GCBC's The Good 12 For 2016

GCBC's The Good 12 for 2016 includes the vehicles that would be most welcomed as permanent members of the GCBC Towers driveway. Park them out front on Christmas morning. Tie them with a bow. We appreciate your kindness.

None have base prices above USD $67,000. They reflect many different parts of the market, they come from different places, they're powered by very different engines, they're accomplished in different areas. And when any one of them drives by, I want it for myself. 

Click any of the images to be taken to the model's Sales Stats page. Don't forget to check out GCBC's The Bad 8, the cars which we don't want to receive even as gifts. For more on what The Good 12 really is, visit the GCBC Awards page.

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	Chevrolet Suburban Can it ____? Yes. What about ___? Of course. Even ____? Yeah, that too. Fill in the blanks however you want. The Chevrolet Suburban is what you buy when you need one vehicle to meet every potential vehicular need.
	Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Remember the first Dodge Charger SRT-8 with its audacious 425-horsepower V8? That car was an edgy and affordable Detroit riposte to the typical German muscle sedan. This Charger SRT? 707 horsepower. Edgy, indeed.
	Ford Mustang There isn't just one good Mustang. The V6 is fun and affordable. The GT is fast and evocative. The Shelby GT350 is a proper European sports car fighter. They all look terrific. They're all far more modern than Mustangs were just two years ago.
	Honda Odyssey The value quotient with every minivan is unbelievably convincing. The Odyssey separates itself from the people-carrying pack with the sort of steering, ride, and handling that, rather than punishing you, rewards you instead.
	Jeep Wrangler Just ask the politicians who flop because they couldn't pull off the cowboy-boots-at-the-Iowa-state-fair look: authenticity matters. The Wrangler is exactly what the Wrangler is supposed to be.
	Mazda 3 5-Door Mazda's most popular car is the best all-around small car money can buy. It's sufficiently quick and fuel efficient, tackles a corner with aplomb, and marries attractive interior styling to terrific exterior styling.
	Mazda MX-5 Miata You wake up early on a Saturday morning in July. You took care of the day's pressing concerns last night. You own a Miata, so you leave the house to go for a drive. To nowhere in particular.
	Mini Clubman Most Minis are simply too small. The first two big Minis – Countryman and 4-Door – are awkward. So why not a Mini wagon? Mixing great on-road behaviour and a small wagon body at an affordable price produces a winner.
	Porsche Macan S 20 years ago the idea would have sounded foolish. But what's so categorically wrong about a Porsche with Porsche-like dynamics, all-weather appeal, and space for five people and their stuff?
	Ram 1500 EcoDiesel The Ram 1500 is a very good pickup truck, with or without the diesel. Highly regarded handling, true full-size capability, and attractive styling are integral to the equation. But mixing all this torque with so little fuel is a remarkable achievement.
	Volkswagen Golf GTI Before you even spend time with the GTI, you know it will be good. But then it's better than that. More space than you expected. More power. More expertise on a twisty road. And a more mature blend of performance attributes than you thought possible.
	Volvo XC90 Nobody does wagons quite like Volvo. But the modern wagon isn't really a wagon, is it? We want to ride high, climb snowbanks, and see the traffic beneath us. Thus, Volvo presents the second-gen XC90, with one of the best interiors in the current automotive universe and a prototypical Swedish exterior.

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RECOMMENDED READING
2015's The Good 12
2014's The Good 12
Every Vehicle Ranked By November 2015 YTD U.S. Sales
Every Vehicle Ranked By November 2015 Canadian Sales
2016's The Bad 8

Auto News For Thursday, December 17, 2015 - Lincoln Continental Will Soon Be For Real

Here are the five must-read, must-watch auto news stories and videos for Thursday, December 17, 2015.

FUTURE
The Lincoln Continental is quickly moving from concept stage to production stage, and early images suggest the production version will look very much like the concept. But is a sedan what Lincoln needs to make headway in a luxury market it controlled a couple decades ago? Lincoln fails to adequately sell the sedans they build now, and even properly popular big luxury sedans like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5-Series are fading as consumers turn to SUVs. 

REVIEW
So the Brits say the, “Vauxhall Mokka sells well but key rivals are better.” How interesting. We would say the same thing about the Chevrolet Trax. Which is a Vauxhall Mokka.

AUTOFOCUS
Jeep is not the most popular seller of SUVs in Canada. But Jeep is close to the top. Which brand sells the most? Autofocus has the top 25. 

TTAC
Check out these 18 auto sales numbers that help explain the U.S. auto industry’s status heading into the final month of what should be the best year ever for America’s automobile industry. 

