The Porsche Panamera is Porsche’s second best selling car after the Cayenne, their SUV. The Panamera is a sedan, and is comparatively long and bulky for a Porsche. Your first impression might be to call it a four door 911. However, it delivers a great ride as you would expect from a Porsche.
One of our good friends got a Panamera recently, and I was happy to ride in it and get a good look at the car. In this blog, I will highlight some of the pros and cons from my perspective.
The engine of the Panamera is a 3.6-liter naturally aspirated V6 that delivers 300 horsepower and 295 foot-pounds of torque. The Panamera sprints to 60 mph in six seconds. The engine was very smooth and silky. The nice thing is that it wasn’t always making that grinding sound that an engine usually does. This one has got the snap power delivery that an everyday engine needs. I had no complaints about ride quality on the short ride I took. Road noise was very minimal. A V6 is good because when you have a V8 or any type of big engine, you can’t use much of its power. This is a car where you can get the most out of when driving every day. This Porsche has the PDK gearbox, which is a seven-speed dual-clutch automated transmission. There are paddle shifters that work very nicely, when you want to shift your own gears.
Mileage is rated at 18 city/27 highway. That’s not bad for a car that is fairly large in its dimensions. Since this car has seven gears, that is probably the reason it’s got good efficiency. Another way they’re saving fuel is by using the auto start-stop technology. I found this system a little tedious because you would stop and then the engine has to start all over again. This works better with a hybrid, as there is an electric motor in that situation. You can defeat auto start-stop in the Panamera, which is nice. Then you will not get the delay of firing the engine back up, but MPG reduces with auto start-stop turned off.
The Panamera has a good deal of technology. One key tech feature is the PCM navigation system. This system is standard, as you might expect for an expensive car like the Panamera. This is a great system, though not my favorite navigation system compared to its German competitors like BMW or Audi. This system however has nice rendering of 3D buildings, just like the BMW or Audi systems. The rear sonar works very nicely. The car also had the optional rear-view camera, and it had great features because it showed the camera, along with guidelines and a sonar map. A nice convenience is the power tailgate, which is great when you have a lot of groceries in your hand. In our friends car, he had the heated seats, and the optional cooled seats. They’re great for hot or cold days. One optional feature that wasn’t optioned on his car is Porsche Entry and Drive. This is a keyless access system that lets you lock and unlock the doors or start the car, without having to take out your keys. Even if you don’t have Porsche Entry and Drive, you still get an interesting key that is shaped like the Panamera. Voice command was not optioned either. Another available option for this car was the Bose or Burmester sound systems, which get you great speakers and amplification.
One of the drawbacks of the car in my opinion is the looks of the car. I don’t think it looks as attractive as it could because of the bulky rear styling. The front end has nice styling and so does the sculpting on the side of the Panamera. Competitors like the Audi A7 and Mercedes-Benz CLS 550 have somewhat better styling in my view.
In the end, I think the Panamera is a great drivers car, with the ability to carry passengers. It offers a smooth and powerful drive worthy of a Porche. Two aspects I would like to see improved are the navigation interface and the styling. Also, the lack of standard voice command is a bit of a throwback. Otherwise, the Panamera offers some great features in addition to the drive. The price is around 70 thousand, and for what you’re getting, it’s a pretty good value. Our friend’s car was the basic model with few options, so I’m sure it was worth it.
Naveen's Blog 