Porsche's Macan GTS is a 355bhp crossover that thinks it's a sportscar

You know the score by now: Porsche unveils a car, and then proceeds to expand its range by making infinitesimal variations of it.

The Macan – Porsche’s smaller SUV, and its newest nameplate – is seemingly following in the path of its forebears. We don’t quite foresee the 25 variants the 911 range currently boasts, but this new GTS does take the Macan to its fifth iteration.

If you’ve immediately reached for your finest Porsche-branded anorak, then the repertoire of GTS tweaks ought to be obvious: matt black alloys and exterior details, sportier and lower suspension, a sports exhaust and a more powerful engine than standard.

With a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 sending 355bhp and 369lb ft to all four wheels, though, this is not the most powerful Macan you can buy. In fact, it slides between the Macan S and Turbo, its power output leaning towards the former, but its £55,188 price tag closer to the latter.

Like all GTS Porsches though, a handful of the best options boxes have been ticked to help justify the cost. PASM active suspension, 20-inch wheels and sports seats are all standard, while LED headlights make their debut as an option.

Your only gearbox option is a seven-speed PDK paddleshifter, which helps yield sensible numbers of 32mpg and 207g/km, equalling the lesser-powered S. That’s despite the GTS being faster: the top speed is now 160mph (a modest 2mph climb), while nearly half a second has been taken off the 0-62mph time, which now stands at 5.0 seconds with Sport Chrono added.

Strong numbers for a 1.9-tonne car, while the Macan is comfortably one of the tidiest handling SUVs you can buy, and past form suggests this GTS could be the pick of the range for those keening to exploit that.

But can we be forgiven for feeling a little unmoved by the predictability of its arrival? And could Porsche ever get away with turning its wee 4x4 over to the Motorsport division? A Macan GT3 RS would provide the shock value the world surely needs...