I drove an $82,000 Porsche Macan S to see if this bestselling, sporty crossover is worth the steep price - here's the verdict

The styling is Cayenne derivative, which was 911 derivative, which made for SUVs that look like turtles or pumped up VW Beetles. But over the years the design has gotten sleeker, and one might say that the smaller Macan is sharper than the Cayenne.

Of course, there's no such thing as a beautiful Porsche; beauty isn't the point. Porsches are tools — go-fast-around-corners machines, shining examples of German engineering. If you want pretty, there's Ferrari and Jaguar. Porsches are more purposeful.

Throw in a top speed of 157 mph, a seven-speed PDK transmission piping power to a surefooted all-wheel-drive system, and some exceptionally composed steering, handling, and braking and you have one of the best compact crossovers on the road. The Macan S is basically a sports car with four doors and a hatch that could plausibly compete in weekend offroad rally races. That's versatility!

Objectively, the vehicle is great, and moaning about the price is silly. It's a Porsche. It's not a Mazda.

But of all the Porsches one can drive, I have the toughest time warming up to the Macan. I'm not crazy about the lumbering, poleaxing power of the V8 Panameras, either. I like the Cayenne in all its incarnations, and while the more supercar-striving 911 variants strike me as missing the spiritual point of the car, they're undeniably impressive and undeniably worth the big money.

The Macan S combines luxury, performance, and versatility in a balanced and efficient manner (although, as I've pointed out, you do have to pay up if you want the best of the best). Unlike other luxury crossovers, the premium materials don't assert themselves too strongly — there' a refreshing lack of bling.

For drivers and passengers, the comfort level is high, but it doesn't rise to plush or decadent elevations. For that reason, the Macan isn't the best road-tripper I've ever piloted. I took it on a roughly 250-mile, roundtrip run from the New Jersey suburbs to the East End of Long Island and was glad to not be driving it anymore once the journey was completed. You don't notice this during daily driving excursions, and when you drop the hammer, you don't actually want the Macan S to be soft.

But how often did I drsop the hammer? Not often. Sport mode got some use, but Sport Plus was neglected. This is the Macan's Achilles' heel: it can go like hell — but the car is set up to embrace not going like hell.

The Macan S weighs in at about 4,300 lbs., can tow 4,400 lbs., and offers over 50 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats dropped.

The 18 mpg city/23 highway/20 combined fuel economy isn't great, but it isn't bad, either, considering that the Macan S is designed for high-performance.

The Macan, if you're being grumpy, could be lumped in with the Audi Q5 and the Volkswagen Tiguan in the VW Group crossover stable. The three vehicles are mechanically similar. I've driven all of them, however, and the Macan is the snazziest, by a stretch.

For me, the Macan has become the exception that proves the rule in the Porsche lineup: the company makes some of the world's greatest cars. But a few of its cars, despite their charms and capabilities, don't always click.

More accurately, they don't click in my head. Porsche has plenty of happy Panamera Turbo owners and, it goes without saying, many more Macan owners. The issue here is one of small distinctions. I don't like the over-muscled Porsches, and I struggle with the Macan's sort of split personality: wild at the top of the lineup, adequate at the bottom, mushy in the middle, despite the impressive specs.

Look, the Macan S gets the job done. The thing drives beautifully, the interior is primo, and the infotainment system, with its crisp central touchscreen, is a blissful media center with first-rate GPS navigation. Obviously, there aren't that many vehicles on the road that combine Porsche's performance poise, racetrack ready at all times, with the chops to convey a week's worth of groceries and make comfortable, full-family Disneyland runs.

But you don't need to come up with eighty grand. The extras are wonderful and add to the experience, but they aren't mission critical. My advice is to choose the cheaper Macan and relish the still-intact Porsche-ness of it.