Four-seat grand tourer brings yet more performance and luxury to the added-desirability super-saloon segment
Porsche has been making Porsche Panamera grand touring saloons for more than two full model generations and 15 years now, and with its new top-of-the-range, ultimate-performance plug-in hybrid version, the Turbo S E-Hybrid, it has corrected an uncharacteristic oversight.There has never been a factory Panamera with a top speed in excess of 200mph – until now. For good measure, the flagship version has also become the fastest combustion-engined, four-seat, four-door production car yet to lap the Nordschleife.And that’s just the top-tier version. These days, the Panamera’s name alone evokes visions of epic, continent-crushing journeys crossing vast distances with a romantic spirit of adventure.And yet somehow the Panamera has, at times, felt like a car defined by others in the Stuttgart line-up. A four-door 911, you may remember, when it was brand new. More recently, it has been trapped in the shade of the similarly sized electric Taycan, which has mopped up both attention and company car sales. But Porsche, thankfully, is still committed to the concept of a petrol and now also petrol-electric sports saloon – hence the latest version.Porsche calls this Panamera the G3. In other words, it’s supposedly the third entirely new generation of the big saloon. You might say that’s overselling things, since it still builds on the one that came out in 2016. Evidently, Porsche disagrees and says there have been “significant modifications to the platform, body structure, drivetrains, chassis and software”.It doesn’t matter a great deal, though, because the outgoing Panamera was still a very compelling car and this updated one has some serious technical tricks up its sleeve.We first sampled the new Panamera in Spain in early 2024 and have now had our first taste of it in the UK to see if that promise of wide-open adventure translates to our small island’s crowded, pockmarked roads. We’ve also now tested latecomers to the range in the shape of the Turbo S E-Hybrid and GTS.
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