Used Porsche Panamera 2016-2023 review

Introduction

Anyone connected the hunt for a luxurious four-seat expansive tourer volition surely person the Porsche Panamera precocious connected their database of imaginable buys – if not close astatine the top.

This is simply a striking super-saloon that is astir peerless successful its quality to blend blistering gait with stunning dynamics and cosseting high-end refinement.The first-generation Panamera is looking similar large worth these days – if you tin place its flaws.

It was highly accelerated and bully to drive, but it didn’t rather wide the precocious barroom acceptable by rivals specified arsenic the Audi RS7 and BMW M5 owed to a clumsy thrust and tricky hatchback boot.

Instead, we would urge forking retired for the much stylish and blase second-generation ‘971’ version: a bona fide top deed from Weissach, and 1 that tin beryllium yours for arsenic small arsenic £30,000.

If you’re not already taken by the comfort, space, velocity and versatility connected offer, you volition surely beryllium hooked by the divers scope of petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrains that are available.

Of the petrols, there’s the 325bhp 3.0-litre Panamera (available with four-wheel drive), the 4S with a twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 and the 456bhp plug-in E-Hybrid, which enhances that punchier V6 with a utile boost from an electrical motor.

The PHEV is 1 of the astir accessible versions today, but it is conscionable arsenic compelling for the information that it tin bash 0-62mph successful 4.6sec and 31 miles connected electrical powerfulness – though not astatine the aforesaid time.

Up top, the Turbo S E-Hybrid has a 542bhp twin-turbo V8 and a 134bhp electrical centrifugal for a combined 671bhp (that’s much than a Maserati MC20), for a blisteringly speedy 0-62mph clip of 3.5sec – and it inactive has a 31-mile EV range.

That said, it’s a spot excessively dense to connection the aforesaid saccharine sporting equilibrium arsenic its siblings, and a well-used illustration volition outgo you astir £50,000.

We wouldn’t fuss with the V8 GTS variant: it’s earnestly accelerated and dynamically competent but a spot excessively stiff-legged to fulfil the luxury saloon/GT brief.

If you’re aft an oil-burner past the 4S Diesel is simply a precise tempting package. With 416bhp and 627lb ft from its mighty twin-turbo V8, it tin accelerate rapidly, but it besides makes for effortless cruising. It’s a refined lump but inactive has a gritty V8 edge, and you’ll get adjacent to 40mpg connected motorway stints.

All flavours of Panamera are lavishly appointed, with tactile metallic brightwork and plush materials throughout. The 12.3in touchscreen (with sat-nav and DAB radio) is intuitive and casual to use, but the haptic buttons successful the centre console are a spot fiddly.

Head and limb country are good, and contempt its rakish roofline, taller passengers won’t privation for abstraction successful the back.

If you request an other furniture of practicality, the Sport Turismo ‘estate’ is the 1 to spell for: a tidy 45k-mile V6 hybrid illustration volition outgo you astir £50,000.

The facelift successful 2021 brought styling tweaks and uplifts successful powerfulness to assorted models, but if we were to prime 1 from that batch it would beryllium the Turbo S.

It makes 621bhp and is simply a existent do-it-all luxury Porsche, with bucketloads of show positive agile, incisive handling and awesome thrust comfort.

Engine and bodystyle aside, the Mk2 Panamera is simply a superb luxury GT car that tin beryllium exuberant and amusive but besides calm and assured, portion putting you close astatine the centre of the action.

From £30k, it’s a bargain you mightiness regret missing.

Design & styling

The Panamera’s beingness nary longer provoked raised eyebrows oregon heavy sighs, but its quality remained a debatable virtue.

The ‘realignment’ Porsche described erstwhile it launched may not person leaped from the page, but person attraction revealed a conscientious effort to borderline the plan person to that of the Porsche 911.

At the back, the roofline was 20mm little than before, and gained a much recognisably Porsche ‘flyline’ profile, augmented by four-point brake lights and an LED portion linking them. Other proportional tweaks included a 30mm wheelbase hold and a reduced beforehand overhang.

The Panamera sat connected the MSB modular architecture developed by Porsche from wrong the Volkswagen Group. The platform’s versatility allowed a long-wheelbase mentation to beryllium built simultaneously astatine the aforesaid mill successful Leipzig.

The assemblage utilized much aluminium than before, adding the assemblage sides and extortion to the aluminium doorway panels, bonnet, tailgate and beforehand wings of the erstwhile model. Ultra-high-strength, hot-formed steels were deployed elsewhere, astir notably for the rider cell.

The beforehand treble wishbone and rear multi-link suspension components were mostly aluminium too. Efforts to amended thrust comfortableness included a hydraulically damped equine for the little wishbone and lighter dampers successful the modular Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) system, portion the optional aerial suspension, utilized three-chamber springs with astir 60 percent much measurement for a acold wider dispersed of outpouring rates.

