stelvio but I don't particularly like how these look and worry about long-term supply of parts, a 2015 Golf R but I previously had an S3 of the same vintage and didn't enjoy it that much. I like the B8 RS4 but its fuel tank is small.
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
I currently have an X3M40i on a 68 plate after shopping for something similar.
Mine was £36k with 11k miles bought earlier this year
A few cars we tested:
SQ5 TFSI (2018) £37k
S4 Avant TDI (2020) £42k
F Pace 3.0d S (2019) (cant remember)
SQ5 BiTDI Plus (2016) £24k
XF 3.0d S Estate (2018) £28k
I don't think my X3 has Lane assist as I've never had it pop up & cant see any options for it, only thing mine would struggle with is your range requirements, I might get 360 miles to a tank on a good day. Springs are a little hard but other than that the same X3 in M40d should be a good fit or as you have a higher budget a used Alpina XD3 for something a bit more special.
The petrol f pace sounds amazing but is even worse on fuel than mine (24-25 mpg) and the diesel is a bit uninspiring and worse on fuel than an M40d 36 mpg vs 40 ish. (but id say this is the prettiest option)
SQ5 petrol is nice but definitely doesn't pull as hard as the M40i and feels a considerably larger car, also the digital cockpit is great but the tablet in the middle (as it was the pre facelift) doesn't look amazing.
If you wanted to save a good chunk of money the SQ5 Plus (old 2016 shape diesel) is generally good at most things although the interior is a bit dated now and if you want a nicer sound you need one with Dynamic mode I think its an option. I keep coming back to this and am considering one now as I really like them.
The S4 TDI Avant feels genuinely quick and has space and range that you need but there are 2 caveats, firstly the gearbox is pretty slow to respond - Id say more so than anything else I test drove. Secondly the depreciation on these is insane, this was my first choice but if you plan on selling it in 2-3 years I wouldn't bother! Hence why PCPs on them are 600+ per month with a big chunk down.
Cant give you anything definitive I'm afraid but let us know how your search goes, my mileage requirements have changed so I'm likely to be swapping to a diesel soon, need some ideas
Cheers,
Dan
Mine was £36k with 11k miles bought earlier this year
A few cars we tested:
SQ5 TFSI (2018) £37k
S4 Avant TDI (2020) £42k
F Pace 3.0d S (2019) (cant remember)
SQ5 BiTDI Plus (2016) £24k
XF 3.0d S Estate (2018) £28k
I don't think my X3 has Lane assist as I've never had it pop up & cant see any options for it, only thing mine would struggle with is your range requirements, I might get 360 miles to a tank on a good day. Springs are a little hard but other than that the same X3 in M40d should be a good fit or as you have a higher budget a used Alpina XD3 for something a bit more special.
The petrol f pace sounds amazing but is even worse on fuel than mine (24-25 mpg) and the diesel is a bit uninspiring and worse on fuel than an M40d 36 mpg vs 40 ish. (but id say this is the prettiest option)
SQ5 petrol is nice but definitely doesn't pull as hard as the M40i and feels a considerably larger car, also the digital cockpit is great but the tablet in the middle (as it was the pre facelift) doesn't look amazing.
If you wanted to save a good chunk of money the SQ5 Plus (old 2016 shape diesel) is generally good at most things although the interior is a bit dated now and if you want a nicer sound you need one with Dynamic mode I think its an option. I keep coming back to this and am considering one now as I really like them.
The S4 TDI Avant feels genuinely quick and has space and range that you need but there are 2 caveats, firstly the gearbox is pretty slow to respond - Id say more so than anything else I test drove. Secondly the depreciation on these is insane, this was my first choice but if you plan on selling it in 2-3 years I wouldn't bother! Hence why PCPs on them are 600+ per month with a big chunk down.
Cant give you anything definitive I'm afraid but let us know how your search goes, my mileage requirements have changed so I'm likely to be swapping to a diesel soon, need some ideas
Cheers,
Dan
I have to say that I’m always impressed by my wife’s Evoque when driving it, not sure that it offers your touchscreen requirements as hers is about 3yrs old now and not the current model.
Good mpg even with her top of the range performance model, only observation would be that there’s more road noise than I’m used to.
This is her 4th Evoque and with the exception of a Nox sensor they’ve all been faultless.
Good mpg even with her top of the range performance model, only observation would be that there’s more road noise than I’m used to.
This is her 4th Evoque and with the exception of a Nox sensor they’ve all been faultless.
Thanks for all the replies.
Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
sneezer212 said:
Thanks for all the replies.
Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
I've had 10 cars since 2016 with relatively advanced driver assistance systems (Mercedes, Toyota, Audi, BMW, Vauxhall) and all of them worked amazingly well. Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
I had just one false alarm on the road in 100k+ miles of driving all these various cars and also one instance where the car's sensors (Mercedes) and AEB stopped the car faster than I could in a genuine emergency situation. I would not drive a car without these technologies now. It sounds like your car is dodgy.
sneezer212 said:
Thanks for all the replies.
Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
I think that’s a good decision. I bought my 2017 Macan earlier this year from Porsche and everytime I drive it, there is a massive grin on my face! Coming from a Volvo XC60 which had all kinds fancy driving aids, the Macan doesn’t have any “active” aids which makes for a nicer driving experience. I would just say that look for the spec that suits you as all Macans (tbh all Porsches) are specced individually and you may need to wait for a while if you are after a specific spec. I have an S which I find amazing, if you are going for a Turbo then that will be even better (bigger is better!)Was hoping for something totally left-field that I hadn't considered. Everything bar the Stelvio has driving aids - which I appreciate can be turned off are just more cost, complication and hassle that I don't want. I currently have a Mercedes (which I really don't like) that has collision warning & automatic breaking. The system does not work properly, randomly seeing things which aren't issues such as a car in front pulling into the left lane to turn, having its break lights on then my system starts shouting at me that there's going to be a collision (when there won't be). Its absolutely rubbish. No doubt it can be fixed by recalibration but I just don't want these systems at all.
As the systems are part of ncap, every car since 2019 and lots of cars since 2015 have them. The X340i early model has the systems but they can be permanently turned off - unless it gets a software update removing that option and I don't want to risk spending £££ on a car which then suddenly gets "updated" to what I don't want. Also difficult to tell which cars have which software version.
So I can't see any alternatives to the Macan bar the Stelvio. But as I say I don't particularly like how they look and I worry about long-term avaliability of parts for such a niche car - I know the QV has lots of QV specific parts like carbon prop shafts etc. Given I can get a Macan Turbo for the same price, I'll probably stick with that.
Thanks for all the help though.
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