We did some acceleration, braking and slalom tests, and the magical thing was that it all felt entirely undramatic. Swapping to a Turbo without Porsche Active Ride, it suddenly felt all at sea, even though it would probably compare quite favourably with conventional rivals.
At higher speeds, you truly can feel how the body movements (or lack thereof) are unlike anything else you might have driven, to the point where it messes with your sense of equilibrium. We would need some time on regular roads to figure out if we like it, but the effect is spectacular.
Engaging Sport or Sport Plus mode changes the system’s logic so that it aims to make the Turbo as composed yet natural as possible for intuitive performance driving. While this is not as dramatic, it does serve to make the 2.4-tonne car feel far lighter than it is.
The weight still shows, though, especially under braking, and while Porsche has improved the brake feel in the hybrid Panameras, you can still clearly feel the transition from the mushy regenerative phase to the firm friction phase.
Nevertheless, the way the Turbo enters tight turns and negotiates direction changes is impressive – if not as impressive as the way that it appears to simply flatten big crests and compressions.
In extremis, we didn’t feel as connected to the car as we might have done in a lighter, pure-ICE car without this system, but then that’s comparing apples to oranges. And anyway, the 400V hybrid system is necessary to power the hydraulic pumps.
Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid
Porsche offered us the chance to drive this derivative in Germany recently. And what really makes this car special is its uncanny spread of ability.
The Porsche Active Ride system (which works courtesy of the car’s 400V hybrid electronics, so you can’t get it on any Panamera that doesn’t have an E-Hybrid badge) makes it capable of superb cruising comfort and isolation. It leans into bends and pitches fore and aft almost imperceptibly - yet so effectively - to counteract the lateral and longitudinal forces that would otherwise act on your body as you slow, corner and accelerate again.
The engineers are totally honest: this is a comfort-boosting technology, not one intended to create grip or handling dynamism. (It’s so effective that they could probably license it to Rolls-Royce or, perhaps more likely, Bentley.) That's why, when you put the car into Sport mode, the clever body-level manipulation features switch off and you’re left with a car that just handles like an unmistakably large and heavy but characteristically finely balanced and composed Porsche super-saloon. Which is to say, very well indeed.
Panamera GTS
The GTS's handling is poised, level, precise and contained on the road, with good power-on cornering balance for a car of this size and weight. There’s no disguising the Panamera’s girth, it’s true, but the GTS does feel a degree or two lighter than a Turbo in its relative freedom from inertia.
It's still a four-wheel-drive, two-tonne Porsche, of course. So what’s missing? Some special front-axle hardware perhaps, a little like the equivalent Cayenne gets, which might have added even more positivity to the car’s turn-in, and given that telling extra dynamic lift. Without that – or just more of a dynamic point of difference for this car, however conjured – you wonder if there’s quite enough for a really keen driver to get his teeth into here. The GTS wants to be the natural enthusiast's choice in the range but, despite being the only unhybridised V8 option, it leaves you wanting just a little more grip, playful cornering balance and tactile feel.