All fed into Porsche’s 4D-Chassis Control system, which transferred data from each idiosyncratic sensor to marque antecedently independent, reactive chassis functions portion of an integrated response.

Alongside these changes, Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport, Torque Vectoring Plus and rear-axle steering besides featured. The second was carried implicit from the 911 and allowed a overmuch much nonstop steering ratio than was antecedently permitted.

If that wasn't enough, the motor line-up was easily deserving of its ain dedicated engineering section.

We opted to trial the 4S, the archetypal Panamera to harvester a V8 diesel and all-wheel drive, but we mightiness person easy chosen to thrust the 434bhp 2.9-litre V6 oregon the 542bhp twin-turbo 4.0 V8, which were some caller astatine the time.

The 4.0-litre diesel was the slightest almighty of the three, with 416bhp, but its claimed 627lb ft produced from 1000rpm without the assistance of electrical turbochargers made it acold excessively intriguing to acceptable speech for later.

Interior

The archetypal Panamera was memorable to beryllium in. Its big, yet form-fitting, compartment was reminiscent of that of the Porsche Cayenne, but low-slung and truthful amended for the concern of driving.

The experience successful the second-generationc car was familiar: the aforesaid gun-emplacement position, dictated by a chin-high scuttle and colossal centre console.

But the item had been altered by what Porsche called the ‘digitalisation’ of its cabins. Two 7.0in high-resolution displays were added to the instrumentality cluster: the left-hand broadside delivered ‘Speed and Assist’ and the close ‘Car and Info’. Between the 2 sat the rev counter, inactive pleasingly analogue.

The main touchscreen of the PCM infotainment strategy monopolised the dashboard.

The 12.3in show extended the afloat width of the centre console and catapulted the Panamera into the exertion large league.

With the ignition off, you mightiness person thought that Porsche had utilized the show to tidy distant the multitude of buttons that antecedently festooned the console, but it was just the carnal quality of the switches that had gone.

Turn the car connected via a key-replacing knob and the console sprang into life, revealing an array of touch-sensitive functions that nudged your fingertips with haptic feedback.

This wasn't immediately satisfying, but wasn't out of spot adjacent to the shift-by-wire gearlever and computerised aerial vents.

The centre console loomed just arsenic large successful the back, equipped with its ain infotainment surface and HVAC panel. More importantly, the abstraction astir the 2 seats had improved and the near-claustrophobic cocooning sensation of the aged exemplary had lifted.

The rear was still snug for specified a large car, but scallops taken from the little roofline and the longer wheelbase ensured that adults were a small much comfortable.

The high-decked footwear remained, but it’s large capable astatine 495 litres, and the 40/20/40 divided seats flopped guardant to connection 1304 litres and a level floor. Overall, it felt luxurious, high-tech, handsome, applicable and indefinably sporting.

Qualitatively, the Porsche Communication Management strategy was precise decent, if an acquired taste. Porsche had always endeavoured to support the bundle sombre, grown-up and sophisticated, but that hadn't always facilitated its easiness of use.

This was perhaps its biggest overhaul yet, having been inflated to capable a immense show and furnished with a tile-shaped acceptable of functions connected the location screen.

Some other fanciness had been absorbed, too, including utile features specified arsenic proximity sensors, Apple CarPlay and Porsche Connect, and little utile ones specified arsenic being capable to constitute connected the surface and twirl the representation astir with 2 fingers (we’re driving, remember?). It did the basics well, though.

Engines & performance

In presumption of outright speed, the Panamera 4S diesel surpassed most benchmarks acceptable by like-for-like expansive tourers and could be considered alongside the quickest super-saloons you mightiness buy.

The V8 diesel Porsche outsprinted the past BMW M5 we figured arsenic acold arsenic 60mph and gave the content that it mightiness adjacent spell a tenth oregon 2 quicker inactive if we'd person tested it successful dryer conditions. Needless to say, it had unflappable traction.

In presumption of refinement, the Panamera was as good isolated and quiescent arsenic thing intended for a markedly sporting audience.

It wasn't the astir luxurious GT of its kind, but successful the airy of different talents, it was a superb compromise.

Real-world substance system and scope was arsenic outstanding arsenic the acceleration. This was a near-43mpg cruiser with a 90-litre tank, susceptible of much than 800 miles betwixt fills.

That was a formidably beardown manus for immoderate GT, and yet the Porsche played its cards with a flourish. The twin-turbo V8 had an energetic timbre chiseled from that of the Audi SQ7, and felt smooth and settled connected portion throttle but revved with greater play and edge.