WATCH 
Pikes Peak is a bit of a scary drive at sane speeds. But in an 800-horsepower Porsche 911 GT3 Turbo Cup racer attempting to climb Pikes in less than 10 minutes, the climb is terrifying.

Auto News For November 24, 2015 - Audi Has A 3.0L Diesel Software Fix

Here are the five must-read, must-watch auto news stories, recalls and videos for Tuesday, November 24, 2015.

FUTURE
BMW’s latest Concept Compact Sedan is a handsome little thing that previews a sub-3-Series entry-level BMW. The car was introduced at an auto show in Guangzhou, China, but there’s no reason to believe this couldn’t be a global model. 

DIESEL
There’s a fix for 3.0L diesel engines, Audi announced yesterday. The software update needs to be approved by the EPA and CARB, but the news suggests that 85,000 Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen vehicles with the 3.0L diesel can be remedied with software alone. 

DETROIT
Jaguar and Land Rover won’t display cars at the upcoming North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The two Indian-owned British luxury automakers prefer to emphasize auto shows in New York and Los Angeles. 

REVIEW
The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Neil praises the new fourth-gen Lexus RX plenty, but also notes that, "The preproduction RX I drove sounds kind of thrumming and unhappy in the lower rpms, around town, and the 8-speeder shifts like it’s just trying to stay busy.” 

WATCH 
Curiously, Fiat USA’s recent commercial, featuring Pentatonix, aired during the American Music Awards and failed to display in any meaningful way the company’s latest model, the 500X.

Auto News For Friday, November 20, 2015 - Subaru XV Crosstrek Is Now The Subaru Crosstrek

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, recalls and videos for Friday, November 20, 2015.

SUBARU
Once upon a time, Subaru decided to really shake things up by referring to the flop that was the B9 Tribeca as simply the Tribeca, sans B9. Fast forward to model year 2016, and the success that is the XV Crosstrek is losing its XV preface.

VW
Outside of the costs already incurred by Volkswagen and the damage done to the brand’s reputation, at least one of the recalls the brand will soon begin won’t be nearly as costly as you likely expected. “The technical fixes for the 1.6-liter diesel engines require installing a 10-euro ($10.74) sensor inside the air filter and a software update,” Reuters says.

SUPERCAR LIVING
You’ve often dreamed of one day owning a proper supercar. But would you really want to live with one on a daily basis? CAR Magazine is going to spend six months with a McLaren 650S Spider. “No-one would dream of running a 458 Speciale as an everyday car, but with its greater refinement, flawless ergonomics and versatile Proactive suspension, the 650S promises to be a supercar you can use like a supermini.” 

RECALL
Hyundai is recalling 304,900 copies of the 2011 and 2012 Sonata because, "the brake pedal stopper pad can deteriorate allowing the stop lamp switch plunger to remain extended when the brake pedal is released.”

Toyota is recalling 30,812 copies of the 2013-2015 Avalon and the 2013-2015 Lexus ES350 and Lexus ES300h because, "the Pre-Collision System may unexpectedly activate and apply the brakes when the radar detects a steel joint or plate in the roadway as an object.” 

WATCH
We’ve been waiting, and it’s finally here. 52 minutes of Chris Harris, Tiff Needell, and Marino Franchitti hustling the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, and McLaren P1 around the circuit at Portimao is how you’re going to spend the next 52 minutes of your day.


WATCH MORE 
It’s been more than two years since we spent two weeks with the third-generation Acura MDX. Now it’s time for an Alex On Autos video review of the 2016 MDX.

Auto News For Friday, November 13, 2015 - Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 Is The Best Winter Tire

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, recalls and videos for Friday, November 13, 2015.

VW
Volkswagen is encouraging its workers to feel perfectly comfortable blowing the proverbial whistle. For another couple weeks, that is.

INSIDE THE AUTO INDUSTRY
Buick has historically been an enormously popular auto brand in China. Buick used to be an enormously popular auto brand in America. The two shall finally meet if, when, Buick begins selling the Envision in the United States early next year. And yes, the Envision is built in China.

RECALL
Kia is recalling 256,459 copies of the 2014-2016 Soul and Soul EV because, "the adhesive used to secure the steering pinion gear to the steering gear assembly may have insufficient strength, and as a result, the pinion gear may separate from the steering gear assembly."

Porsche is recalling 21,835 Macans (model years 2015 and 2016) because they, "have a low pressure fuel line in the engine compartment that may leak."

WINTER
As in a recent Car & Driver winter tire test completed in Finland, Kal Tire's winter tire test produced a Finnish winner, as well: the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2. On average, the winter tires in the test enabled a car to stop nearly 15 metres sooner than non-winter tires.

