Porsche Panamera 4S Diesel
WITH ITS CLEVERLY refined styling and an all-new platform that will go on to underpin the next Bentley Continental GT, along with many other Volkswagen Group cars, the second-generation Porsche Panamera is every inch a landmark in the development of both the Porsche brand and the four-door grand tourer breed as a whole.
Having reported separately on the top-of-the-range Turbo derivative, we elected to concentrate on the 4.0-litre 4S Diesel model when we road tested the car early this year, giving due attention to the introduction of an eight-cylinder diesel option in the Panamera where before Porsche offered only a V6 oil-burner. Any concerns that a relatively heavy, torque-rich twin-turbo V8 might not suit this uniquely sporting four-door were wiped away in precisely 4.1sec – the average time it took this 2050kg grand tourer to sprint to 60mph from rest in our habitual two-direction, driver-and-passenger test. Yet it averages 43mpg.
Real-world pace, comfort, cruising refinement and fuel economy don’t typically come in the remarkable proportions of a car such as the Panamera. Here is a vehicle with four-wheel drive (and all the usability benefits this confers) that’s capable of reaching legal motorway speeds faster than a BMW M5. It has the handling poise and control feedback to feel like a proper sporting thoroughbred on the road, but also the in-gear flexibility, ride comfort and fuel economy to put 800 comfortable, effortless miles between tank refills, while offering the luxurious cabin space, specification and finish to make those miles so pleasant for its occupants. Despite one or two small reservations about the car’s refinement, we had to conclude that a grand tourer’s brief could hardly be better fulfilled – and that only a fivestar ranking would do the car justice.
Autocar has never before road tested another diesel sporting passenger car as accelerative or as broadly talented. And, it turns out, the test conditions in which our benchmark figures were taken might even have undersold its stature. At a subsequent opportunity, in warmer conditions and at a different location, contributor Andrew Frankel refigured the same car and found it capable of reaching 60mph in much less than four seconds and 100mph in less than 10, figures that no 500bhp super-saloon from any other brand can reproduce.
In its second-generation form, the Porsche Panamera has come of age spectacularly – and diesel engine technology has gained a true performance hero at a time when it needs every success story it can get.