Auto Express

Has anyone seen the group test in this week's Auto Express?

Poorly done in my opinion. The fact that they put a photo of the Autobiography model on the front page didn't bode well I guess!

The Macan looks like decent but I'm not a fan of the back of it. Looks a bit lazily styled at the back, similar to a Q3/Q5. Sounds like a decent drive though.

That, and the picture of the car in the test was a prestige I think, whereas they said they were testing a dynamic.
I don't understand why they test a lux pack model with all the kit and say it costs £45k the say they are driving a macan at £43k. Why not drive a basic pure at £33k and then they are more comparable. The macan may be a better drive but from speccing one up, I'm finding it seriously more expensive. When it touches 60k, then sorry, I'd rather have a new RRS HSE

I thought it didn't look like a a Dynamic in the photos too. Wasn't sure if the new version of mine had been toned down though.

(08-06-2014 07:44pm)Devonian Wrote:  ................. Looks a bit lazily styled at the back, similar to a Q3/Q5.

Could that be because it is a Q5 with a facelift that made it even uglier? In the Autocar test this week they commented that they thought it looked even more like it was based on a high rise 911 than the Cayenne......

(08-06-2014 09:04pm)Craig_d1 Wrote:  That, and the picture of the car in the test was a prestige I think, whereas they said they were testing a dynamic.
I don't understand why they test a lux pack model with all the kit and say it costs £45k the say they are driving a macan at £43k. Why not drive a basic pure at £33k and then they are more comparable. The macan may be a better drive but from speccing one up, I'm finding it seriously more expensive. When it touches 60k, then sorry, I'd rather have a new RRS HSE

That's the press for you, anything to make folk be shocked or put them off a certain product etc.

Expect the same from What Car? then at the end of the month - they have never been able to print pictures of the car they have been testing, usually pictures of the wrong model! The only time I've known them to be spot on with pictures was when they came to the 1st Birthday meet at Gaydon and they showed their Evoque in company with all of ours!

The Macan is seriously ugly, Evoque is seriously pretty. The Evoque is good off road too I'm told. The Macan is for city posers. You would only look at the Macan and think it was nice if you'd downed a good number of pints of Hobgoblin!

(13-06-2014 11:54pm)Vader Wrote:  The Macan is seriously ugly, Evoque is seriously pretty. The Evoque is good off road too I'm told. The Macan is for city posers. You would only look at the Macan and think it was nice if you'd downed a good number of pints of Hobgoblin!

Well that's a view, certainly, but hardly balanced. The reality is that the Macan provides better performance and roadholding, is better made with much more advanced engine and (especially) gearbox technology. It is, granted, a bit more expensive but quality costs.

As for looks, that's down to personal taste and I agree it breaks no moulds unlike the Evoque. However, the Macan will likely do very well and the best thing it should do for Land Rover is to wake them up to the fact that they need to do more and better to compete in the marketplace. There will be other Macan-like cars to tread on the toes not just of the Evoque but the big Range Rovers as well.

And if the Cayenne is anything to go by with its multitude of locking diffs and offroad trickery that (on the right tyres) can seriously frighten a FFRR then I'm sure that a Macan, on more suitable tyres than it comes standard with, will do the same for both an Evoque and a non-Dynamic RRS2

I asked my Porsche dealer - I'm trying to find a 991 GT3 (the ones which used to catch fire) - about the Macan turbo and lead time is now 20 - 24 months, so they must be doing something right.

In the meantime, nothing yet (either what or when) on MY 15 for the RRS, still less on when I might get mine.