REVIEW
The GLK-succeeding Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class small SUV is beginning to trickle into the autoport near GCBC Towers on the east coast of Canada. It is definitely a looker. But in a class full of attractive utility vehicles – Q5, X3, XC60, Evoque, Discovery Sport – the GLC needs to be more than just attractive. So is it any good?

WATCH 
In yesterday's news, we showed you Alex On Autos' video review of the refreshed-for-2016 Honda Accord. Today, we're showing Alex On Autos' video review of the refreshed-for-2016 Nissan Altima. No video review on YouTube is more detailed and thorough than an Alex On Autos video review.

Auto News For Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - Rolls-Royce Is Recalling One Ghost

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, recalls and videos for Tuesday, November 10, 2015.

FUTURE
The Cadillac SRX is currently America’s second-best-selling premium brand utility vehicle,and 2015 is shaping up to be the crossover’s best sales year ever. Its replacement, the 2017 Cadillac XT5, is slightly longer, a little bit more spacious, and quite a bit lighter than the outgoing SRX. Standard power comes from a 3.6L V6 with 310 horsepower. When wearing 20-inch wheels, the XT5 will feature Cadillac’s Continuous Damping Control. 

INSIDE THE AUTO INDUSTRY
If TrueCar’s estimates are anything close to correct, the $3,104 average incentive spend per vehicle in October 2015 worked out to nearly 10% of the price of an average new car acquisition. Which explains why October sales were 14% higher in 2015 than they were in 2014.

MPG
In 4x4 form, the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon will, when equipped with the new 2.8L Duramax diesel, be rated at 20 miles per gallon in the city and 29 mpg on the highway, tops among trucks. In Canada, the Office Of Energy Efficiency ratings for the 4x4 model will be 12 L/100km in the city; 8.2 L/100km on the highway. 

TTAC
There are nearly two months remaining in calendar year 2015, yet it’s already certain that a handful of vehicles will end 2015 as their categories’ respective best sellers, so great is their dominance.

RECALL
BMW is recalling one 2015 Rolls-Royce Ghost. Just the solitary Ghost. One lonely Ghost. The car apparently, “has thorax air bags fitted to both front seats that may fail to meet the side impact performance requirements for the front seat occupants.” 

WATCH 
All of Porsche’s 911s will now be turbocharged, not just the Turbo. Will Porsche buyers care about the loss of naturally-aspirated revs? That’s unlikely. Do auto writers? Evo finds out.

Auto News For Monday, June 22, 2015 - Current Dodge Grand Caravan Lives Through 2017

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, review and videos for Monday, June 22, 2015.

INSIDE THE AUTO INDUSTRY
Why were auto industry observers, including GCBC, skeptical of any plan that said the Dodge Grand Caravan was about to die? Windsor, Ontario's, FCA minivan plant has undergone renovations in order to build the next generation of Chrysler's minivans, but now we learn from Automotive News that Dodge will build the current, value-priced Grand Caravan for the 2016 and 2017 model years.

INSIDE THE CANADIAN AUTO INDUSTRY
The Globe & Mail makes rather obvious the point that FCA Canada isn't really selling quite as many vehicles as they say. The problem? It's not really an apples to apples comparison. We don't know what tactics other automakers are employing. We also know that no automaker's sales figures are directly comparable to another's at the best of times, since their lineups, outlets, prices, and incentives don't line up. 

INSIDE CANADA'S FASTEST-GROWING AUTOMAKER
No automobile manufacturer is growing at a faster clip in Canada than the Volkswagen Group: Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche. Autofocus.ca's Timothy Cain, the founder of this site, has details on the year-to-date Canadian sales of every VW Group product.

REVIEW
Automobile Magazine compares the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, and Subaru Legacy and finds that the best-selling Camry was the worst of the bunch while the Mazda 6 buyers ignore is the best. 

RECALL
72 Dodge Challengers (model year 2015) are being recalled by FCA because of a loose or missing rear mounting bolt in the driver's side air bag.

Toyota is recalling 1,973,468 Tundras, Sequoias, Corollas, Matrixes, Lexus SCs, and Pontiac Vibes from assorted model years between 2002-2007 "to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag."

WATCH
The upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLK-replacing GLC is more offroadable than you'd expect. That doesn't necessarily make it a modified Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, of course.

Auto News For Friday, May 22, 2015 - Mazda Says Driving Matters, Not Zoom Zoom

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Friday, May 22, 2015.

