00:02There's nothing quite like the Porsche Panamera.
00:04Nothing in terms of style, but more importantly,
00:07nothing in terms of practicality.
00:09The Panamera is one of the most uniquely, bizarrely
00:13versatile cars in the world.
00:15It's also one of my absolute favorites.
00:22Why?
00:22Well, let's look at the specs.
00:24This is the GTS, and it slots between the Panamera 4S
00:27and the turbo.
00:28We have all wheel drive.
00:30We have a twin clutch transmission.
00:32We actually get brakes from the turbo,
00:34although this car is on ceramic rotors.
00:36This car rides 10 millimeters lower
00:38and has more aggressive suspension tuning.
00:42We also have, thankfully, a high revving and naturally
00:45aspirated 4.8 liter V8.
00:47It has new valve springs, new camshafts, and an air box,
00:51which help it develop 430 horsepower.
00:54That's 30 more than the standard V8.
00:56Torque has increased, too.
00:58And thankfully, so has the red line, to 7,100 RPM.
01:02Top speed, 178 miles an hour.
01:08So what does all that mean?
01:11Well, the Panamera's fast.
01:15At the test track, it hits 60 miles an hour in 4.1 seconds,
01:20and the quarter mile in 12.7 seconds at 107.2 miles an hour.
01:26That's about as fast as a V8 Audi R8.
01:29And it's simply effortless.
01:31You hit the Sport Plus button, hit both pedals,
01:34and then lift off the brake.
01:37Our best stop from 60 miles an hour was just 106 feet.
01:48During its 25 second figure eight lap,
01:50it generated 0.99 lateral average G, which
01:56is, again, on par with the R8.
02:05So you hear all that, and you may be thinking, well, yeah,
02:07that's appreciably fast.
02:09But what makes the Panamera special?
02:11Well, for that, you have to look behind me.
02:14And when you do, you'll see the two extra doors,
02:16the two extra seats, the tons of headroom and cargo room.
02:20You see, what makes this car special
02:22is that it's a four-door supercar.
02:25And that finally gets us back to why we're
02:28cruising on the freeway in the middle of nowhere.
02:30You see, with the Panamera, it's not just the performance,
02:33and it's not just the functionality.
02:35It's how masterfully it blends those two aspects.
02:38And that's something you can only really appreciate after driving
02:41it for a long time.
02:42So for this episode, we're going to take it on a long drive.
02:45We're actually halfway through that now
02:47to a good mountain road a few hours north of LA.
02:50After driving this thing for a long time on the freeway,
02:53you begin to appreciate certain things,
02:54like how when you're cruising at 75,
02:57the engine's barely turning 1,800 RPM,
02:59the sound it makes on a downshift when you roll on the throttle.
03:04This interior, too, the layout feels futuristic and unique.
03:07It's like sitting at the bridge of a spaceship.
03:10But it's not alien.
03:12It's still functional.
03:13All the gauges and knobs fall right at the touch of your fingertips.
03:16And it's all very easy to use.
03:18The seats are typically German.
03:20They're very firm, very supportive, but also very comfortable.
03:24You can spend a couple hundred miles on these things
03:26and never feel fatigued or tired.
03:28And then there's the matter of fuel economy.
03:30This thing on the freeway is rated at 23 miles per gallon,
03:32which, would you guess it, beats the current R8 V8.
03:51There has to be a few problems, though, and there are.
03:53The first is, most obviously, this hunchback shape in the rear.
03:58It's definitely the clumsiest visual feature of the car.
04:01But after spending so much time with this car, I don't see it like that anymore,
04:04because I know it's functional.
04:05The result of that shape is a ton of headroom in here.
04:11Other problems?
04:11Well, this is a lot of car.
04:13It's a large car.
04:14And as a result, it weighs nearly 4,400 pounds.
04:19It also costs quite a bit of money.
04:21This car, as tested, is $146,000.
04:25Now, $36,000 worth of that is options.
04:28And some of them are kind of silly, like this key fob here, for example.
04:32It's silver, right?
04:33$335.
04:35This paint, $3,140.
04:38That's right, you're paying over $3,000 for silver paint.
04:42You get rid of a lot of those frivolous options, though,
04:44and you get closer to the car's base price.
04:46And then you start thinking about how practical it is,
04:49how fast it is, how comfortable it is.
04:52And then it almost seems worthwhile.
05:06You know, when you drive this car along a winding mountain road,
05:09you can feel like you can put it right up against its limits.
05:13And it's never going to scare you, never going to surprise you.
05:17It doesn't feel overly cautious, either.
05:19It's just rewarding the whole time.
05:22That's really what makes this car so special.
05:25You know, if you told somebody 20 years ago that there would be a sedan
05:30that handled the way this thing does, they'd call you crazy.
05:34They'd lock you up in a mental institution.
05:35If you were to take this car back in time somehow,
05:38they'd wonder what planet you came from.
05:41Not just because of the styling.
05:42Okay, maybe because of the styling.
05:44But also because of how well it drives.
05:47I mean, this is just unbelievable.
05:55So what you have with the Panamera is a very good driver's tool.
05:59A very good car for the commute.
06:01A very good car for long hauls.
06:03A ton of cargo room.
06:04You could take this thing camping.
06:06You could take it up a canyon road.
06:07I mean, this car does everything.
06:09Okay, it doesn't climb rocks.
06:11But it basically does everything else.
06:14It's hard to think of a car that is more complete than this.
06:21The Panamera is a bit of an odd one.
06:23Not for its looks, but for its capabilities.
06:26Forget the styling, and what do you have?
06:28Well, you have all the ingredients of a luxury grand touring car.
06:32You have four comfortable seats.
06:34You have an attractive interior.
06:36And you have lots of cargo space.
06:38So it's good for the commute.
06:40It's good for road trips.
06:41But you also have, wrapped in the same package,
06:44an excellent sports car with brilliant driving dynamics
06:47and a wonderful engine note.
06:49It's an unparalleled level of versatility
06:52that separates the Panamera from being a mere car.
06:55It's the Swiss Army knife of driving.
07:12There's also just Brendon pr ́–¸ï¿½ă‚¦ hood
07:21and there's also all the topical jogging employees
07:21It's leak into the new technology,
07:25It's not just egprang for your personal 1500 who's guaranteed
07:28Well, that's when in Hong Kong is more real,
07:29consumer thief,
07:29and one of the people who compet on my bike
07:34is a smooth oblitered vehicle with everything else
07:34is an SUV.
07:35Perhaps it's threatened.
07:45Transcription by CastingWords
Comments