Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo 2017 review

The Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, to give this sleek four-door estate its full title, is the all-inclusive adventure holiday of the Porsche range.

It’s difficult to conceive, from the specs at least, how it could possibly achieve, or its driver request, anything more. It’s as fast as all but the looniest Porsche 911s, pretty much as practical as the SUVs and just as luxurious as any other Porsche Panamera.

The Turbo S E-Hybrid packs more of everything than has been seen in a Porsche before, and as such boasts some frightening numbers: 671bhp is just 20bhp short of the new GT2 RS, its 627lb ft crushes that mental 911 and 94mpg is unheard of in something this fast with a combustion engine. Oh, yes, and there’s the small matter of the £140,000 starting price for the car you see here, though that’s a point to return to...

Eerily, unsettlingly – and yet rather predictably – brilliant, in summary.

It just does everything. You want long-legged executive express? The Panamera has you covered, with supreme ride comfort on its three-chamber air suspension, impeccable refinement and a gorgeous interior.

Got a need for speed? So has the Porsche, with 0-124mph (a nice round 200km/h) taking less than 12sec; 2325kg the Panamera may be, but the canyon of power and torque on offer makes light work of it.

Want a sporting estate? Fine, no problem, as the E-Hybrid boasts an arsenal of dynamic technology to make an aircraft carrier look like the Cutty Sark. It features active anti-roll bars to keep the body flat and level, PTV Plus torque vectoring, PTM traction control, standard ceramic brakes (the caliper colour can be changed, fear not) and, on the test car, optional rear-wheel steer as well.

Combine all that with huge – 275-section front, 325-section rear – tyres as well as all-wheel drive and the Panamera’s purchase on a road is phenomenal, composure unerring and grip boundless. It may not be the last word in touchy-feely involvement but you could level the same criticism at an Audi RS6 – in that car, you merely admire its abilities; here, you’re staggered by them.