Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-hybrid ST Facelifted
More power and more electric range for Stuttgart’s plug-in hybrid family flagship
You’ve got to feel a little sorry for the Panamera. Once Porsche’s go-to large luxury sports saloon, the rapid five-door has been rather upstaged by its upstart electric sibling, the Taycan. Pitching up in pretty much the same footprint on the road, the zero-emissions Porsche has rather stolen the Panamera’s thunder.
Yet Porsche still has faith in its family flagship. Not only has it suggested that it could survive alongside the Taycan for years to come, but it has also given both the hatchback and the more spacious Sport Turismo estate a facelift. In the case of this flagship Turbo S E-hybrid, the updates render it the most powerful internal combustion-engined model the company makes.
Packing a 20bhp increase to 563bhp, the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 now works in conjunction with the existing 134bhp electric motor to deliver 690bhp. Porsche claim a neck-straining 3.2sec for the 0-62mph (a 0.2sec reduction over the old car) and a top speed of 196 mph.
Perhaps more significant these days is that the lithium ion battery’s capacity has been increased from 14.1kwh to 17.9kwh, giving a 27% increase in electric-only range to 30 miles – which, like most car makers, Porsche maintains is enough for most everyday journeys and commutes (remember those?).
In all other respects, this is a very mild makeover. The software tuning of the adaptive dampers and active anti-roll system has been tweaked, while the steering mapping has been altered to take into account lessons learned from the 911 and Taycan.
In E-power and Hybrid modes, the Panamera always starts off silently, with just enough muscle to keep up with the flow of traffic. This whisper-quiet, easy-going approach is enhanced by air-springs that soak up bumps with the supple aplomb of a Mercedes-benz S-class, and there’s very little wind and road noise.
Select Sport or Sport Plus modes and not only do the adaptive dampers and PDDC firm up but you also wake the V8. It sounds good, in a distant thunder sort of way (even with the £2537 optional sports exhaust, the volume never gets naughty), plus it adds some real urgency to the acceleration – although it never quite feels as fast as the numbers suggest.
Make no mistake, this is a seriously quick car, but the combined effects of the 2365kg kerb weight, the smoothshifting eight-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic gearbox and a rather dead-feeling throttle pedal means the Turbo S never quite responds with the catch-your-breath violence that the near-700bhp headline figure would have you believe.
In the corners, the E-hybrid’s extra mass makes it feel just a touch lazier in its actions. That said, the meaty, well-connected steering allows you to place the car just-so, while the fourwheel steering delivers a far more alert feeling than anything this size and weight has any right to be. And even in its most aggressive settings, the suspension retains a delightful compliance, giving the feeling that the car is floating over but somehow connected with the road surface.
Select Hybrid mode and it returns to being a soothing and sybaritic luxury saloon. As before, the interior is beautifully finished and spacious, while to my eyes, at least, the Sport Turismo looks better than the regular Panamera and has the added benefit of a bigger and more versatile boot.
Overall, the SE Turbo E-hybrid’s extra electric range and power are welcome, as are the chassis tweaks, but it’s still overshadowed dynamically by the lighter, faster, sharper and £4520-cheaper Turbo S.
If you’re after the theoretical costsaving benefits and a daily dose of EV running, the cheaper E-hybrid models maybe make sense. And if you want to take a bigger step toward electrification and have all of the Turbo S’s performance? Well, there’s always the Taycan.