When the Panamera was unveiled in April 2009 at the Shanghai Auto Show, the five-door liftback left me somewhat puzzled. On the one hand, the German automaker created a proper driver’s car with seating for four adults and luxurious touches. But on the other hand, I couldn’t convince myself about the clinical exterior design and porky proportions.
The 2013 facelift was a little better from this standpoint, and the second generation from 2016 proved me wrong. Not content with styling improvements, Porsche has also treated the Panamera to a plug-in powertrain with neck-snapping credentials. Turbo S E-Hybrid is how this version is called, and it’s even more potent for the 2021 mid-cycle refresh.
Worthy of being described as a flagship, the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid combines a 4.0-liter V8 with an eight-speed PDK that features a built-in electric motor. The all-wheel-driven luxuobarge cranks out 700 PS and 870 Nm, which works out to 690 horsepower and 642 pound-feet of torque.
Numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. A point-of-view drive video is the next best thing to experiencing the car in person, and as you can tell from the following video, the German interloper doesn’t fail to impress.
Revving the force-fed V8 in a tunnel for aural pleasure is one thing, but flooring the loud pedal from a standstill reveals just how crazy the acceleration can be. Even at higher speeds, the kickdown is almost instant and the e-motor helps the internal combustion engine peak as quickly as technically possible. The twin-clutch tranny is a highlight as well because it upshifts in the blink of an eye while the downshifts are always on point.
Based on GPS data, the shooting brake in the following video has climbed from 100 to 200 kph (62 and 124 mph) in merely 7.55 seconds. For reference, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS from the previous generation and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat need 7.66 and 7.75 seconds, respectively. As for zero to 250 kph (155 mph), the ultimate Panamera on sale today reached that speed in 18.47 seconds as opposed to 21.91 seconds for the supercharged muscle car.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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