INSIDE THE AUTO BUSINESS
GM's poor safety record related to the company's recent ignition issues has caused the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate  monthly meetings between government officials and the automaker for at least another year. Call it oversight; call it babysitting; call it what you may. The GM ignition switch failure is now tied to 104 deaths, and a NHTSA lawyer called the order to disclose and meet, a "productive and effective tool," according to The Detroit News.

INSIDE THE AUTO MARKETING BUSINESS
Remember Zoom Zoom? It didn't make you buy enough Mazdas. So on the same line of thinking, Mazda now says, "Driving matters." According to an ad for the new MX-5 Miata, "You might not need it. But can you live without it?" Should an automaker be telling me I don't need their product? Or should they be, "You can't live without it," a nice declarative, affirmative statement?

INSIDE THE MINIVAN BUSINESS
Is Stow'N'Go a no go? If Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is going to install the hideaway third and second row seats and install all-wheel-drive, the AWD system may need to use electric motors to power the rear wheels. Now that workers are back on the job at FCA's minivan factory in Windsor, Ontario, it's probably about time FCA decides what they're doing with the new vans.

RECALL
The Ford Motor Company is recalling 21,435 Lincoln MKZ sedans (model year 2015) because, "the parking lights do not reduce their light output from a DRL level when used in conjunction with the headlights."

REVIEW
In a Car & Driver comparison test between Mercedes' new 2016 AMG GT S, the Porsche 911 GTS, and the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe, the winner is.... not the Jag.

WATCH
The era of David Letterman's Late Show on CBS is over. But Letterman was more than just a comedic talk show host, he's also a car nut. Here he is with Maximum Bob Lutz looking at a then new Chevrolet Volt on the Late Show stage.

Auto News For Thursday, May 21, 2015 - Ford Recalls 8963 2015 Ford F150s

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Thursday, May 21, 2015.

INSIDE THE AUTO RACING BUSINESS
Lewis Hamilton will be driving for Mercedes-Benz until at least 2018 and he’ll be paid handsomely for doing so. Forbes says that with bonuses, Lewis, the two-time F1 champion, will earn $45 million per year.

INSIDE THE PERFORMANCE CAR BUSINESS
SE, EX, GLS - all the typical trim line names are so dull. How about ZHP? The 2016 BMW 435i ZHP isn’t the first ZHP BMW, but it’s the first 4-Series with the performance package. According to Car & Driver, it includes an extra 35 horsepower, a Track Handling package, an M Performance limited-slip diff, an M Performance package, and more. And it makes a better noise. 

TTAC
Hyundai USA’s SUV/CUV lineup is small and accomplishes rather not a lot. But in a slowing car market, Hyundai has maintained passenger car health and set an April sales record last month. 

RECALL
Ford Motor Company is recalling 8963 2015 Ford F150s due the possibility of the steering upper intermediate shaft being improperly riveted.

REVIEW
Acceleration times are getting crazy. Now, in evo testing, the six-cylinder Porsche Cayenne GTS accelerates to 62 mph in 5.1 seconds. 

WATCH
Chris Harris, like humans the world over, appreciates the idea of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This video of the latest model is evidence of that fact.

Auto News For Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - VP Says Corvettes Are Better Than Porsches

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Your normal news editor, Steffani Cain, is off today, as GCBC Towers has bizarrely taken on the role of fostering puppies.

INSIDE THE AUTO BUSINESS
In mid-2016, Porsche will be selling Boxsters and Caymans with four-cylinder engines in North America. No, these aren't the inline-fours from your Corolla; they're boxer four-cylinders from Porsche. Flat-fours. Horizontally-opposed. They'll probably make a great noise.

INSIDE THE VICE PRESIDENT'S CAR SPEECH
"Corvettes are better than Porsches," VP Joe Biden told a group of graduating students at Yale last weekend. 

REVIEW
Perhaps you wouldn't buy a Cadillac ATS-V over a its German rivals. But it seems that every reviewer, including the Wall Street Journal's Dan Neil, believes the ATS-V is the driver's choice.

TTAC
Mercedes-Benz's SLS AMG era is over. The AMG GT era has begun.

RECALL
Nissan North America, Inc. is recalling 263,692 Pathfinders (model year 2004) and Sentras (2004-2006) because, "upon deployment of the passenger side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture."

WATCH
Jalopnik writer and friend of GCBC, Patrick George, decided to simply be up front about the fact that he crashed, in a relatively minor way, a camouflaged 2016 Chevrolet Camaro. 

Auto News For Monday, May 18, 2015 - 2016 Camaro Debuts To Challenge(r) Mustang

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Monday, May 18, 2015. Your normal news editor, Steffani Cain, is off today, which is Victoria Day in Canada.

