Background
An all-new model line from Porsche is something we’ve become rather more accustomed to within the past 10 years than at any other time in the company’s history.
The Panamera, however, is as much of a diversion from its current line-up as the Cayenne SUV was. Porsche has never made a car like this before, although the company says producing a four-door GT was a dream of company founder Ferdinand Porsche.
As with the Cayenne, the Panamera (named after the Carrera Panamericana road race) enters an established market while offering something unique.
No other luxury car looks quite like the Panamera, and no other is meant to be quite so overtly sporty. And, we suspect, no other is prepared to be quite so compromised in its pursuit of that outright dynamism.
Even the fastest versions of luxury saloons – with the possible exception of the Maserati Quattroporte – don’t usually sacrifice their latent comfort. Question is, what level of comfort and refinement can Porsche maintain while achieving the level of performance it craves?
Design
Porsche says all of its cars use styling cues taken from the 911 as their basis. The shutline of the Panamera’s bonnet, for example, and the high-set front wings, are obvious 911 traits, as is the falling side window line.
Matching these to a car other than a rear-engined two-door coupé is not the challenging part of the design. The difficult part is making the traditional 911-style sloping roofline work with this luxury hatchback’s proportions.
On almost all hatchbacks the downward curve is reversed at some point by a boot lip or spoiler, but not on the Panamera. And it’s the way the roofline curves that’s the most controversial – and to our eyes, least successful – element of the design.
Porsches rarely sit directly alongside their rivals, but the Panamera is marked out further by having four seats to the more conventional five, and by the fact that convention dictates a big luxury car should have a saloon boot, rather than a hatchback.
Most luxury saloons are also more than five metres long, a mark that the Panamera misses by three centimetres.
Few luxury saloons get a manual gearbox option either, but in naturally aspirated form that’s what the 4.8 V8-powered car gets as standard. However, the 493bhp Turbo you see here has Porsche’s seven-speed PDK twin-clutch gearbox as standard. With PDK (optional on the S) comes Porsche’s first application of stop-start technology.
Its 4.8 V8-Powered Car
The Turbo also gets the air-sprung suspension that’s only optional on other Panameras, and four-wheel drive.
The drivetrain itself is not dissimilar to that of the Cayenne SUV, although the platform is different. Do not be surprised, however, if the Panamera platform later spawns other cars within the Volkswagen group.
On The Road
Although our test car came without the optional Sport Chrono pack, it still accelerated from 0-60mph in four seconds dead. This makes it, with one possible exception, the fastest-accelerating saloon in its class, eclipsing the Jaguar XFR, BMW M5 and Audi RS6. On paper, Cadillac’s CTS-V will go faster still, but with only the rear wheels driven this will be surface dependent.
Drive a Panamera Turbo and you will not want for extra performance; the 516lb ft of torque is sustained from 2250-4500rpm. With such flexibility from the engine, we question the need for seven ratios, other than for the obvious economy benefits of the very tall top gear.
While PDK continues to impress with its smooth shifts and well judged mapping, the illogically placed and oriented steering wheel buttons still grate. And for low-speed manoeuvring PDK can’t match the silky step-off of a conventional torque converter automatic, occasionally feeling clunky. Furthermore, while the Auto Stop Start function undoubtedly boosts fuel economy, we found it frustrating to use.
The Panamera feels a lot smaller and more nimble than its size suggests. Mostly this is down to the steering, which, if not identical to that of Porsche’s sports cars, shares some of the same characteristics
Although the suspension has a broad range of adjustment, the one thing that never changes, regardless of setting, is that a PDCC-equipped Panamera corners with almost zero body roll. It works, making the Panamera feel agile and secure.
Driven at medium speeds, it feels endlessly capable but doesn’t provide quite the same fluidity or thrills you get with a 911, or an XFR. What will be of concern is that the Panamera does not ride especially well. There is a wide range of adjustment, and in its softer mode it is certainly supple enough to deal with bigger bumps, and it is perfectly comfortable for high-speed cruising. But over short, sharp intrusions it can feel clumsy and unsettled.
Living
Panamera’s exterior may be unusual and its positioning may be slightly out of kilter with its traditional rivals, but its interior finish has been executed to a superb standard. In terms of perceived quality, Porsche has nothing to fear from any car with a list price of less than £100,000.
Suttgart has wanted to use this cabin layout, with a tall centre console running throughout the cabin and a high-set gearlever, since a similar layout was featured on the Carrera GT. Here, though, it extends to the rear cabin, leaving two individual chairs in the back. In many ways that has made life easier for Porsche, because the seats can (optionally) be widely adjustable in a way that a bench can’t be. They’re sited slightly inboard of the front seats too, to afford a view ahead. Rear leg room is typical for the class – which means fairly generous by most standards – and although head room is tighter than in an Mercedes-Benz S-class or BMW 7-series, we wouldn’t call it mean.
The front seats themselves are supportive and comfortable, if narrower than the big chairs in, say, an S-class. But it’s entirely in keeping with the more sporty nature of the Panamera. The driving position itself is fine, too: widely adjustable save for the limited visibility the car affords, due mostly to its gently sloping rear tailgate with its small, high window.
Buying the Panamera is the biggest issue here, because although its running costs are likely to be in keeping with its rivals, it’s the price and extent of the Panamera’s options list that we suspect will push most examples to well above £100,000. To ask punters to pay for a rear wiper and steering wheel stereo controls at this level is ludicrous.
In the Panamera’s favour, depreciation is likely to be slow and other running costs should be on a par with its rivals. Its interstellar seventh gear has a very positive effect on fuel consumption at cruising speeds, too.
How about you?
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