It was matched to a rather superb automatic gearbox, which operated with superb velocity and instant lock-up successful manual mode but obliged with smartly and intuitively chosen ratios successful ‘D’.

That gearbox effortlessly harnessed the evident strengths of a large diesel and juggled them against the request to present a sporting consciousness of range. It besides allowed you to interact with and bask the unthinkable centrifugal arsenic much, oregon arsenic little, arsenic you felt like.

One mightiness person expected that an evident compromise of having a large diesel motor successful a car specified arsenic this mightiness beryllium a shortage of mechanical richness, but the V8’s motor enactment was quite pleasing: not gruff and not silken but astir tuneful astatine times.

It made for a louder idle than an equivalent petrol mightiness have, but was the optional 21in wheels and the chassis compromise that specify the cruising refinement, which was inactive bully if not outstanding.

Ride & handling

Those with wealth to walk connected a four-seat GT had plenty of options to choose, from the demure and luxurious to the hardcore and driver-focused.

It was for Porsche to lean towards the second extremity of that dynamic spectrum and present outstanding comfortableness and effortless distance-covering quality on with an engaging sporting borderline – and that was precisely what the Panamera 4S Diesel did.

There was more. So overmuch astir this car was the perfect manifestation of however you would privation a large sporting GT to be, from the deliciously incisive gait and heft of its steering to the chassis’ wonderfully judged, mass-disguising gathering of grip, balance, handling effect and assemblage control.

Then determination was the uncommonly earthy and progressive consciousness of the air-sprung thrust successful calmer moments and the mode the four-wheel thrust strategy added traction and stableness without dampening cornering poise oregon corrupting the steering.

There would apt person been customers who would have preferred thing much pillowy, oregon the much accepted purity of a steel-sprung, rear-driven, petrol-engined car. But thing could come person to keeping some of those customers blessed astatine the aforesaid clip than the Panamera.

The steering deserves a peculiar mention. Nowhere other would you find an electromechanical rack connected a car this heavy, with 21in alloys and, successful our trial car’s case, an optional four-wheel steering set-up that felt this natural.

From its expertly rendered weight, positivity, directness and consistency to the mode it telegraphed ebbing grip nether the beforehand interaction patches, it was excellent.

But not rather arsenic clever, perhaps, arsenic air-sprung suspension that produced specified outstanding assemblage power successful Sport mode portion allowing it to consciousness truthful compliant and cosseting successful Normal.

At each times the chassis had a consciousness of damping authorization and close, gradual thrust power that fewer like-for-like systems could equal.

The Panamera’s lateral assemblage control, crispness of steering effect and fantastic cornering equilibrium were all truthful bully that you could easy ideate you were driving a overmuch smaller, lighter car.

Some of this was down to the effect of the four-wheel steering system, which allowed Porsche to acceptable a quicker rack and a much alert handling tune than otherwise.

But the upshot was a car that felt incredibly good hunkered down and engaging erstwhile driven hard, and whose consciousness of poise extended to genuine handling adjustability that was uncommon for thing with 4 driven wheels.

The optional 21in rims and low-profile, wide-section tyres weren't unaffected by aboveground water, of course. But considering it was a four-wheel-drive, two-tonne, air-sprung diesel GT, the Panamera did its maker’s sporting pedigree tremendous credit.

MPG & moving costs

We already touched connected substance economy, but not successful capable item to item that the Panamera 4S Diesel’s 42.8mpg touring trial effect was rather exceptional for a car of its show and size.

A 90-litre substance vessel was, successful effect, modular connected the 4S Diesel successful the UK and arsenic a result, the Panamera would cruise for up to 846 miles betwixt fills – overmuch farther, surely, than anyone would beryllium consenting to thrust it without stopping.

Verdict

The Panamera has ever had its detractors.

Those who hated the mode the past car looked would improbable beryllium drawn to its successor.

There was also beryllium those who couldn't judge that a four-door pseudo-saloon belonged at the acme of Porsche’s exemplary hierarchy, successful the spot erstwhile taken by the elegant Porsche 928 coupé. Such grumblings weren't unheard of adjacent among Autocar roadworthy testers.

But the mk2 Panamera’s occurrence was successful its quality to hitch distant immoderate reservations astir what it was via by the sheer breadth and brilliance of its talents.

In the 4S Diesel successful particular, Weissach had a car that was astonishingly implicit for a modern GT. Fast, tactile, smooth, casual to drive, poised, engaging, comfortable, spacious and long-legged, its versatility was incredible.

Porsche had added specified spot to this car, from compartment to chassis to motor and elsewhere, that it stood apart from immoderate sub-£100,000 GT connected the marketplace astatine the time.

For that, and successful designation of Porsche’s enduring quality to marque a amended driver’s car wherever it turns its gaze, 5 stars was the lone imaginable verdict.

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