FUTURE
Leaked ahead of the debut on CNBC, General Motors introduced the sixth-generation of their Chevrolet Camaro on Saturday in Michigan's Belle Isle park. Turbocharged, four-cylinder power is part of the story.

INSIDE THE AUTO BUSINESS
Jose Munoz, Nissan's chairman in North America, simply wants dealers. Where they come from and the grandeur of their overall enterprise matter not. And Munoz knows what it's like to see dealers thrive. He comes from Nissan Mexico, where the automaker is an industry leader.

REVIEW
Car & Driver calls the 2016 Audi Q7 an SUV "worth waiting for." Wrote Jens Meiners: "The interior is so contemporary, functional, and aesthetically pleasing that it may set the new class benchmark."

TTAC
What did Porsche use in order to set a U.S. sales record in April 2015? Not their cars, which all declined, but rather, the Macan and Cayenne. Meanwhile, Infiniti's Q70 is putting up better numbers thanks to help from the Q70L. But "better" doesn't mean "high." Finally, which car is winning the U.S. sales battle, the Audi A7 or the Mercedes-Benz CLS?

RECALL
No change since Friday's raft of Toyota and GM recalls.

WATCH
The Tesla Model S is an impressive device. In P85 form, we were awestruck. As a P85D, there's really nothing like it. But - and you won't be surprised - the doorhandles still break, according to Consumer Reports own test car.

2015 Porsche Macan S Review - Drive It, Don't Load It

The Porsche Macan’s diving roofline severely cramps cargo capacity. The centre hump in the rearward portion of the cabin is almost as high as the seat cushion, which could force the Macan into becoming a four-seater depending on the number of legs possessed by its passengers.

The driver’s view out the back is far from expansive, and the driver must also deal with some odd layouts for cruise control, rear wipers, and centre-console mounted switches which are sometimes blocked by the shifter.

THE GOOD • Surprising ride quality • Unusual cockpit design • Plenty powerful • So agile • Near perfect seats

THE BAD • Low roof eats up cargo space • Unusual cockpit design • 8-speed auto > 7-speed PDK • Costs a pretty penny • Even on 19s it needs more wheel

The Macan is a pricey piece of kit, with options required on a (CAD) $55,415 Macan S to turn it into a car with parking sensors, a backup camera, heated rear seats, and navigation. Our tester costs $65,565 and it still doesn’t have cooled seats, auto-dimming mirrors, keyless go, blind spot monitoring, sunshades, a proper hi-lux audio system, or any of Porsche’s performance options.

Moreover, even with optional $1440 19-inch wheels, the Macan S still looks like it’s wearing base footwear.

Life’s rough. Here I had a week of load-lugging to get through, a week that was to end with a 600-kilometre journey to the wedding of my wife’s cousin in Cape Breton, and it’s warm enough in mid-October to need constant air conditioning, and the Porsche only very gradually cools its occupants. All the while, I’m accidentally turning the heated steering wheel on and off because the button is on the back of the steering wheel, and the button doesn’t have enough feel, and feel is essentially the only thing an auto writer worth his weight in press junket shrimp cares about.

And, in the context of small utility vehicles, everything else is basically perfect.

The experience is literally special from the start. A turn of the key prompts a large bellow from the quad exhaust pipes, and the rumble persists for an extended period as the twin-turbocharged 3.0L V6 (340 horsepower, 339 lb-ft of torque) warms up on a crisp morning. You won’t hear this noise every time you remove your foot from the brake at stoplights – the Macan S has an auto-stop function that can be turned off (and which Sport mode turns off on its own), but the engine comes to life smoothly and quietly in those circumstances.

2015 PORSCHE MACAN S Base Price * (CAD): $55,415 As-Tested Price * (CAD): $65,565 Engine: 3.0L DOHC 24-valve twin-turbocharged V6 Transmission: 7-speed PDK Horsepower: 340 @ 5500 rpm Torque: 339 lb-ft @ 1450 rpm Curb Weight: 4112 pounds Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Length: 184.3 inches Width: 76.1 inches Height: 63.4 inches Wheelbase: 110.5 inches Tires: Michelin Latitude Tour HP Tire Size (F): 235/55R19 Tire Size (R): 255/50R19 Cargo Volume: 500 litres Max. Cargo Volume: 1500 litres EPA City: 17 mpg EPA Highway: 23 mpg NRCAN OEE City: 13.7 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 10.3 L/100km Observed: 21.0 mpg Observed: 11.2 L/100km * includes $1115 destination charge MPG fuel economy ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency.  L/100km ratings from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's new 5-cycle testing for MY2015 vehicles.

