Those with £100k to spend on a four-seat GT have plenty of options, from the demure and luxurious to the hardcore and driver-focused.
It’s for a Porsche to tend towards the latter end of that dynamic spectrum and deliver outstanding comfort and effortless distance-covering ability along with an engaging sporting edge – and that’s exactly what the Panamera 4S Diesel does.
There’s more. So much about this car is the ideal manifestation of how you would want a big sporting GT to be, from the deliciously incisive pace and heft of its steering to the chassis’ wonderfully judged, mass-disguising meeting of grip, balance, handling response and body control.
Then there’s the uncommonly natural and progressive feel of the air-sprung ride in calmer moments and the way the four-wheel drive system adds traction and stability without dampening cornering poise or corrupting the steering.
There will be customers who’d prefer something more pillowy, or the more traditional purity of a steel-sprung, rear-driven, petrol-engined car. But nothing would come closer to keeping both of those customers happy at the same time than the new Panamera.
