The Porsche Panamera has at all times been a outstanding automotive. From the second it started as a rumor, it appeared to defy logic – an organization identified for among the world’s most succesful light-weight sports activities vehicles was going to construct an unlimited super-luxury sedan to tackle the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Collection? However Porsche did it with type, making a monster able to track-day efficiency and CEO-in-the-back luxurious.
How do you enhance on that?
With a suspension system that makes the massive automotive’s weight surf over its wheels by leaning towards the forces of a flip, it seems.
Porsche says the 2024 Panamera is a redesigned mannequin, however that’s stretching definitions a bit. The third-generation Panamera makes use of the identical platform because the second, up to date barely. Bodywork is a delicate evolution over the outgoing 2023 Panamera. However the inside is all new, the powertrains have been up to date, and the suspension isn’t simply new — it’s full of recent concepts.
At launch, Porsche could have three fashions accessible for order. Costs begin at $99,900, not together with the $1,650 supply price. Porsche hasn’t named pricing for all fashions, and we must always notice that the 2023 mannequin tops out at practically $200,000 earlier than choices.
V6 or Hybrid V8 For Now
The entry-level, rear-wheel drive (RWD) Panamera and the all-wheel drive (AWD) Panamera 4 use an up to date model of the turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 present in final yr’s automotive, now placing out 348 horsepower (23 greater than earlier than). It’s good for a 5-second zero-to-60 dash in RWD and 4.7 seconds in AWD.
The Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid makes use of a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with an electrical motor built-in into the 8-speed PDK dual-clutch automated transmission (DCT). It places out a complete of 670 horsepower. That’s 20 lower than the outgoing mannequin, however torque is up by 44 lb-ft to 685, so it gained’t really feel any slower. Sixty is available in simply 3 seconds flat.
Porsche plans 4 completely different plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variations however hasn’t mentioned when they’ll turn into accessible.
However the brand new automotive’s finest mechanical trick is that suspension we’ve been teasing.
Two Suspensions to Select From
No matter trim, each mannequin will get lively air suspension as commonplace gear. The brand new setup makes use of two chambers and two valves for extra vital variation between consolation and sport modes.
However elective is what the corporate calls Porsche Lively Journey. It makes use of lively shock absorbers mixed with an electrically operated hydraulic pump. Porsche says it “generates a use case-specific quantity within the dampers that may then shortly and really exactly construct up stress between the wheels and physique of the automotive to counter and soak up any impacts generated by highway imperfections.”
The brand new trick? In its sportiest mode, it intentionally “overcompensates” throughout onerous maneuvers to stop pitch and roll. That retains the automotive’s physique flat “even throughout heavy braking, steering, and acceleration inputs.”
It sounds slightly just like the well-known Citroen suspensions of previous, sped as much as the digital age. It ought to make the heavy automotive (bear in mind, this factor has executive-comfort rear seats) really feel extra Porsche-like.
Evolutionary Look
If anybody is aware of how you can replace a glance subtly, it’s the corporate that has produced many generations of the 911 since 1963 and by no means left you questioning what automotive that was.
Park the 2024 Panamera subsequent to the 2023 mannequin, and also you’d know they had been completely different, however you’d have a tough time explaining how. It’s the curve (or lack thereof) of an air consumption, the angle of a personality line within the hood, and the cant of a brake vent. The headlights are a bit extra angular, and the road of the fenders sits greater. However it appears to be like extra like a tailored a couple of changes than like a designer began over.
Turbo fashions will get the new “turbonite” gunmetal trim, and badging Porsche is debuting on this automotive.
Extra Screens, Much less Switchgear
Prior generations of the Panamera have rivaled a 747 for buttons and switches. That’s not a criticism – they had been all logical sufficient that it didn’t take flight college to grasp. However the dozens of buttons and the bathtub-like top of the divider between the motive force and passengers have at all times been the inside’s defining options.
The buttons are largely gone. The cockpit-like separation stays.
The driving force faces a curved, 12.6-inch show. The driving force and passenger share a central touchscreen. Optionally, passengers get their 10.9-inch display screen, like the one within the latest Cayenne redesign. Porsche says it may well stream video or “present efficiency knowledge of the automobile” in case your passenger desires to co-drive, rally-style.
Porsche has labored with Apple to combine Apple CarPlay with the automotive’s controls. “Capabilities resembling local weather management, seat therapeutic massage, and ambient lighting may be activated straight through Apple CarPlay or Siri,” Porsche says. Android Auto can be accessible however has not but been built-in.
Drivers can even get out and park the automotive with cellphone controls, Porsche says, in “sure kinds of parking areas and garages.”