As a follow-up to the Audi SQ5 I drove the week before, the Macan S’s powerplant felt almost imperceptibly underwhelming. Where the 354-horsepower supercharged 3.0L V6 in the SQ5 delivers its power with a brick-breaking punch at any moment, the Porsche’s engine is more characterful, happier to rev for the sake of revving, and it also makes a better noise.

The SQ5’s 8-speed automatic is also superior to the Macan’s 7-speed PDK, particularly in everyday driving where the dual-clutch Porsche unit tends to lug around in the briefest moments of confusion at low speeds. It’ll certainly snap off barking upshifts in a hurry when under heavy throttle, however. Indeed, outside of comparisons with ZF’s renowned 8-speed, the PDK would likely shine.

Yet it’s the Porsche’s manners when driven conventionally that cause the Macan to stand out. Yes, the SQ5 is a capable handler; a surprisingly adept vehicle on twisty roads. But the Audi’s always telling you how sporty it is, while the Porsche walks more walk instead of chattering more chit-chat. It rides much more serenely. It’s very, very quiet. The seats, while offering no adjustable lumbar support, are worlds ahead of most optional sport seats in terms of long-distance comfort and provide a huge range of head restraint adjustment. Nevertheless, when given an opportunity, the SQ5-related Macan shows which VAG engineers better understand suspension geometry.

The Macan S isn’t that tall, and despite some true off-road credentials, it’s more of a hatchback than an SUV. Yet viewed as a small luxury crossover contender, the Macan’s planted stance and remarkable agility and lack of body roll are a real shock to the system. Its steering isn’t full of feel, but it’s pleasantly heavy and very direct. Nothing will upset the Macan mid-corner.

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
Click Any Of These Images For A Larger Slideshow View

Setting aside its quickness and disarming agility, the Macan’s brakes may be the car’s most confidence-inspiring facet. Rotors measure 350mm at the front and 330mm out back. Their outright stopping force is modulated by a progressive pedal where the amount of pressure applied by your foot is perfectly matched by the rate of deceleration. No competitor brakes like this, and no competitor feels like this under braking, either.

Though not terribly special to look at outside, particularly without the 21-inch, $4360 Sport Classics, the Macan does have a few special exterior bits. It does look like a Porsche, and the taillights create a beautiful signature when lit up.

Inside, the Macan is certainly unusual for drivers accustomed to very upright designs. Most buttons and switches are laid out along the trajectory of your relaxed right arm. There are times when, with the shifter in drive and the armrest pushed forward, it’s awkward to access lesser-used buttons. The climate controls also bring your eyes very far down from the road. The whole system is full of touch points, unlike the flush non-buttons in a Cadillac SRX, for example, and if a week isn’t long enough to memorize placements, two should be sufficient. The rear wiper button isn’t properly positioned on the wiper stalk, thereby constantly squirting wiper juice all over the tailgate when all I called for was a solitary swipe, and cruise control functions aren’t intuitive. But the overall sensation in the Macan’s interior, even a moderately optioned one like this, isn’t of a car that is dependent on features to create the aura of luxury. Rather, it’s the low-slung seating position, plentiful glass, thick-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel, and centre-mounted tachometer that produce a driver-centric cabin.

In other words, it feels like a Porsche. The Macan S also drives like a Porsche, and it is thus entirely authentic, like it or not. Perhaps the biggest disappointment isn’t found in the bottom corner of the Macan S’s window sticker but in the way the Porsche makes other otherwise lovely small luxury crossovers feel. How is it that the Macan S both rides more comfortably and handles more effectively and proceeds down the road with more enthusiasm?

No, the fact that the Macan tarnishes other small luxury crossovers is not its biggest disappointment. If utility is a prime concern, the Porsche Macan is a big league flop. The cargo area’s flexibility was apparent when, with seats folded, I loaded 224 diapers, four litres of juice, two litres of milk, one cucumber, one dish rack, two pounds of goat yogourt, four bags of chips, and a king size memory foam mattress (still in its box, naturally) with plenty of room to spare. That’s why a Macan driver doesn’t want an M3 sedan. (Also, we drove up a rocky path to the top of Creignish Mountain, which we wouldn't have done in any rear-drive vehicle, certainly one with less than six inches of ground clearance.) 

But with the seats up, the Macan S offers less than 500 litres of cargo capacity, less than half the space behind the seats of a Honda CR-V, which is six inches shorter than the Macan from bumper to bumper. Our Baby Jogger Summit X3 looks tiny in the back of a Subaru Outback; it eats up most of the floor space in the Macan.

