Following its official unveiling early last month, the 2017 Porsche Panamera is now undergoing rigorous test drives by enthusiasts and critics in Europe.
Amid the tough competition in the market, the high-performance luxury sedan from the German luxury carmaker is still expected to make a good splash in the high-end car market when it officially hits car showrooms a few weeks from now.
One motoring journalist was able to test-drive the 2017 Porsche Panamera in Bavaria in Germany recently. Bavaria is regarded as one of the great places to do test-driving luxury vehicles particularly because of its healthy stretch of unrestricted Autobahn running from Munich and drivers can go as fast as conditions would permit.
He was able to prove that the mix of road conditions that includes twisty, curvy country roads, blending in a stretch of a straight path leading to the southern state is exactly what the 2017 Porsche Panamera is built for.
The luxury sedan has stood out as a combination of ballistic speed and stellar handling, which is actually its edge over its competition, reports Road Show.
Its difference over its predecessors
According to the German luxury carmaker, the 2017 Porsche Panamera shares only three things with its predecessors – the Panamera name, the Porsche crest on the head, and the goal of being the fastest luxury sedan in the world.
Porsche’s claims are actually back by the fact that the Panamera Turbo has lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in just seven minutes and 38 seconds, which is two seconds faster than the Porsche 911 GT3 997 lapped in 2009, and four seconds faster than a Porsche Cayman GT4 tested last year.
So saying that the 2017 Porsche Panamera is a fast car is actually an understatement because the luxury sedan is super fast for a car that weighs 4,400 pounds, cites Wired.
Gernot Dollner, Porsche head of product design, says that everything about the 2017 version of the Panamera is better, including the styling. He explained that the luxury sedan has new engines, a new chassis, and new electronics, and everything conspire to make the car much sportier, but still very much a luxury sedan.
No longer ugly
Unlike the design of its predecessor models, which some critics refer to as ugly, the 2017 Porsche Panamera is gorgeous when it comes to its styling.
While it has the same basic long, low outline like its predecessor models, the current variant has a significantly less bulbous rear end.
In addition, there is also more tech under the metal of the 2017 Porsche Panamera. It has a thermal imaging camera to spotlight pedestrians and animals. The adaptive cruise control system, InnoDrive, uses navigation data like upcoming curves and inclines to dial in the optimal acceleration, deceleration, and gear selection, for a smoother and more efficient ride. Dual radar sensors and a camera permit lane-centering and automatic distance control, which is normally a boon in stop-and-go traffic.
While the performance of the 2017 Porsche Panamera takes a big step forward, its credentials as a proper competitor to cars like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class do as well.
It starts with a wholly new interior built around a central 12-inch touchscreen. Porsche’s new infotainment system is clean to look at and easy to use, and while it’s still lacking Android Auto, it at least offers Apple CarPlay like the new 911.
Below that display is a center console almost entirely bereft of physical buttons, a sweeping slab of piano-black with capacitive areas that click like a mouse button.
It is an odd way of interacting with a car, but it strikes a happy balance between clean design and genuine tactility, and it is a big step forward over the button-mad interiors of past Porsche luxury sedans.
The 2017 Porsche Panamera comes in two engine variants. The first one is the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 engine with 440 horsepower of maximum power and 406 pound-feet of maximum torque.