LEIPZIG, Germany — The third-generation Porsche Panamera made its debut on-line, and Autoblog went to Germany to get a sneak preview of the sedan earlier than its unveiling. Whereas it appears to be like lots just like the second-generation mannequin, it advantages from an extended record of mechanical, chassis, and inside modifications.
Visually, the modifications made to the third-generation Panamera are largely evolutionary — did you count on the rest from Porsche? Whereas the brand new automobile appears to be like lots like its predecessor, it is not a easy nip-and-tuck and the agency stresses there’s extra happening than meets the attention.
“The basis of the chassis is the same. The wheelbase is the same. It’s part of our strategy to make a chassis platform which lasts for two generations. However, we had to change a lot of things in the platform because of new requirements, such as crash-test requirements. So, it’s not exactly the same platform. There are a lot of carry-over parts but there are also a lot of new parts. We wanted to increase stiffness, and we needed to [accommodate] crash requirements worldwide,” Dr. Thomas Friemuth, the Panamera line’s vp, advised me.
Up entrance, designers gave the entrance bumper a brand new look, fitted extra angular headlights, and made the fenders taller. Out again, the hatch’s window loses its metallic body and the sunshine bar stays however it options an up to date design. Turbo fashions obtain the brand new Turbonite end introduced earlier in 2023, and center-locking wheels seem on the Panamera’s record of choices for the primary time since its introduction in 2009.
Porsche pared down the vary to 2 physique kinds: the usual Panamera and the long-wheelbase, Govt-badged variant. That is it; the Sport Turismo station wagon is not making a comeback. Friemuth defined that world gross sales have been a lot too low to justify retaining it round.
We have already seen the brand new Panamera’s inside, which encompasses a format known as the Porsche Driver Expertise. Should you’re acquainted with latest additions to the model’s vary, like the brand new Cayenne, you may really feel proper at residence within the third-generation Panamera. From the motive force’s seat, you face a 12.6-inch curved instrument cluster that does not have a binnacle. The change to begin and cease the engine has been changed by a button (although it is nonetheless on the left facet of the steering wheel), and a razor-shaped shifter clears area on the middle console. One other first is the supply of an optionally available 10.9-inch touchscreen embedded into the a part of the dashboard that is forward of the entrance passenger.
At launch, patrons may have three trims referred to as Panamera, Panamera 4, and Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, respectively, to select from. The primary two use a 2.9-liter turbocharged V6 rated at 348 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, will increase of 23 and 37, respectively, over the six-cylinder discovered within the last-generation mannequin. Porsche quotes a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.0 seconds for the rear-wheel-drive mannequin and a high pace of 169 mph, whereas the all-wheel-drive Panamera 4 takes 4.7 seconds to achieve 60 mph however loses one mile per hour on the high finish.
New for 2024, the Turbo E-Hybrid mannequin will get a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain that consists of an up to date model of the outgoing automobile’s 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8, an electrical motor built-in into the eight-speed dual-clutch computerized transmission, and a 25.9-kilowatt-hour battery pack. This drivetrain is rated at 670 horsepower and 685 pound-feet of torque, and it advantages from the quite a few classes that Porsche has discovered from constructing hybrid Panamera fashions for over a decade, like a brand new electrical motor cooled by the transmission’s fluid.
“With water cooling, you can only cool the housing. You cannot go directly to the components because of corrosion,” Friemuth famous.
Supercar-like energy unlocks supercar-like efficiency: the Turbo E-Hybrid takes 3.0 seconds to achieve 60 mph from a standstill and does not cease accelerating till the digital speedometer shows 195 mph. Nevertheless, the brand new Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid posts an output of 729 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque. What provides? Granted, the Cayenne is greater and heavier, however could not Porsche have dropped this precise drivetrain into the Panamera only for the hell of securing bragging rights? It seems the reply is not so simple as it would sound.
“The base cast-iron piece of the engine is the same [between the two models]; everything else is different. We have a different gearbox and a different electric motor. And, here we want to [continue the tradition] of making a Turbo E-Hybrid and a Turbo S E-Hybrid. The customers want both. Our strategies are slightly different depending on the customers [and on the product line],” Friemuth defined.
Put one other means, whereas it does not sound just like the Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid is coming again, the Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid will not keep pegged on the top quality for very lengthy. “In the future, we will have four hybrid models, and as you know when Porsche says there’s a Turbo there typically is a Turbo S coming with more powerful and with more torque. There’s much more to come,” Friemuth assured me.
Each hybrid member of the third-generation Panamera vary shall be optionally accessible with a brand new suspension system referred to as Porsche Lively Trip. It consists of lively shock absorbers powered by an electrically-operated hydraulic pump. Apparently, the system is so highly effective that Porsche claims the brand new Panamera does not want springs to ship a cushty experience; they’re there to hold the load of the automobile (giving this process to the lively shocks would use an excessive amount of power) and make sure the massive sedan does not drop on its stomach when it is off.
On the street, the Lively Trip suspension system is eye-opening. It jogs my memory of the ultra-smooth and very snug experience you discover in Citroën fashions with a hydropneumatic suspension system, minus the jumbo-jet-like physique roll. Whenever you speed up, even should you’re flooring it, the automobile does not squat. Whenever you brake, even should you’re mashing the pedal, the automobile does not dive. Take a flip in both route and the automobile gently leans into it, nearly like a motorbike. A part of the magic is that you do not really feel it: there is a sure diploma of disconnect since you count on the automobile to maneuver and it does not, however there is no delay within the response time. Change it off and the distinction is instantly perceptible.
Observe that this function is not accessible in Sport Plus mode as a result of the dealing with “wouldn’t feel natural,” a Porsche engineer advised me. Good name.
Porsche arrange the Lively Trip system to decrease the experience top by roughly an inch at freeway speeds to make the Panamera extra aerodynamic. House owners may even have the choice of enabling a perform that raises the experience top by a bit of over two inches to make getting out and in of the automobile simpler. Locking it within the excessive place, Citroën-style, to deal with dust roads is not be doable attributable to regulatory hurdles.
Constructed alongside the Macan in Leipzig, Germany, the 2024 Porsche Panamera is on sale now throughout the nation. Pricing for the bottom mannequin begins at $101,550 together with a $1,650 vacation spot cost whereas the all-wheel-drive Panamera 4 mannequin prices $108,550. Each variants will attain showrooms within the spring of 2024. Porsche will launch pricing data and launch particulars for the Turbo E-Hybrid at a later date.
The record of ordinary options contains an air suspension system, LED Matrix Design headlights, and a cooled smartphone compartment with inductive charging. Choices? You need ’em, Porsche has ’em. InnoDrive know-how (which features an evasive maneuver assistant function) is a spotlight from the record of choices, together with smartphone-controlled Distant ParkAssist know-how, and a rear-wheel steering system.
