Porsche Panamera
Debut: 2009 |
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Scanning across the product portfolio of Porsche, you will find a huge gap between the 911 and Cayenne - one is an iconic all-out sports car; another is a practical sports utility. A 4-door sports saloon like Maserati Quattroporte would easily bridge that gap. This is not a new idea. In fact, in the early 1990s Weissach developed a 4-door sports saloon called 989. It looked like the later 996-series 911, but it had a long wheelbase, 4 proper seats and a rear-mounted V8 engine. Unfortunately, the 989 was a risky concept at a time when Porsche was running into sales slump. Management believed that it would need a cheaper rather than pricier car to turnaround its business. In the end, it approved a small roadster called 986 instead. Today, the market condition is very different. The sports luxury saloon segment has been booming in the past few years – apart from traditional performance versions of luxury saloons like Mercedes S63/65 AMG, Audi S8 and Jaguar XJR, the segment is joined with sportier new entries such as Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes CLS63 AMG and the forthcoming Aston Martin Rapide. Its prospect is certainly far more optimistic than that in the early 1990s. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking made a calculation and found his company can grab 20,000 units annually from the big pie. Moreover, the proposed Porsche sports saloon can share a lot of components with Cayenne, such as V8 engines, transmissions, 4WD system and suspension bits. Production cost can also be slashed by building it together with Cayenne at the Leipzig plant. To save tooling costs, the bodyshell can be stamped, welded and painted at Volkswagen’s Hanover plant through its ever-closing relationship with the latter. The body is then transferred to Leipzig for final assembly and mate with the engines which come from Zuffenhausen. Being a production expert, Wiedeking knows very well how to streamline production. Eventually, this car need to sell only 12,000 units a year to breakeven. In this way, Panamera is born.
The first time you see the Panamera, you will be shocked by two things: 1) its huge size; 2) its ungainly design. Not just judged by the standard of Porsche’s sports cars, this is a big car by any standards. It measures nearly 4970 mm from nose to tail, 1931 mm across its shoulders and 1418 mm from roof to ground. Its front and rear axles are separated by as much as 2920 mm. Believe or not, it exceeds the Cayenne SUV in all dimensions bar height ! The lightest version weighs 1770 kg, and the top version with turbo and 4-wheel drive tips the scale at nearly 2 tons. The sense of hugeness is not helped by its jelly design penned by Michael Mauer. I used to admire Mauer’s work in Saab and Smart Roadster, but this time he is handicapped by the traditional styling cues of 911, whose roundness does not work well in a big saloon. It just amplifies the softness and bulkiness of the car. Tradition played an important role in the history of Porsche, unquestionably, but they should not follow tradition for the sake of follow. Perhaps it is time to think out of the box. Jaguar faced a similar problem a few years back, but its chief designer Ian Callum made a brave decision to reinvent a new styling theme for the brand. Michael Mauer should also do the same to Porsche. However, from technical point of view it is hard to criticize. This body encloses 4 passengers and their luggage as good as a proper luxury saloon. It provides 4 big doors to ease passenger access and a hatchback for easy luggage loading. It slips into air effortlessly with a drag coefficient of 0.29 (0.30 for turbo), thanks to a flat underbody. With an electric rear spoiler raised and expanded at speed, it can run stably at 188 mph on Autobahn. These are what we called “German efficiency”.
