Porsche Macan review

There’s plenty of room up front; even very tall drivers will have space to get comfortable, despite the fact that the Macan’s sleek silhouette compromises its head room compared with that of some rivals.

There are two fixed cupholders in the front, located conveniently just in front of the cushioned armrest, which can be slid forward or backwards and also doubles as the lid for the central cubby. That same cubby houses the USB socket, so is perfect for storing your phone, and it's also deep enough to stow other small items.

Less convenient is the 12V interior power socket. It's hidden beneath a small flip-up lid just at the base of the central spine of buttons, and anything you plug into it leaves a wire dangling across the switches. The door bins are relatively deep, but you’ll still struggle to find anywhere to put a 1.0-litre bottle.

There’s less rear leg room than in most rivals. Long-legged passengers could find their knees brushing the seats in front and anyone in the middle will have to find space for their feet on either side of the large central transmission tunnel.

So, next to the spacious Audi Q5, the Macan is not the best but should still be fine unless you regularly carry great hulks in the back. And there’s good storage, with a couple of cupholders, door bins that fit a 500ml drinks bottles and map pockets.

The rear seats are split in a 40/20/40 arrangement, so you can fold down the narrower central section to slide through longer items while still leaving room for two rear passengers. Doing this also allows access to items in the boot from either rear seat. What the Macan doesn’t provide is the facility to recline the rear backrests, or to slide the rear seats backwards and forwards to allow extra luggage or passenger space.

The Macan’s 500-litre boot isn’t the biggest in the class, but it’s square-shaped so will easily swallow a couple of big suitcases. The boot floor is flush with the load lip, making loading easy.

Useful touches include a cargo net attached to the underside of the solid load bay cover, a 12V socket, a  hook to hang a shopping bag and a recessed cubby with a net restrainer that's perfect for storing smaller bottles. Plus, the tailgate is electrically powered on all models. And, if you’ve spent hours trying to work out how to open the tailgate without the key, the button is hidden at the base of the rear windscreen wiper.

There is also a fair-sized storage area underneath the boot floor if you don’t specify the optional space-saver spare tyre; if you do, the wheel uses up virtually all of this handy extra space.