Porsche transforms sedan with superb agility and grip
Porsche’s first-generation Panamera made its debut in 2009, providing the brand with a foothold in the premium sedan segment, formerly untapped by the Stuttgart sports car specialist.
The four-door fastback has been a steady contributor to Porsche’s global sales over the years, and the outgoing model even racked up a respectable 34,020 sales worldwide last year.
The new third-generation model, which is available to order in the UAE, is an evolutionary recipe that builds on the strengths of its predecessor. One major breakthrough is the new Porsche Active Ride tech (optionally available in E-Hybrid models) that delivers an almost magical amalgamation of comfort and track-worthy dynamics.
Three variants are on offer – the Panamera (from Dh408,200), Panamera 4 (Dh423,500) and Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid (Dh749,000) – with the Panamera E-Hybrid and Panamera 4S E-Hybrid joining the range later in the year.
Air suspension with two-valve dampers is now standard across the range, while the Porsche Active Ride feature ups the ante via a hydraulic pump at each corner, working in unison with the dampers.
This nifty piece of tech provides lightning-fast responses to uneven road surfaces, keeping the body level over even the worst tarmac.
PAR, as it’s more commonly referred to, also has other tricks up its sleeve as it lifts the car up by 55 millimetres when you open the door, making for easier entry and exit. The car then drops down again when you close the door.
In the comfort-oriented drive modes, PAR pulls the nose down when accelerating and the rear down when braking, lessening the forces acting on the car’s occupants. It also enables the car to lean into corners – similarly to a motorcycle – again with the aim of lessening physical forces on the driver and passengers.
You need a few kilometres behind the wheel for it to sink in, but then the realisation dawns that even the entry-level Porsche Panamera is a lovely car to drive. No other German manufacturer has nailed electrically assisted power steering nearly as well as Porsche, and this crucial touch point sets the tone for the rest of the driving experience.
There’s a beautiful tactility and progression to all the Porsche’s controls, so it doesn’t take long to feel completely at ease and in command of the car. The driving position is perfect, while the new cockpit layout is easy on the eye and intuitive to use.
The base-model Panamera is acceptably brisk when you really stretch its legs, although I feel it’s a bit short on firepower for a Dh400,000-plus performance sedan. However, any perceived lack of grunt is offset by the car’s superb agility and leech-like grip on the tarmac, which means it can carry more speed through corners than any sedan of similar dimensions.
I had the opportunity to have a thrash on Spain’s technically challenging Circuito Monteblanco in the flagship Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, equipped with Porsche Active Ride and fourwheel steering.
Five hard laps later, there’s a brief period of head shaking as it doesn’t seem physically possible for a 2.36-tonne, five-metre-long sedan to scoot around a twisty track with as much pace and composure as the Turbo E-Hybrid musters up. The Porsche is laughably rapid, especially considering it’s shod with road-oriented Michelin Pilot S 5 rubber.
Among the upgrades inside the Panamera is a revamped Porsche Driver Experience cockpit concept that features a fully digitised 12.6-inch instrument cluster and a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, although physical buttons are retained for main functions such as volume control and air-conditioning settings.
New for the Panamera is an optional 10.9-inch passenger display screen that allows the operation of the infotainment system and supports video streaming while the car is driving.
If an overtly sporting luxury sedan is what you’re after, then the Panamera stands head and shoulders above anything else in the segment, as its dynamism and fun-to-drive characteristics don’t come at the cost of comfort and refinement.
As a general trend, buyers have been deserting premium performance sedans in favour of luxe crossovers and SUVs. However, given that few (if any) of these individuals go off-road, they’d be much better served by a fast and ultra-capable sedan, which is what the Panamera is.