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• Historical Monthly & Yearly Porsche Macan Sales Figures
• 2014 Audi SQ5 Driven Review
• 2013 Tesla Model S P85 Driven Review
• 2014 Cadillac CTS V Sport Driven Review

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That's a real-world concern, but it's an issue which may well disappear after a test drive. It certainly did for me after spending a week in this Porsche Canada car. Dynamically, the Macan is in a league of its own, and Porsche has priced it as such. And remember, this is a Macan without performance-oriented rubber, without the ceramic composite brakes, electronically controlled dampers, air suspension, torque vectoring, launch control, a Sport Plus button, or a 400-horsepower 3.6L twin-turbo.

Therefore, this may well be the least impressive Macan, and it’s ridiculously impressive.

Another Piece Of Macan Evidence

You've closely tracked the Porsche Cayenne's success by scanning parking lots outside fancy restaurants. You understand that the Cayenne's omnipresence in Orange County translates directly to the mere presence of a 918 Spyder in Porsche's lineup, which is important to you, the owner of a knackered E36 BMW 328i.

As a result, you know that the Macan is simply the next rung on Porsche's ladder. Oh, it's the lesser of the two SUVs; smaller in size and price and probably status, too. But this is the vehicle which moves Porsche from niche luxury player closer to the mainstream premium arena. Three sports cars won't do it, not even with the addition of an SUV and a massive four-door hatchback.

Thanks in part to an additional 3947 Macan sales in the U.S. over the last four months, Porsche USA has sold 31,759 total vehicles through the first eight months of 2014. This moves Porsche's market share up to 0.284% from 0.268% a year ago.

An incremental improvement? Most definitely, but the rate of Porsche's improvement is in excess of what the overall market is averaging. Total new vehicle sales are up 5% in the United States in 2014. Porsche USA volume is up 12%.

The figure achieved by the Macan in its first month on the market, when 1263 were sold, was both representative of some pent-up demand and Porsche's ability to meet that demand, if only at first. But it was also a tell-tale that the Macan, as if there was ever any doubt, was not another low-volume Porsche sports car. (Porsche sold 312 Caymans in May; 411 Boxsters.)

August told another, different story. The Panamera's 3945 year-to-date sales represent a 14% year-over-year improvement for the brand's people-carrying passenger car. Yet the Macan has generated more sales activity for Porsche in the last four months than the Panamera has over the last eight. That the Macan can quickly muster more sales in a shorter period than the Boxster or Cayman is no surprise. Yet in August, the Macan's 969 U.S. sales nearly matched the 1056-unit total achieved by the Boxster, Cayman, and Panamera combined.

Now, the Panamera is not exactly America's favourite car. Mercedes-Benz sold 1855 S-Classes and 1150 CLS-Class sedans last month. The Lexus LS, Audi A7, BMW 5-Series, BMW 6-Series, and Audi A8 were just a few of the other high-end premium brand cars which found more new customers than the Panamera.

But from a purely inward-looking Porsche perspective, the Macan's early-onset success and the Panamera's inability to keep up speaks to the current state of the automotive industry. Crossover tops car. Porsche USA's Panamera volume met a monthly peak in April 2012, when 868 were sold. The Macan has surpassed that peak in three of its four months on the market. Yes, it's been helped along by a much lower sticker price than the Panamera, but also by its bodystyle.

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• Historical Monthly & Yearly Porsche Macan Sales Figures
• U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model - August 2014 YTD
• U.S. SUV/Crossover Sales Rankings By Model - August 2014 YTD

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This isn't just something we're seeing at Porsche, nor is it a trend we see only with oddly-styled large hatchbacks and especially sporty small crossovers. By recent standards, Mercedes-Benz USA will report particularly strong S-Class sales this year, but the current pace suggests at least a 25% decline compared with 2006 levels. Yes, 2006, the year Mercedes-Benz USA sold their first 18,776 GLs to go along with nearly 31,000 S-Classes. Over the last three years, Mercedes-Benz has averaged 27,000 GL sales per year in the U.S., the kind of number they haven't achieved with the S-Class since 2007.

BMW will sell less than half the number of 7-Series sedans this year than they did in 2003 while likely selling close to 110,000 total SAVs, around 2.5 times the number of X5s sold in 2003. Tata's JLR? 60% of Jaguar-Land Rover's volume in 2002 was Jaguar-derived, now it's 77% Land Rover.

No matter which data point you use, it's remarkably easy to see that the Macan went from non-existence to Porsche USA's deuteragonist in the matter of one summer. It's perhaps easier to see that big luxury cars are quickly being pushed to the sidelines, while the Macan and its more common premium cohorts move in on their territory.

