Drove from JHB to KZN north coast on Sunday. Car was fully loaded.
The rear luggage cover had to be removed entirely because the large suitcases could not fit under the luggage cover (that sloping rear hatch does impede loadability of large, angular objects). After some Tetris moves, the suitcases fitted, as well smaller boxes and soft bags.
While the X3 G01 has more boot space than the Macan, my space saver spare wheel in the X3 robs some space (it sits above the boot board and cannot fit under it). With the spare wheel, the X3 is not able to fit the same amount of luggage as my Macan (which has an inflatable spare wheel under the lower level boot board). Granted, if one has a puncture in either car, there is no space to stow away the damaged full sized wheel, unless some of the boot luggage moves to the main cabin.
On this new trip, another dimension of this car was revealed. Even when fully loaded, the V6 has enough shove to keep you moving without any fuss. The suspension in comfort mode does a good job dealing with bumps on tar roads, even when fully loaded. The slight floatiness in comfort mode when the car was unladen, is no longer apparent when the car is now fully loaded.
When the road improves, switching to Sport suspension mode makes this car a delight to push hard - it grips and goes, but you can feel the slight, yet controllable, wiggle in the rear when you push it a bit.
My heart yearns for a new GTS or prefacelift Turbo Performance model, but when I see my fuel consumption of 6.9 l/100km and the ability to handle these long distance drives with ease and in comfort, I realise that the Diesel is the smarter choice. My 18 inch wheels also handle decently on both bumpy roads and in spirited driving.
There is nothing wrong with the car, so it will likely be kept a bit longer than my usual vehicle purchases. Also, it is a bonus that the new Macan is basically a facelift of the old Macan, so my shape still looks new enough. My car was optioned with the 4 mini LEDs in each headlight, which also gives it the look of the facelifted model.
The car went in to Ultrafit Midrand before the roadtrip for rear bumper PPF, as well as PPF on each wheel arch. This adds to the existing full frontal PPF already fitted in December. Ceramic coating was also done. The below is a screenshot from a video on the Ultrafit SA Instagram.
Not the biggest boot in its class (X3 and GLC are bigger), but has an inflatable spare wheel underneath the boot board while its competitors do not. (The X3 G01 can be specced from the factory with a spare wheel, but that raises the boot floor significantly and reduces usable loading space). For my family needs for a week long holiday, space is sufficient and there is no need to fold down seats.
