“It’s very capable, but at no point does it excite or entertain its driver”
suspension, four-wheel steering and a ninespeed automatic gearbox.
Zero to 62mph takes 3.2secs and the top speed is 196mph, 0.2 secs and 3mph faster than the non-S. This is adequate. And so it ought to be, for £135,550 – £14k more than a non-S GT, and around £40k more than a normal E63S.
But a very precise, very Germanic £3,223 less than the equivalent Porsche Panamera. The daddy of all Panameras, no less – the Turbo S e-Hybrid, or the PPTSeH, for short. Thank God it’s not a Sport Turismo. It too gets a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, this time with 542bhp. A 134bhp electric motor, drawing power from a 14kWh lithium battery pack, gives a few miles of EV running and boosts total outputs to 671bhp and 627lb ft.
At a cost, mind, because the PPTSeH weighs a staggering 2,310kg. Heavy things, batteries and e-motors, seeing as the normal Panamera Turbo, effectively the same car sans electrification, is 315kg lighter. And substantially cheaper. And very nearly as fast. The Mercedes is 2,120kg. A featherweight, by comparison, but also over 100kg weightier than an E63S.
As much is obvious when you start driving. Nowadays you can, to an extent, engineer your way around excessive mass. But you can only take things so far before the laws of physics go “Hang on a second – that’s not right” and unilaterally decide to pendulum you off into the nearest hedgerow. Just to prove a point.
Porsche has thrown a lot of acronyms at the Panamera to try and disguise its adiposity – PTV, PCCB, PASM, PTM, PDCC and PAA, to name but six – and for the most part, they do a grand job. But there’s no escaping this is a very big, very heavy car that would much rather be sat in the outside lane of an Autobahn than... wherever it is you are.
The amount of grip on offer is immense – but then it is wearing 325-section tyres on the rear axle (like a Ford GT) and possessing a 4WD system that doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘slide’. It doesn’t roll (because it’s got active stabilisation), direction changes are faithful and controllable and the steering is sensibly geared, given the length, width and amount of grip generated by those fat tyres. It’s a very capable car, but at no point does it particularly excite, amuse or entertain its driver.
The Mercedes does, though. If these two occupy a kind of no-man’s land between luxury- and sports-saloons, the Porsche tends towards the former, while the Mercedes has more in common with the latter. On your average British B-road, it feels significantly less wide (even though it’s actually a bit wider), so you can have more fun more often, and don’t wince when something comes the other way. The steering is beautifully sharp, accurate and well-weighted, and because it acts on the rear axle too (the Panamera is available with 4WS too, but this one didn’t have it), the GT 4dr pivots into bends like a car half a tonne lighter and about three feet shorter. It feels more focused and purposeful than the Panamera – while there’s as much technology keeping you out of trouble, it seems more natural in its application. The whole experience is more fun, more energetic, more athletic. It might even be more fun than an E63. And that’s a big deal.
The same is largely true of the pair’s straightline performance. The numbers say the Panam is monstrously rapid – 0–62mph in 3.4secs and 192mph, only a fraction slower than the lighter, albeit less powerful, Mercedes. But it simply doesn’t feel as swift as a car with 671bhp ought to. There’s no doubt in my mind it’ll do those numbers (and then some, given Porsche is somewhat notorious for under-reporting acceleration figures), but the way it delivers them simply isn’t very exciting or engaging.
Unlike the Mercedes, which delivers its numbers in fairly dramatic fashion. There’s less of a delay when you prod the throttle,
because there are fewer computers to wake up, and the ensuing surge of acceleration is accompanied by one of the world’s finest eight-cylinder soundtracks. The Porsche’s 4.0-litre V8 is seriously impressive, but the Merc’s is more charismatic, and damn close to Ferrari’s 3.9-litre V8 as far as responsiveness goes. Gearboxes too – the Porsche’s eightspeeder is smooth when it needs to be and quick when it doesn’t, but it’s the Mercedes one that reacts better to manual actuation.
Where the Porsche comes good is in the everyday. You can’t drive like a madman the whole time, and when you don’t, the difference between these two cars is far narrower. Both are tremendous cruisers – they ride well (the AMG is a massive improvement over the E63; that’s almost worth the extra £40k all by itself), have very comfortable seats front and back and in their meekest modes are easy as anything to drive. Stick the Merc in Slippery and it’s especially docile.
And, of course, the Panamera has the added benefit (as far as everyday driving goes, yes, it’s a benefit) of being able to drive for a few miles at a time on electricity when conditions allow. Porsche claims 80.7mpg and 74g/km of CO ,