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2017 Porsche Macan GTS First Drive

Zebulon Pike, the military commander and explorer for whom America's best-known mountain is named, never reached "his" peak, even though he tried. Over 200 years later, with a grin so giddy that I blame it on the thin air at 14,114 feet, I crested the summit of Pikes Peak a tick over 14 minutes after leaving the starting line. I was behind the wheel of the most fun-to-drive crossover anyone has ever built: the Porsche Macan GTS. I can't take credit for what must be one of the fastest unmodified sprints to the top. That goes to Pikes Peak legend Jeff Zwart, who led a pack of journalists in Porsche's latest Macan up the hugely demanding paved road. Zwart wasn't piloting a Macan GTS; instead, he was behind the wheel of the 911 GT2 he drove back in 2002 when much of the route was gravel. Today's pavement provides more grip but also less room for error, Zwart told us. Unforgiving, he called the mountain. That's just what you want to hear at 6:30 a.m. when Zwart, two cars in front of you, takes off at a racing start. Pressed later, Zwart admitted he drove at a fraction of his racing pace while juggling two radios (one to communicate with us and one for park rangers to alert him to wildlife on the road) and shifting a manual transmission. Strapped into a Macan GTS, however, I found the trip plenty stressful – but that's because of the blind corners, the narrow road, the frost-heaved pavement, the blinding sun, and, of course, those unforgiving drop-offs. The polished GTS, which slots in between the mainstream Macan S and the bonkers Macan Turbo, proved unflappable. Of the Macan flavors, which will soon include a four-cylinder base model, the GTS is best suited to carving through the Rockies. Its 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V6 comes from the Macan S, but Porsche dials its boost from 14 to 17.4 psi, bringing output to 360 horsepower at 6,000 rpm (up 20) and 369 pound-feet of torque from 1,650 to 4,000 rpm (up 30). The only gearbox available is the PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplung) seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with Comfort, Sport, and Sport Plus modes. In addition to the power increase, the GTS gets a standard air suspension that sits 10 millimeters lower than the optional version for the S and the Turbo. Front brakes cribbed from the Turbo and a switchable sport exhaust with a single flapper valve round out the performance changes.

1949 Gm?nd Porsche shows the birth of an icon

The Austrian village of Gmünd is more than just difficult to pronounce; it's also the birthplace of the Porsche brand. Before the company ever started building sports cars at its current home base near Stuttgart, the fledgling business completed several vehicles in the tiny town in Southern Austria. In this video, former Pikes Peak International Hill Climb champion Jeff Zwart takes a look at a 1949 Gmünd coupe to see how the company has evolved since its earliest days.
The thing to note about the Gmünd-built Porsches is their absolute design simplicity. The phrase "form follows function" gets bandied around a lot, but it really means something when you look at these early cars. However, the minimalism was partially out of necessity. The vehicles were meant to be sporty but certainly weren't rockets. Power came courtesy of a modified Volkswagen Beetle engine, and anything extraneous would have slowed the models down. Scroll down to watch Zwart go back in time to Porsche's beginnings.

2015 Porsche Cayenne S Quick Spin

There are sporty SUVs, but until the Macan came along, the Porsche Cayenne was arguably the only pure definition of a 'sports SUV, a la sports car. The second-generation Cayenne is now five years old, but still looks fresh. It's handsome without obvious effort, especially with the optional 21-inch 911 Turbo wheels. The Cayenne S replaces the old, 400-horsepower, 4.8-liter V8 with the brand-new, Porsche-developed 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6. This engine is quickly proliferating through the range – it powers the current Panamera S and the Macan Turbo. That former 4.8-liter started life as a 4.5-liter with 350 horsepower way back in 2002, specifically developed for the Cayenne, and to the end it remained a potent engine. We tried the new forced-induction V6 with 420 hp earlier this year in the Panamera S, and other than a soggy exhaust note it maintained the character of the former V8 sport sedan, with lusty power and hasty delivery. So, how's it do in the Cayenne? Driving Notes The Cayenne S version of the TT V6 gets 420 hp and 406 pound-feet of torque. That means there's 37 more lb-ft than the previous V8, and 22 more lb-ft than in the new Panamera S. Yet the 607-pound difference in curb weight between the Panamera and Cayenne means the V6 has a heavier load to lift here. And it shows – the instant response is dulled. Stomping the right foot gets the eight-speed transmission rappelling through gears to provide a little kick, but real gumption doesn't come until the turbos kick in. We're maybe talking about a second of pause compared to the Panamera, but a noticeable second. Perhaps a small price to pay for slightly better fuel economy, if you really care about such in your 420-hp SUV. Part of why we notice that second is that the Cayenne S is so right-now everywhere else that any perceived hesitation gets extra attention. It offers a specific adjustability that many sports cars don't have, with one button adjusting the three-mode air suspension and a separate Sport button tweaking the steering, throttle, gear changes, and traction control. With Sport keeping all the horses at the ready and the optional Porsche Torque Vectoring holding things steady, you don't need to step up to the GTS trim to get immediate acceleration, crisp steering, flat cornering at very un-SUV-like speeds, and tremendous stopping power from a total of 20 brake pistons. That said, the exhaust note here could also use a shot of Bruce Banner's gamma rays.