Grand.
It is not very often that a car leaves a long-lasting impression, but the new Panamera surely did. Styling-wise, there is just a slight departure from the previous car, and it still nods to the 911. There are plenty of expectations to satisfy, it has to drive like a relaxed GT car, provide enough interior space, especially in terms of legroom for the rear passengers, and still deliver on cargo space, to be practical. And the Panamera does it all. Our test car was the base model, and here are our thoughts.
The 3.0 turbocharged V6 churns out 326bhp, through Porsche’s double-coupling 8-speed transmission, and all of that to the rear wheels. While this is not their high-performance model, it still pulls a very respectable 5.5 second century sprint.
Specifications on paper do some of the convincing, but behind the wheel, we certainly loved how the car surrounds the driver, and how all the switchgear comes together simply impresses (apart from the fact that the centre console is better positioned for a left hand drive setup).
There is that hint of supercar with an easy to select “drive mode” dial, which toggles the car’s behaviour from anything between smooth-driving to near track ready handling and engine response.
Adding to the list of goodies of the Panamera, are all important adjustable air dampers which allows for stiffer handling and a lower centre of gravity, or more ride height for added suspension travel for easy weekend cruising. Due to how wide it is, driving it through some of our shopping mall carparks will prove challenging even to seasoned drivers.
It does sit pretty low, and hence cornering is met with almost no roll. The exhaust does let off a few pops from the twin tail pipes when you lift off the throttle (discreet to the driver, thanks to the very good insulation), turn it in, and the Panamera hardly is unsettled, thanks to the wide track, suspension and fat tyres working together. Throttle sensitivity is spot-on accurate, and you would simply know how much you are feeding into those rear wheels, especially when in “Sport+”.
On the subject of acceleration, the 3.0 revs happily to almost 7,000rpm, leaving you with plenty of uninterrupted power around those twisty corners, with mostly enough “white” on your rev counter, before you hit the rev limiter.
While there are higher specced models, which are the 4 and 4S and in three different body styles, and a range-topping 4.0 V8 somewhere in the mix, and even a diesel… that have much more to give.
We love how the Panamera takes a slight step away from what performance sleepers would be, like the lovely and brutal Audi RS6, which ironically comes across as a tad vulgar, and instead delivers the drive in something that seems to be wearing a suit.
The entry level car already impresses not only on driver satisfaction, but very special attention has been paid to materials used in the interior, to build one of the best high-performance luxury sedans the world has to offer.
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