Rated
Five years in the making, Porsche’s take on an estate is an attempt to add further practicality to the Panamera’s lexicon
Porsche Panamera E-hybrid Sport Turismo
Along time in the making, the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo isn’t a conventional estate car, instead a 4+1 seating GT (three passengers at the rear) with a bit more room and sharper looks.
Remember the 2012 Paris motor show? There were revisions to the Land Rover Freelander and Ford Fiesta and Jaguar’s production F-type was revealed. Let’s not forget the Mclaren P1, which, like the Freelander, seems a distant memory.
Porsche gave a glimpse into its future, with a Panamera Sport Turismo concept promising a plug-in drive with a touch more practicality. After the positive reception in the French capital, it was approved for production by then Porsche chairman Matthias Müller. Five years later, it is finally here, unveiled at Geneva and in showrooms soon.
There’s one parked outside Stuttgart Airport and we’ve got the keys. Like that Parisian concept, it’s a plug-in hybrid, though the Panamera Sport Turismo will, with the exception of the entry-level Panamera and range-topping Turbo S E-hybrid, be offered with more practicality across the Panamera lineup. That means everything from a turbocharged 3.0-litre 335bhp petrol V6 in the Panamera 4 to the 534bhp 4.0-litre twin-turbo of the Panamera Turbo, with the 4S Diesel’s 4.0-litre turbodiesel with 416bhp and 627lb ft somewhere in-between.
It isn’t thoughts of either the flagship Turbo or elastic 4S Diesel that’s forefront, though – it’s how the Panamera looks. Time softened the original Panamera’s lines but, visually, it was never a car you could truly love. The second-generation Panamera changes that: it is finally confident in its skin, and this Sport Turismo enhances that further.
Based on the standard Panamera rather than extended Executive, the wheelbase remains at 2950mm. It looks longer – that lengthier roofline and more upright D-pillar deceiving the eye. It is still just over five metres – 5049mm, if you must know – and the width (1937mm) is unchanged. Height increases by a mere 5mm to 1428mm, though the roof’s extension further back is what characterises the increased space, or at least the perception of it, in the rear seats.
Sit back there and the difference is clear – the absence of the roof tapering sharply behind your head creating a more comfortable rear passenger compartment. Headroom is improved for the two outside passengers. The middle ‘seat’ – a first in the Panamera – is more of an apologetic high perch in between. That +1 had better be short and narrow – the wide transmission tunnel also denies comfort for any fifth person too young or not quick enough to call shotgun on a proper pew. By describing it as a 4+1 seating ‘concept’, Porsche is admitting that seat is abstract, even if there’s a three-pointed seatbelt to support it.
Don’t think that the Panamera Sport Turismo is going to swallow a Chesterfield, either. A Chippendale, perhaps, but a loin-clothed, mahogany-tanned one rather than a wardrobe. Yes, the seats fold in a 40/20/40 split. The seatbacks are unlocked electrically in the boot – do that, and they create a virtually flat floor. Again, it’s deceptive. Load space in all is up by just 20 litres, which is a small overnight bag at best.
There is now a maximum of 520 litres with the seats up, or 1390 litres folded, although the hybrid loses some 95 litres over its non-battery-assisted relations for just 425/1295 litres. This is some way short of a Cayenne’s 618/1728 litres capacity, by way of comparison. Throw in the sizeable bag with all the charging cables and the boot is smaller again. That’s a complaint peculiar to this plug-in model alone, though.
Practicalities, then, aren’t necessarily the Panamera Sport Turismo’s strongest point, even if Porsche offers it with a variable loading system including boot rails with lashing points, a luggage net and optional power socket. The larger hatchback is electrically operated as standard, its opening giving better, lower access to that marginally increased space. If ultimate luggage carrying is what you’re after, then you’ll be better served elsewhere.
Think shooting brake, then – a more (dreadful as its sounds)
By describing it as a 4+1 seating ‘concept’, Porsche is admitting that the fifth seat is abstract
‘lifestyle’ spin on the Panamera. Or just think of it as a more alluring Panamera shape. Its form arguably works more convincingly with contrasting standard dark, rather than the optional Sport Design, bodycoloured elements that are fixed to the sides, front and rear here. Leave it standard and the rear looks less buxom and the flanks slimmer. As with the conventional Panamera hatchback body style, you’ll need the optional 20-inch wheels or, even better, the 21-inch ones to fill those wheelarches convincingly.
What is impressive is all that extra Sport Turismo bodywork only results in a 20kg weight rise. In this, the heaviest of the Panamera Sport Turismos, that means a not insubstantial kerb weight of 2190kg. You only need to have to have put some cells in a Tamiya remote control car as a kid to understand where the extra 275kg over the non-hybrid Panamera 4S comes from.
We’ve driven this drivetrain before, and there are elements of it that genuinely impress. Glide off using E-power mode on batteries and 134bhp electric motor alone and it’s quick and quiet, perfect for town driving. Thanks to an 87mph top speed on electricity alone and respectable range, it doesn’t feel confined to the city, either. The 31 miles of promised range is unlikely in all but perfect conditions, but use E-hybrid mode and it will only fire up the 2.9-litre V6 petrol when it’s absolutely necessary.
There is, of course, the opportunity to pick and choose the energy management – the options include E-hold if you’re inner-city, lowemissions-zone-bound to conserve the battery’s charge. The drivetrain also allows you to send charge to the battery while on the move, but do that and you could run a Panamera Turbo at flat-chat down the autobahn and achieve similar consumption.
With all the modes, there are some compromises, then – not least in accessing them. Some elements of the hybrid drive require sub-menu navigation to find, not all being available on the mode switch dial on the steering wheel. Usefully, the Porsche Communication Management’s combined touchscreen and haptic touch interface on the centre console is all fairly self-explanatory, if prone to the odd messy fingerprint.
What is clear here is that Porsche has been working on how the various hybrid elements interact. When we drove the 4 E-hybrid on its original launch, there were moments when the internal combustion engine and battery-power mating seemed conflicted. In the Panamera Sport Turismo here, that’s far less obvious – the transition from E-mode to Autohybrid and back, and everything in between, is a bit more resolved, if not entirely seamless.
There’s still the odd hiccup through the eight-speed PDK transmission, such as a low-speed knock that upsets the Panamera’s otherwise fine refinement. The accelerator pedal feel is transformed – the odd, unnatural push back from the pedal of the early cars not so obvious here. Porsche has clearly been working hard on the system’s integration. The brake pedal, too, feels more conventional, even though the system remains tasked with regeneration and is not quite as decisive in its initial bite as a regular Panameras’.
You do also pay for the 4 E-hybrid drivetrain’s mode-juggling party tricks elsewhere. Undeniably the bluntest of the Panamera line-up dynamically, even Porsche’s chassis people have a job masking the additional mass that the hybrid system brings. The steering isn’t rich in detail, although the standard air suspension does a fine job of