2015 Porsche Macan Turbo vs. 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG! – Head 2 Head Ep. 63
On this episode of Head 2 Head, Jonny Lieberman travels out to the wilds of the Anza Borrego desert with the goal of figuring out which small, sporty, pricey, German SUV is best: the Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG or the Porsche Macan Turbo. But it’s not the off-road trails that Jonny’s interested in – the AMG may very well be allergic to dirt – but rather the serpentine road that climbs up, and then up some more. These two may look like SUVs, but they’re much closer to sports cars. Packing 400-horsepower, will the Porsche’s 45-horsepower advantage beat out the smaller, lighter, and still plenty powerful, GLA45? Or will the jacked-up red hatchback from Affalterbach put a beat-down on a genuine Porsche Turbo? There’s only one way to find out!
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On this episode of Head 2 Head, Jonny Lieberman travels out to the wilds of the Anza Borrego desert with the goal of figuring out which small, sporty, pricey, German SUV is best: the Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG or the Porsche Macan Turbo. But it’s not the off-road trails that Jonny’s interested in – the AMG may very well be allergic to dirt – but rather the serpentine road that climbs up, and then up some more. These two may look like SUVs, but they’re much closer to sports cars. Packing 400-horsepower, will the Porsche’s 45-horsepower advantage beat out the smaller, lighter, and still plenty powerful, GLA45? Or will the jacked-up red hatchback from Affalterbach put a beat-down on a genuine Porsche Turbo? There’s only one way to find out!
Subscribe now to make sure you’re in on all the action!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsAegdhiYLEoaFGuJFVrqFQ?sub_confirmation=1
Facebook – http://facebook.com/motortrendmag & https://www.facebook.com/head2headshow
Twitter – http://twitter.com/motortrend & https://twitter.com/head2headshow
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+motortrend/posts
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Website – http://www.motortrend.com
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The GLA is one of the most awkward looking cars you can buy honestly
The GLA looks like a clown car. Would not buy.
Get your facts straight, there were Evo X FQ320, FQ360 and FQ400. The FQ360
was popular as shit in UK and no, you didn’t have to rebuild the engine.
Did I mention it was in 2008?
NO MORE BEARDED GUY, PLEEEASEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fantastic video! It’s always so fun watching someone having this much fun
doing his job! Really entertaining video ;D
Gla vs focus rs in the future?
The Merc looks stupid with that aero kit, in the other hand the Porsche
looks elegant and way better.
We pit the Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG vs. the Porsche Macan Turbo to find out
which small, sporty, pricey, German SUV is best!
Which car do you think will come out on top?
Presented By Tire Rack
GLA won because of his friend… but in real world if most of us had our
pick it would be the Macan. GLA is a confusing car and not very good
looking for that kind of money.
I would lower the shit of that GLA, though. Probably smaller wheels.
Which small, sporty, pricey, German SUV is best?
chris harris would’ve beat your ass on the racing part
What’s wrong with Detroit built? Drive American
Winner GLA. My verdict I want this!! But I wonder which would be the better
storage and seating for 4-5 people?
Do you have same feeling that in some corners Jonny did not attack same as
with GLA? Like on that 13:00 corner… I bet he went first with Porsche and
then with GLA with more confidence.
All else equal, lighter is better
Like this post if you want motor trend to fire jonny Lieberman for having
the worst reviews ever! His comparison tests are ridiculous! If someone out
their was honestly considering buying a Macan or GLA, you think they would
take advise from this overweight bearded white guy? Seriously?
Gotta admit, didn’t expect that final outcome. Though it’s somewhat
expected given the GLA45’s 900lb weight advantage. The GLA45 would
completely dominate the Macan S, which is more its direct competitor with
340hp and priced within a thousand dollars. I think Johnny’s conclusions
is correct, but he also forgot to mention that you save $20k with the GLA.
Oh, and nice shot at 11:29 :-)
Porsche is the winner in my book. First cuz it’s a Porsche and not a Benz,
second it’s more capable can tow 4500 lbs, can go off road, and carry a
family with luggage, and is more posh. That Benz looks like a clown car,
buffed up hatchback and the fact that performance wise it didn’t manager to
better the real suv with much heavier weight Says how incompetent the Benz
is. What’s the Benz even good for?! It’s marketed as an suv which barely
can hold 4 ppl, can’t carry luggage, and is too low for off roadroading and
too awkward and tall for being hot hatch. Clearly another example when
motor trend gets paid by a car manufacturer
GLA i been see it by my eyes , it`s to low , not like SUV , more like
crossover !
The Mitsubishi section where this (bad) presenter shows his lack of
knowledge is sad. How can you make such an uneducated comment?
The more powerful 2L Mitsu motors in the form of FQ360 and FQ400 were
reliable and most definitely in production.
Not taking away anything from the 2L in the Mercedes. However, the M 133 is
not the most reliable engine. I’ve heard from numerous Mercedes mechanics
that the turbos are going bad around 40k miles.
Man…your upper arms are so freaking pale..
