Mercedes GLC 43AMG vs Porsche Macan S

Previously we had the hot hatch battle where all the ultra powerful hatchback cars would compete in the horsepower war. All of it started with the Golf Gti, then came the Renault Megan Cup, BMW 1 series, Audi S3, Ford Focus RS and finally the Mercedes A45 AMG. Now the battle has moved on to the medium sized SUVs like the Mercedes GLC, Porsche Macan, Audi Q5 and the Volvo XC60.

Porsche being Porsche all their cars are sports oriented and the Macan is like a baby Cayenne with decent engine power. To cater for a wider audience Porsche has several engine choices such as the 2.0 turbo, then the 3.0 turbo and the 3.6 turbo variants. Little did Porsche realise that Mercedes now have a contender in the form of the GLC43 AMG. Like any AMG model Mercedes, the car will come with serious performance which is what the AMG engines are known for. Mercedes took the fight to Porsche with this model by going one up on them with a 3.0 V6 twin turbo pushing out a heavy 361hp and 520Nm of torque. this figure is enough to push the car to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds. This performance figure beats the Porsche Macan S but is slightly slower than the Macan Turbo. Mercedes is clever in coming out with this model as it will definitely steal some Porsche sales since the price tag is expected to be lower than the Macan S loaded with the same options.

Porsche has a tendency to provide bare cars and options are part of the customising experience when you purchase the car but this pushes the prices up significantly and often adding optional accessories or functions will inflate the cost of the car by 25% to 30%. Mercedes on the other hand will load the GLC 43AMG with enough accessories and functions to make it a bargain when compared to the Macan S. Having said that, Porsche fans will still be Porsche fans and the badge itself will generate sales without too much effort. The battle will be for those fence sitters who are unsure about which car to go for and the extra value from the Mercedes can be the tipping point.

On paper the Mercedes beats the Porsche is almost every segment from horsepower (GLC 361hp vs Macan S 340hp), torque (GLC 520Nm vs Macan S 435Nm), acceleration (GLC 4.9 sec vs Macan S 5.2 sec). the other point is that the Mercedes comes with the AMG exhaust which sounds a lot sportier and will fart when you lift off the throttle. Mercedes put a lot of thought into this car to make it a real challenger to the luxury mid sized SUV segment.
Depending on the price difference between the two cars, if the gap is big enough Mercedes will definitely steal some Porsche customers.