New Panamera, Polestar’s Henrik Fries, Concours d’Elegance, LaFerrari Spider, new launches and more
Porsche’s second gen four-door sedan looks stunning!
ONE LOOK AT THE NEW Panamera is good enough to forget its rather off-putting predecessor. The Panamera in its previous avatar was a fine sports sedan, in fact one of the best handling ones you could get your hands on. But in a beauty contest, the Rapide won hands down. With this new Panamera, Porsche has dramatically upped its game as far as desirability goes. And it's a Porsche, so behind the beauty (and four doors, not to forget) hides a sportscar waiting to be unleashed.
Before its official unveiling, Porsche drove it around the Green Hell and the luxury saloon lapped the Nurburgring in 7 minutes, 38 seconds. That's as fast as the 911 Turbo and faster than the older Panamera by 14 seconds, a lap time set just five years ago! The other feat has to be the dramatic spoiler on the Turbo variant, that pops out and extends to give more downforce, making it cool enough to be a part of the Transformers series.
The new Panamera now has dynamic lines that are very much inspired by the legendary 911 and the coupe-like roofline is lowered by 20mm. The GT is now longer by 34mm at 5049mm, wider by 6mm and is also taller by 5mm. The wheels have been shifted further to the extremities to reduce the overhangs, increasing the wheelbase by 30mm, liberating more room in the cabin. Still, it has a 495-litre boot making it extremely functional. Talking about the design bits, the headlamp cluster incorporates full LED lights with four point LEDs, a design signature that first made it to only the top models of Porsche's different series, and later to their LMP1 prototypes and now their other road cars.
Based on the VW Group's MSB platform that was showcased way back in 2012, the Panamera uses the underpinnings of Bentley’s Flying Spur. The future Continental GT is expected to be based on the same platform as well. The Panamera will get three engines — a 2.9-litre V6 petrol, 4-litre turbocharged petrol V8 and a 4-litre V8 diesel. The top-of-theline V8 Turbo variant develops 542bhp of power and can do the 0-100kmph sprint in 3.6 seconds. The all-new 4-litre V8 diesel is a powerhouse too with 416bhp and 850Nm (courtesy two turbochargers) sent to all four wheels. It can propel the car to 100kmph in just 4.3sec and tops out at 285kmph, making it the fastest production diesel car in the world.
What's more, the Panamera now comes kitted with something called the InnoDrive system that uses adaptive cruise and navigation data, and signals from radar and video sensors to optimise acceleration and deceleration, and select the right gear according to the road ahead. The system can scan the next 3km of road you will encounter and sets the car up to deliver better efficiency. In India though, with the ban on radar guided systems in private vehicles, the Panamera (like the S-Class and the XC90) will come with the system deactivated.
The old Panamera's analogue instrument cluster has now given way for a modern digital layout with the same five dial pattern. Porsche has finally minimised the use of buttons on the dashboard — there's a large 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, a sleeker centre console and the drive modes move to the steering wheel, a feature now common on all Porsche performance cars. The design of the tachometer pays homage to the 1955 Porsche 356 A, so that drivers don't forget Porsche's sportscar roots.
As for the back seats, they are a set of sporty buckets but the rear passengers now get an infotainment screen of their own. Each of the rear seats folds flat to increase the storage capacity to 1304 litres — it's as practical as a Porsche sports sedan can get. The Panamera also sports a panoramic sunroof, massage seats, ambient lighting and a Burmester sound system.
Best of all — just check out the way it looks! Traditional luxury saloons now have a lot to be worried about.