Currently reading: Panamera priced from £72k
Porsche four-door carries price premium over Merc, Audi and BMW

The Porsche Panamera will cost more than rivals from Mercedes, Audi and BMW, but undercut the forthcoming Aston Martin Rapide by over £70k, when it goes on sale in the UK in September.

The Porsche Panamera model range will hit showrooms on 12 September. Its line-up will comprise the V8-powered 400bhp £72,226 Panamera S, the four-wheel-drive 400bhp £77,269 Panamera 4S, and the four-wheel-drive 500bhp £95,298 Panamera Turbo.

Cheaper V6 petrol and V6 petrol-electric hybrid versions of the Porsche Panamera are scheduled to join the range in autumn 2010; a V6 diesel version has also been mooted. For the time being, though, the entry point to the Panamera range will be only £2500 cheaper that the price of Audi’s 572bhp RS6 mega-saloon.

See the full gallery of Porsche Panamera pics

Porsche’s PDK twin-clutch gearbox will be standard on both the Panamera 4S and Turbo. Only the rear-driven ‘S’ model will come with a six-speed manual ’box as standard, with the double-clutch system as a £2289 option. All Panameras with PDK will also get a Porsche Auto Start Stop system, a first for Porsche, which halts engine combustion when the car is stationary.

Standard across the range will be leather seats (heated and electrically adjustable up front), Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), bi-xenon headlights, parking sensors, tyre pressure monitors, Porsche Communication Management and touch-screen sat-nav.

In a nod to BMW’s M-button on the M5, a Sport button on the Panamera will instantly sharpen throttle mapping, firm up the car’s PASM chassis and quicken the shifts of its PDK gearbox.

Options on the Panamera range include more supportive adaptive sports seats, PCCB carbon-ceramic brakes, electrically adjustable ventilated rear seats and a 1000-watt, 16-channel high-end audio system from Berlin hi-fi specialist Burmester.

Porsche has also confirmed performance figures for the Panamera. The slowest V8 S model accelerates from 0-62mph in 5.4sec and is capable of 176mph flat out. The Turbo hits 62mph just 4.2sec, and can reach 188mph.

Matt Saunders

Add a comment…