2017 Porsche Panamera new car review

German brand has taken a big-step forward with its reworked four-door sedan.

August 26 2016

Stephen Corby

2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied
2017 Porsche Panamera. Photo: Supplied

Until very recently, people were more likely to pre-order an unsightly skin condition, or a heart attack, than a new Porsche Panamera, and yet now, as the second generation of this visually arresting vehicle is finally launched, more than a dozen Australians have slapped down deposits for one, before even taking a test drive.

A Porsche Australia spokesman looked delightedly awestruck as he declared: "Absolutely, this is new territory for us."

Something, clearly, has changed and, without suggesting that Porsche buyers are a shallow or image-obsessed mob (clearly not, because they buy lots of Cayennes), it has a lot to do with the redesign of the new car.

The previous Panamera looked like a clown with a frown from behind and like a car-design accident from most other angles. Even Porsche's own Matthias Mueller admitted that "mistakes were made" with the original; specifically the exterior and interior styling. Just little things, then.

Despite its challenging and even depressing looks, however, the Panamera, launched in 2009, was a sales success, particularly in countries that aren't Australia, like America and China, selling 150,000-plus units in seven years.

Locally, the four-seat executive "saloon", which considers such epic expresses as the Mercedes S Class, BMW 7 Series and Maserati Quattroporte as competitors, was lucky to sell 100 cars a year.

Dr Genot Döllner, Porsche's vice president in charge of the Panamera product line, says with some pride that the new car kept just three things from the old one; the name, the Porsche crest on the bonnet and the idea of making a truly sporty saloon car.

You can bet his first order of business with the new generation was setting fire to the original design sketches and starting again, and the result is a new Panamera that actually manages to look seriously desirable from some angles, particularly the rear, with its 3D Porsche badge and full-width light bar, both familiar from recent Boxsters and 911s.

The pop-up rear spoiler is a particular highlight, and it's a real shame you can't enjoy it more while driving one.

From side on, the car gets a lower roof and a more dynamic "fly line", while the DLO (Day Light Opening) has been extended and the overall silhouette is more streamlined, with shorter overhangs, and whopping 21-inch wheels.

The goal of all this is to make it look more like a 911, the inarguably beautiful figurehead of the whole company. This would be a convincing and worthy goal, if not for the fact that Porsche said the same things about its original Panamera.

This time, however, it's gotten a lot closer, with the overall look resembling a 911 that's been impregnated, perhaps by a Cayenne, and is very close to giving birth (possibly to a Cayman).

It still looks wildly wide for a Porsche from from front on - and feels it from the driver's seat - and while the rear three quarter you'll see in most photos of it is pleasing, from side on there's no disguising its overall bulk.

The hulkiness is unavoidable because this is a big car - more than 5m long - designed to carry four 193cm tall men (yes, exactly 193cm, because Germans like exact things) in comfort. While the front pews are undeniably luxuriant, and the rear ones are far from uncomfortable, they are a long way from the limo-like offerings of an S Class. The boot has grown 50 litres to 495, however, which is just 20 litres smaller than the BMW 7's.

Outside of China, of course, the person who chooses a Panamera over the other German options does so because they want to sit in the front and drive.

Those who do will enjoy a highly luxurious cockpit with an impressive digital dashboard - dominated by a huge central tacho - next to a nerdishly lush 12.3-inch central touch screen, which is made to look even bigger by moving the aircon vents beneath it, instead of to the sides.

The high-gloss black surrounds of the stubby little gear shifter are all touch-sensitive surfaces as well, as Porsche has banished its previous button-heavy approach as part of its new Advanced Cockpit, which debuts here, and is truly impressive.

While it's user friendly and modern, you could argue that it goes a little too far into the futuristic, offering things like weather, airport information and even Twitter and news headlines to the driver, among myriad other options. This is not a self-driving car, because Porsche is far from ready to go down that path, so it might perhaps be better to offer fewer distractions.

Porsche has thrown everything at the driving experience as well, of course, with three new engines - the $304,200 4S gets a 2.9-litre bi-turbo V6 with 324kW and 550Nm, the $312,400 4S diesel has a 4.0-litre V8 oil burner, with 310kW and a whopping 850Nm, and the $376,900 Panamera Turbo boasts a ballistic 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 making 404kW and 770Nm - and a new eight-speed PDK gearbox.

Basically a six-speeder with two overdrive gears, for those Autobahn-cruising days when you can sit at 150km/h, in blissful silence, with your diesel engine barely ticking over at 2000rpm, the new PDK's goal was both sharper, slicker shifts when you're having a go, and more seamless, automatic-like behaviour when you're cruising to the yacht club.

Having a go is an experience to be recommended in the two variants we tried, with seamless torquey shove from the diesel and the kind of ridiculous, seismic acceleration from the Turbo that causes the nose of the car to rear in the air as it surges effortlessly past 200km/h on the autobahn.

The ride quality from the also all-new three-chamber air suspension is superb, although not quite in the S Class/7 Series league, by Porsche's own admission (they're a little too focused on sportiness to be that limo-like).

Porsche claims its Panamera's steering offers a "sense of superiority and safety", which sounds very German, and there's no doubt it is more lively and involving than its competitors, as is the way it chews up and spits out corners, particularly with its optional ($4990) rear-axle steering working for you. Yes, it does seem incredible that something supposedly so vital to the way the car drives is an option, and a pricey one at that.

The whole body also sits beautifully flat and stiff in most conditions, thanks to what Porsche humbly calls "4D Chassis Control", which is a combination of Dynamic Chassis Control, Porsche Active Suspension Management, its air suspension and its rear-axle steering.

This 4D system, which can apparently manage the tricky fourth dimension of time travel, operates in real time to select the perfect configuration of chassis set-up, no matter the road conditions.

Back in the real world, the Panamera feels supremely planted, stable and Porsche-like in the purity of its agility, but it also feels heavy, both through the wheel and on the road, and can't quite manage to overcome its sheer size.

It's a fantastic thing for freeway blasts and long, sweeping corners, but its dimensions mean it will always be more of a challenge on shorter, sharper bends and changes of direction, where it can feel like a rugby player attempting gymnastics.

Porsche's claim that it is the fastest, and sportiest thing in its segment is hard to argue with - the Turbo can dash to 100km/h in 3.6 seconds, 0.3 faster than the old car, on its way to 306km/h - and the range also includes the world's fastest production diesel (4.3 seconds to 100, top speed 285km/h). And fortunately it's now far from the ugliest as well, which makes it something of a winner.

And less than surprising that people are willing to order one, without so much as a drive around the block.