How Good Is A Porsche SUV At Manhandling A Figure Eight Grip Test?

Feb. 13, 2017 1:30 PM ET by Gabe Beita Kiser / 6 Comments

Sure it's an SUV, but it's also a Porsche SUV tuned for the track.

Enthusiasts the world over were unsure what to think of the wave of performance-oriented SUVs that began to take over the market. Those that skew towards being purists could care less for them, sacrilegious beasts that they are, while the more open minded wanted to at least wait and see if these cars could prove themselves when pushed to the limit. Carlos Lagos of Motor Trend gets the chance to do just that by taking a Porsche Macan to the figure eight for a bit of testing.

Before delving into the results, it's worth noting that this Macan is the GTS, essentially Porsche's hot hatch in crossover SUV clothing. The GTS gets upgraded handling abilities courtesy of adaptive dampers, a stiff rear anti-roll bar, large front brakes, a lowered air suspension, and a torque vectoring system.

Working in conjunction, the sum of the systems seem to serve to make Lagos a very happy test driver. Oversteer is apparent early in the slalom, although it appears that the phenomenon has more to do with the all-wheel drive system working with the torque vectoring differential. Still, to say that the Macan GTS handles well for an SUV is to insult the baby Porsche because as good as it is, it handles better than many entry-level sports cars. Much of this seems to be the result of electronic trickery helping behind the scenes because as Lagos notes, the Macan's on-edge persona feels anything but natural. Still, it makes a great argument against the Jaguar F-Pace.

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