Having had the extraordinary good fortune and distinct
pleasure to have been able to drive any number of great cars on many a fine
race track, I am always willing to give it another go; twist my arm
please….that’s enough thanks.
A couple of days ago, an offer to drive the new Porsche
Panamera at speed (in the appropriate place of course) presented itself to me.
Um……ok, let’s give this thing a go…..here comes that pesky arm twisting again….
I am still trying to wrap my arms around the Panamera aesthetically,
I mean it is – well, different looking. I have to be candid here. When the car
was first released, I didn’t care for the car one damn bit. It has begun to
grow on me though, rather like a great single malt Scotch. I still don’t care
for Ardbeg, but, the Porsche is getting better.
The interior of the car is fantastic. I love the layout, the
driving position and all the very cool buttons and switches. At first it all
appears a bit busy, but then it just seems kinda right. It feels rather “modern”
928. One sits deep in the lush and very supportive leather seats and is
surrounded by a very high (compared to most) center console; again – very
928ish. I am not sure if the guys at Porsche planned it this way, but I rather
like it.
I was given the new Panamera 4 to drive and to take anyone
who wanted to go for some “quick ones”. The car was equipped with a 3.6 liter
V6 producing a very respectable 300 horse power and 295 lbft. of torque. It
also had Porsche’s new “dopplekuplung” PDK gear box. I really dislike “flappy paddle” transmissions- no I mean really,
but, in this car it is better than a simple automatic. I think it would be very
cool if Porsche would offer this car with a REAL transmission….I for one would
really like that.
On track, the car was simply unbelievable. Take into
consideration that the car weighs in at just about 2 tons, is a 4 door sedan
and is powered with a V6 and one would normally think “pig”. One would be
wrong! The car is nothing short of brilliant. Yes, it could use a little more
umph, but there are V8 and V8 turbo versions available; just write a little
larger check, $149k in the case of the turbo J
Reality is the V6 is more than adequate and powers the car
to 60 mph in a respectable 6 seconds. Far more impressive however is how well
the car handles and transitions from one corner to the next with remarkable
poise and sure footedness. The car is quite easy to drive quickly. It is
remarkably forgiving (remember, this is a very, very big sedan) yet it simply
goes where you look. Steering feel and feedback is superb and the brakes are
typical Porsche – the best; brake pedal modulation and feel is Porsche perfect.
There must be something in Stuttgart that makes their brakes this good… perhaps
some little gnome or something…..I dunno, but Porsche brakes have always been
the best in the business.
I took a couple of instructors for rides and they too were
absolutely impressed with the performance level of the car and here is the
kicker….the car was shod with set of Michelin’s
all weather tires; most certainly not a tire that most would track a car with.
Most Panamera buyers will never drive their cars to this
level, but, they can be absolutely confident in the cars performance, predictability
and handling which could mean the difference between accident and no accident
or even life and death. This car gets prettier by the minute.