Well.. before even watch this episode… and being huge Mercedes fan.. I
have to admit that the Macan is my choice for sure! Sorry Mercedes but it
is time to change that ugly design language… is suits well on A-class but
not to the rest of the line!
I was in the middle of no where on the weekend on some mountain roads. Out
of no where, CAMRY WAGON! There was plenty of pull over lanes dedicated to
slow vehicle and plenty of signs too. Not once did they even think about
pulling over and letting me past. Then once the road straightened out they
proceeded to 20km/h over the limit…
1. The Macan is NOT a real Porsche. Its based on a Q5 !
I am a honest porsche fan, but I would never buy a porsche tuned audi Q5.
I think is good looking, I guess it handles amazing. I also think it would
do way better if it would be a pure porsche product.
2. The GLA is a lighter weight class. Its the only competitor, but just
saying.
Johnny – off road mode is for when it is snowing! Duh. We do not all live
in the subtropics, my friend : )
And what’s wrong with efficiency? You make fun of German efficiency, when
it’s a well known fact that American cars break down and fall apart – here
in Denmark the wreckage yards are displaying lots of poorly made US
vehicles, only a few years old and beyond repair because of rust or engine
damage.
We would like to see proper build quality and efficient engines from you
guys! As far as I’m concerned, a Tesla is the only car, made in The United
States, I’d like to own.
Thank you
+Jonny Lieberman I can understand that in the past American’s didn’t like
hatches like they do in Europe, but I think they are gaining popularity.
The Focus ST, and GTI are selling well, the WRX fans are clamoring for a
new hatch version. Although owning a Fiesta ST I may be a bit bias.
Lol “fun to drive” because that’s what I look for when buying a car smh
The GLA seems fun to drive, but with marginal off road and track
performances, those so called SUV have little “sport” and “utility”
potential. A Macan Turbo races about 10% slower than a Cayman GT4 on tracks
or roads, costs more than 2 Impreza STI, and for 5 real and faster seats, a
Ghibli S Q4 is also cheaper than the Macan T and much lighter. Height
simply hasn’t got the g force to turn, only the visible SUV look.
Hello Motor Trend,
I really don’t understand how come the Mercedes can win this head 2 head,
really.
My apologies if I’m wrong, but is not a “fun to drive” that decides what is
the best car, and I say car.
The only disadvantage of the Porsche is the price, all the rest is the best
in everything. I don’t understand if this is journalism or promotions of
some brand’s car. The only thing that I see here is a promotion to a car
that don’t have market against other one that don’t need any kind of
promotion because the brand sells without problem in your market.
This is only my humble opinion and hope you understand that.
Best regards,
PSLG1971
Both are cool but the aero on the amg is dumb
His line in the Merc is atrocious
this guy is kind of a ass hole
Dude your lane discipline is shit. You are not driving an H1. You got
plenty of lane, you don’t need to spend half your time in on coming
traffic. You drive like a ham fisted donkey
Im sorry but to openly say you don’t know how to pronounce macan or what it
means is kind of sad you’re an automotive enthusiast/ journalist and you
don’t even bother looking in to something like that… no passion in the
job anymore, plenty of driving but no drive
I love mercedes.
Johnny, is it better that the GLA AMG is the fun car compared to the CLA
AMG or did Mercedes miss out on some future amateur racers?
i guess you scare drive thous in a city. man-up take a look at Jay Leno
always a city man!!!
MACAN is an awesome suv elegible by real petrolheads, the GLA45 is just for
Jonny Liebermean and mean girls.. just like him!! no surprises he chooses
almost every time Mercedes in his head2head reviews.. by the way the GLA45
is just a hot hatch with high heels
The GLA because dive planes.
I like em’ both but, seems if you were actually in the market for something
that you could put your gear in the Merc seemed a bit small.
Well, I did not see that coming. Never thought that horrifying looking
GLA(in my eyes) will win against the macan. Even if I am not a big fan of
the macan either. I hate all crossoverish looking SUV badged cars. They
dont really know what they are just yet
Great driving, both cars had different lines…… some people call the
merc a clowncar.. How about not letting a clown drive them?
Shouldn’t it be Macan versus GLC AMG?
Who ever thought a Mercedes will be more fun to drive than a Porsche. How
things are changing :-)
The GLA reminds me more of a BMW X1 or a Subaru Forrester…not exactly an
SUV…more like a crossover or sporty 5-door hatchback.
If you look in the door jam of the GLA45 you’ll see that it actually is
classified as a car. The GLA250 is classified as a SUV. The GLA45 sits a
few inches lower which warrants that classification. That is why the 45
does not have tinted windows and the 250 does…
That merc would be better if it had a v8
WTF! you talking about the Evo X FQ 400 wasn’t a production car and they
didn’t really make them? Mitsubishi made 100 of those car and had a 2 year
warranty on them, and there’s even a Evo X FQ 440 making 440hp the fact of
the matter is Mitsubishi was the first to make a insane amount of power
from a two liter inline four, but i guest because it was Mitsubishi and not
some high and might car brand then they should not get any credit, FUCKING
BULLSHIT!