November 2012 Top 10 Worst-Selling Vehicles In Canada

The First Cayman Could've Been A 911
Beater On Track, But Never In The Showroom

While forgiveness is owed the Porsche Cayman for its poor sales performance this year, even the dawn of a second-generation Cayman is unlikely to provide great assistance to Porsche Canada.

Not that Porsche Canada needs much assistance. In the first three quarters of 2012 Porsche sold more new vehicles in Canada than in its best full calendar year ever. Which happened to be last year, 2011. And during this best ever year for Porsche, only 92 Caymans have been registered; only 88 were sold in the first three quarters. 

Incidentally, during the Cayman's best year ever, its first year on sale, it only accounted for 15.4% of all Porsche Canada sales. (That same year, 2006, was the Cayman's best U.S. sales year on record and it accounted for 20.5% of Porsche USA sales.) As you gratefully recall, the Panamera wasn't part of Porsche's lineup in 2006, and the Cayman represented 25% of all Porsche nameplates.

If in its best ever year the Cayman was responsible for significantly less than its fair share of Porsche sales, does the new Cayman have a chance at pumping out Boxster-like volume? It seems unlikely. However, Porsche will likely sell more than one new Cayman in November 2013, and the company should have no trouble outselling its own November 2011 Cayman total, too.

This foreword leads us to Canada's 10 worst-selling cars in November 2012. The Cayman was the worst, indeed, whether you're measuring by poor total sales or by year-over-year decrease. This isn't surprising. Dealers have been waiting for the new Cayman for months and have hardly had any Caymans to sell while waiting.

Not only were two of Canada's 10 worst year-over-year decreases reported by Nissan, so were the next two, Canada's 12th and 13th-worst-selling vehicles. 370Z sales dropped 56.3%, as you'll see in the second table, and Juke sales fell 52.3% to 256. The 19th-ranked vehicle was the Nissan Murano, sales of which fell 45.1% to 236 and the 28th-worst-selling vehicle was the Infiniti G, sales of which dropped 41.9% to 144.

All 261 Vehicles Ranked By November 2012 YTD Canadian Sales

Fortunately for Nissan (and Porsche), other models picked up most or all of the slack. Porsche sold 156 more vehicles in November 2012 than in November 2011, a 164% year-over-year jump. Nissan sales fell 8.1% in a year in which sales are down 2.5%, but new models like the Pathfinder and Sentra reported huge increases. All brands were ranked by total November volume a week ago.

Canada's worst-selling vehicles in November 2012 are ranked three different ways in the tables below. Historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any of these models can always be found by accessing GCBC's Sales Stats dropdown menu.

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Percentage Decline	% Change	November 2012	November 2011
#1	Porsche Cayman	- 85.7%	1	7
#2	Nissan Leaf	- 83.3%	7	42
#3	Land Rover  Range Rover Evoque	- 82.5%	27	154
#4	Nissan Quest	- 78.8%	35	165
#5	Audi R8	- 75.0%	4	16
#6	Honda CR-Z	- 66.7%	6	18
#7	Lincoln MKZ	- 60.8%	31	79
#8	Volkswagen Routan	- 60.3%	23	58
#9	Scion tC	- 60.2%	86	216
#10	Volvo XC90	- 59.3%	22	54

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Volume	November 2012	November 2011	% Change
#1	Honda CR-Z	6	18	- 66.7%
#2	Nissan Leaf	7	42	- 83.3%
#3	Nissan 370Z	7	16	- 56.3%
#4	Mitsubishi i MiEV	8	7	+ 14.3%
#5	Mazda MX-5 Miata	14	19	- 26.3%
#6	Honda Insight	18	4	+ 350%
#7	Nissan Cube	20	46	- 56.5%
#8	Toyota Avalon	21	42	- 50.0%
#9	Volkswagen Routan	23	58	- 60.3%
#10	Subaru Tribeca	31	41	- 24.4%

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Volume (All Vehicles)	November 2012	November 2011	% Change
#1	Porsche Cayman	1	7	- 85.7%
#2	Acura RL	3	-----	-----
#3	Audi R8	4	16	- 75.0%
T4	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	5	9	- 44.4%
T4	Nissan GT-R	5	7	- 28.6%
T4	Volvo S80	5	7	- 28.6%
#7	Honda CR-Z	6	18	- 66.7%
#8	Nissan Leaf	7	42	- 83.3%
#9	Nissan 370Z	7	16	- 56.3%
#10	Mitsubishi i MiEV	8	7	+ 14.3%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC 
Vehicle must have been on sale in November, must not have been officially cancelled by its manufacturer, and must have been showcased on manufacturer's website in 2012. This post was updated at 12:24 PM AT on 12.13.2013 to reflect updated Range Rover Evoque figures.

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