The Porsche Panamera is one of the wildly successful sports luxury sedans in the market now. With looks that resembling Porsche 911, but not quite, this controversial five-door, four seat coupe has proven its dynamic abilities inarguable.
By Farah Amin
The Panamera caters to the daredevils and the environment conscious alike. With a two wheelbase lengths and a wide collection of powertrains there is the non-turbo model and the twin-turbo V6 engine and a roaring V8 version as well and even a plug-in hybrid at 416 horsepower.
The base power plant for the all-wheel drive Panamera 4 is at 3.6-liter V6 engine and sporting 310 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque.
As for the Panamera S and 4S and the new 4S executive they get the fresh twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine and 420 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque.
The Panamera Turbo at 520 horsepower from a 4.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine, and the all-new Panamera S E-Hybrid’s 416 horsepower from a 95-horsepower electric motor and 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 combo, which gets it own eigth-speed transmission Tiptronic S automatic transmission and manual-mode shift control on the steering wheel. All versions except the Panamera S E-Hybrid come standard with Porsche’s PDK seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with paddle-shift manual mode.
From the inside the Panamera is spacious. The cargo space in the Panamera is especially large with the seats laid down. Being a hatchback like car makes room for larger packages and more luggage; Porsche claims you can fit two bicycles in the rear.
The offerings in features and electronic are many of standard and optional systems. These include the PasrkAssist distance-sensing, standard cruise control, in addition to standard Porsche Communication Management system with 7.0-inch color touchscreen and navigation with 3D maps. Turbo models get A BOSE surround sound system with 14 speakers and 585 watts of total power (545 watts in Panamera S E-Hybrid models), which is a standard on these models.
For safety, Porsche has a full complement of side, front, knee, and curtain airbags as standard, plus additional seat belt pre-tensioners, manual seat belt height adjustment, and LATCH child seat mounts.
The Panamera displays an edgier style for the 2014 models. It has an extended roofline on the executive models; the nose gets a wider and sharper shape and is defined more at the hood. From behind the bumper and diffuser have been re-worked to provide a greater sense of width, visually helping to flatten the slightly humped hatch area.