Despite of its heft, every kilogram seems to be well spent to make the Panamera feels solid - not only its chassis but also its cabin. This is easily the best ever cabin built by Porsche. The materials – leather, wood trim and alloys – are top notch items, fit and finish meets what you would expect from a German luxury saloon. The center console design might be a little busy in the post-i-Drive era, because Porsche insists to have a button for every function, but you will get used to it soon. The 5-gauge instrument preserves the style of 911 while cleverly incorporates an LCD information display in one of the gauges. You sit low in the cabin like a proper Porsche. Wrapped in the deep bucket seat, cocooned by high waist line and large transmission tunnel, you can feel its sporting flavor much stronger than those mainstream luxury cars. The same go for the rear passengers in their low-set individual seats. Guys up to 6-foot 2 or 3-inch will find abundance of legroom and surprising amount of headroom at the back. The luggage space is decent at 450 liters, expandable to 1500 liters when both rear seats fold down. The Panamera's monocoque body is constructed primarily in steel. Some of its front crash structure, the bonnet, tailgate and doors are made of aluminum, while side window frames are magnesium. Its suspension is provided by double-wishbone up front and multi-link at the rear, both are fashioned in aluminum to reduce unsprung weight and mounted on aluminum subframes to absorb NVH. The suspension features PASM electronic adaptive damping, speed-sensitive self-leveling air springs and active anti-roll bars - the latter two are standard on turbo and optional on lesser models. Now I suppose you have already noticed many similarities to Cayenne in its suspensions, as many parts are interchangeabe between them. Powerful brakes are employed to handle its immense weight - the naturally aspirated V8 models have 360mm and 330mm front and rear discs respectively, while Turbo uses 390mm and 350 mm discs. All are clamped by monobloc calipers, with 6 pistons up front and 4 pistons at the rear. Porsche's ceramic brakes are again optional.
The entry-level Panamera is to be powered by a 3.6-liter Volkswagen narrow-angle V6 good for 300 horsepower. Add an electric motor and it will become a 350hp hybrid. For now, you can buy only the more expensive V8 models – Panamera S and 4S are both powered by a 400hp 4.8-liter V8, their difference lies in RWD or 4WD only; Panamera Turbo uses a 500hp turbocharged version of the same engine. They come straight from Cayenne GTS and Turbo respectively. The naturally aspirated V8 packs a lot of technology - a rigid closed deck construction, direct injection, variable intake manifolds, VarioCam Plus (dual-VVT and 2-stage intake variable valve lift) and fuel-saving auto start-stop function. It produces 400 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 369 lb-ft of torque from 3500 rpm upward. In the rear-drive Panamera S with 6-speed manual gearbox, it can propel the car from rest to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds. This can be reduced to 5.1 seconds if you opt for the PDK 7-speed twin-clutch gearbox built by ZF. Upgrade to the 4-wheel-drive Panamera 4S, which has PDK comes as standard, 0-60 mph is reduced further to 4.8 seconds, about as quick as Maserati Quattroporte. The naturally aspirated V8 models are priced from £72,000 to £77,000, undercutting its rival by £11,000. To lift the game further, you will need to upgrade to the £95,000 Panamera Turbo. A pair of turbochargers working at 0.8 bar boosts it output to exactly 500 horses, and the torque curve flats out at 516 pound-foot from 2250-4500 rpm. It may not be the most powerful saloon in the world, but it lays down its power to the road more efficiently than any one else. Assisted by the superior traction of 4-wheel drive and quick response of PDK transmission, it can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds flat. That’s decisively quicker than super saloons like Mercedes E63, Jaguar XFR and Cadillac CTS-V, as well as the Autobahn rocket Mercedes S65 AMG. If that is still not enough, you can opt for the Sport Chrono package, which adds launch control and enables an overboost to 568 lb-ft. The result is an eye-popping 3.8 seconds from 0-60 mph. In terms of acceleration, Panamera Turbo is easily the fastest 4-door saloon in the world. In the real world, it is also likely to be the quickest. Panamera Turbo has set a new 4-door saloon lap record at Nurburgring in 7 min 56 sec, 3 seconds quicker than the previous record holder Cadillac CTS-V. Bear in mind that its power-to-weight ratio is 13 percent lower than the super Cadillac, its handling and braking must be way superior to claw back the time in corners. However, the new record is far from the best it can do. Porsche has a more powerful, 550hp version of the turbocharged V8 on the pipeline. Until now this engine has been applied to Cayenne Turbo S only. We expect it will be called to serve the Panamera once a challenger gets close to its lap time.
