Porsche Panamera Driven

Porsche Panamera

Porsche’s new Panamera went on sale in mid-October, the end result of a four-year, billion-euro investment in an all-new offering aimed at the luxury performance market niche, and its combination of four-door convenience with sports car style and performance includes all the standard virtues attendant to the Porsche name. Much design effort was expended to ensure the Panamera’s direct bloodlines to the iconic 911, and these are readily evident in roofline and window shapes that give it the desired instant recognition as a Porsche.

So, what is this new machine really like? First impression, unavoidably, is its size. The Panamera is big. To get an idea of just how big, let’s compare it first to its sibling 911, and then to a collection of similar cars—Maserati’s Quattroporte, Aston Martin’s Rapide, and Jaguar’s XF—that represent perhaps its most direct competitors.