porsche macan

Some of the journalists have said it’s pointless driving you around like this,” our test driver tells us as he flicks the Porsche Macan sideways over a crest and holds another precision drift around a long left-hander. “But I say this is exactly how it has to be driven, it’s a Porsche after all.”

Anyone scared that Porsche had sold its soul to the devil by building a second SUV needn’t worry. From where we’re sitting this is the sportiest SUV money can buy – an entirely different proposition to the Audi Q5 it shares its platform with - and we’re bursting to have a go ourselves before it reaches UK showrooms in April 2014.

That will have to wait until mid-February, but to whet our appetites until then Porsche has laid on passenger rides in all three versions - the Macan Turbo, Macan S and Macan S Diesel - along with access to the men and women responsible for the Macan’s development.

Only a third of the components are carried over from the Q5 untouched – the other two-thirds are either entirely new or repurposed for the Macan, all with the intention of sharpening up the drive.

The electromechanical steering, for example, is ten per cent quicker, while the four-wheel drive system is heavily rear-biased, sending 80 per cent of the torque to the rear axle in steady-state driving, although it can send up to 100 per cent to the front if the grip conditions require it.

Mixed tyre sizes (wider at the rear than the front), bigger brakes with six-piston calipers (carbon-ceramic discs are optional) and air suspension are all unique to the Macan.

A rear axle differential lock and a torque vectoring system known as PTV Plus are optional, but essential if you’re a fan of power oversteer, while the seven-speed PDK gearbox can swap cogs in under 100ms.