The 4-wheel drive system of Panamera is similar to Cayenne. A multi-plate clutch located just behind the transmission facilitates a front-to-rear torque split of 38:62. The front differential is bolted on the side of the engine and has its axle goes through the sump. The rear differential has an electronic controlled variable limited slip ratio to enhance its cornering prowess. With a front-to-rear weight distribution of 52:48, the Panamera is better balanced than most performance saloons bar Maserati Quattroporte (which achieves 49:51). However, most of its engine locates fore of the front axle, meaning its polar moment of inertia is not low. On the Road Cruising at a steady 125 mph on Autobahn, the Panamera Turbo is almost as refined as a Mercedes S-class or BMW 7-Series. There is little wind or road noise entered the cabin. The engine is pulling at just 2800 rpm on top gear. Exhaust note is no more than a distant growl, making you wonder if you are really driving a Porsche. With the PASM adaptive damping set at Comfort mode, the big car glides over expansion joints nearly as smooth as other luxury cars. So the luxury side of its character passes the first test. Drop a couple of gears, floor down the throttle, the two turbochargers hesitate for a moment before fully wake up. But once they got there, the strong stream of power pushes the big car pass other M-cars or AMGs effortlessly. The excellent traction and directional stability makes this happen without drama. Even approaching its 188 mph terminal velocity, it remains rock steady and confident. The V8 now sings louder, but it will never rock your soul like a Maserati V8 at 7200 rpm full bore. The acoustic engineering and plastic packaging of this engine keep its volume in check. Turn into a fast bend, at first there is a slight understeer and roll. Switch to Sport mode, the dampers and air springs are tightened immediately. Now the car slips into the bend with amazing roadholding as well as neutrality. Its chassis is obviously designed to take on sky-high limit, so you will be foolish to test its limit on the open road. On German highway the ride is perfectly acceptable in Sport mode. On more challenging roads, however, you will find it lacks the composure of most other sports saloons, in particular Jaguar XFR. Switch to Sport Plus mode and the body control is even more impressive as it engages active anti-roll bars and the hardest suspension setting. But this mode is too hard for public roads. It is designed for Walter Rohrl to set lap record in Nurburgring, so best to leave it to race tracks.
Guide the Panamera Turbo away from Autobahn and enter a series of mountain roads, the scene is changed. While the big car is still remarkably capable, it never shake off its weight and size. You are aware of its width on narrow, single-lane roads, especially when a lorry approaches in the opposite lane. This hurt the driver confidence a little. The size also ask you to think twice before power sliding its tail, so on a country road you can never exploit its chassis as you wish. But the problem does not lie on physical size alone. The feedback from this car is also to blame. As you might have predicted, with 1 ton acting on the front wheels and a constant stream of torque going through them, the steering is masked by considerable hydraulic assistance thus is not completely feelsome. Turn-in is accurate enough, but its nose does not feel as eager to do so as Maserati Quattroporte. Despite of their similar weight, the Panamera feels heavier and slower to steer than the Maserati. Its PDK gearshift is hampered by an unfriendly control – instead of the more effective paddles of rivals, Porsche insists to use buttons located on front and back side of the steering wheel to facilitate upshift and downshift. In braking, although the ceramic brakes are super-powerful, its pedal feel is so-so. The air suspensions have a similar problem. Its isolation and roll resistance are somewhat artificial, failing to connect the driver to the road as well as steel springs. All these make the Panamera Turbo a little cold to keen drivers. In fact, the best of the range is actually Panamera S with manual gearbox. With 200 kilograms removed together with front-wheel drive mechanism, its steering is cleaner and keener than the Turbo. Its manual gearshift is more engaging to use than PDK. Its naturally aspirated V8 has a linear power delivery and crisper throttle response. That said, it does not feel particularly fast. Cheaper rivals like Jaguar XFR, Mercedes E63 and Cadillac CTS-V will have it beaten easily. Judged by any objective standards, Paramera is easily a class winner. It is almost as cosseting as big AMGs at relaxing pace yet capable to maneuver like a sports car when it is pushed. It offers luxury class comfort and practicality yet capable to produce supercar performance numbers. Nevertheless, as a driver's car, especially one wearing Porsche logo, it lacks an emotional appeal to engage its driver. This is also what Maserati does best. |
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| The above report was last updated on 22 Jul 2009. All Rights Reserved. |
