2011 Porsche Panamera

Porsche’s king of the four-passenger sedans is a pretty impressive combination of the German automaker’s design skills and engineering, and I liked the big car in previous trims I have used (the S and Turbo) for its roominess and trappings of luxury. My current test model is the 2011 Panamera 4, which brings all-wheel drive and a smaller engine (3.6 litre V6) to the platform. At its core, my tester is very much the same car as the ones propelled by the larger powerplant (4.8 litre V8), give or take some options and a few thousand dollars in starting price.

Its strengths are all intact; the extra passenger capacity and luggage space of a touring car is a nice feature to have in your luxury car (without having to water the Porsche experience down by opting for the Cayenne SUV) and, of course, a premium quality interior.

My Panamera tester boasts very good fit and finish throughout; all the surfaces feel and look good and have been applied well. This one has a few blanks left in the button-covered center console, for the options that weren’t included in this particular specimen, but for those who like a lot of switchgear it will still offer a lot of high-tech fiddling.

A fun inclusion on the tester is the adaptive air suspension (a $4,550 option) that I am using more to delight curious passengers than I am to balance the ride and driving modes. The dash is capped with Porsche’s sport chrono package (which adds another $1,690 to the bill ... you see how this works) and the entire control layout at least puts everything within easy reach and view; though not everything is necessarily easy to use.

However, while all the toys and tools on the Panamera 4 are what one should expect, the vehicle doesn’t include everything I expect to find in a car of this rarefied class. Keyless start, for example, or proximity keys that unlock the car when the driver approaches. Seems a little behind the times to leave those out.
I know I always complain about that when using a Porsche, just like I always complain about the placement of the cupholders (and then people write in to complain “du-uh who cares about cupholders; it’s a Porsche!” like that should somehow excuse poorly executed design), but consider this: In addition to the spring-out ‘holders inset over the glove compartment that hold your drink right over top of those expensive electronics, the one in the center console sits right where you rest your elbow while having a leisurely highway drive.

So imagine you have a cup of, say, grape juice and mustard and a special chemical that instantly bonds to leather in that cupholder, and just happen to smoosh your elbow into it; the results would be… unpleasant.

That aside, the driving experience in the Panamera 4 is much the same as in its siblings - very good. The V6, though not as enthusiastic as the eight-cylinder engine, still delivers good acceleration; and increases in responsiveness when operated in Sport or Sport Plus mode. One thing I am noticing, though, is that the six isn’t getting better mileage than the last V8 I drove. Odd.

The suspension, regardless of setting, skews toward a stiff feel that allows the road surface to be felt (this is not an advantage when cruising over rough roads, however) and gives the car the flat-cornering sensation that has made Porsche’s straight-up sports cars so desirable. Top the whole thing off with a smooth seven-speed PDK, the only transmission for Panameras of any trim, and the car remains a Porsche for all seasons that imparts prestige, at a price. My tester and its kin start at $92,700 for the all-wheel drive trim, but the options added to make it a near-complete package take that to a staggering $108,150.