Porsche Panamera Turbo review - verdict
Porsche Panamera 4.8 V8 Turbo PDK Road Test
Test Date 20 September 2009
Price When New £103,807
Verdict
The Panamera is not a perfect fit in the luxury saloon segment. It doesn’t do what these cars traditionally do: it can seat only four, it has a hatchback and not a boot, and it forgoes a level of comfort and demands, in turn, a level of commitment to get the best from it. Its drivetrain refinement in traffic, meanwhile, is borderline unacceptable.
The luxury car class, however, is a more interesting segment because of it. At a stroke the Panamera has shown some rival companies that there is more to making a fast luxury car than slapping a big engine into the front of a conventional luxury car.
For us, though, the Panamera just asks a few too many compromises. The PDK transmission hinders getting the best from the chassis, rather than helping, while some of the pricing is plain excessive. In the end, it’s more fascinating than fabulous.
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