Day-by-Day Review: 2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid

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2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

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It almost feels like a misnomer, does it not? A Porsche four-passenger sedan is odd enough, but we have come to embrace it; now, however, a(nother) Porsche hybrid — no, make that a Porsche, four-passenger, hybrid sedan. What has this world come to?

I’ll tell you what it has come to, it has come to a point where you can shred the tires of a Porsche, blast pretty much any car on the road, be it straight or twisty, with three of your friends while averaging 6.8 L/100km highway fuel consumption (according to Natural Resources Canada’s estimates).

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That, my friends, gets me excited! And so does the 333-horsepower supercharged V6 engine with 47 extra horsepower and 221-lb-ft of torque provided by an electric motor, for a combined rating of 380 horsepower and 428 lb-ft of torque — this Porsche has not lost its mojo by going green.

The powertrain, combined with the full leather interior, 20-inch 911 Turbo wheel design, BOSE surround sound system and Crystal Green Metallic paint (to embrace mother earth, and maybe even the Irish, this week) makes this hybrid the coolest and fastest one I’ve ever driven — bar none!

2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid
MSRP as tested (excluding destination): $126,280

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Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

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I was following a Smart Fortwo today on the way home. We both stopped at a red light; I put the Panamera S Hybrid in electric-only mode and when the light went green, off we were. I was laughing as I thought about how this car accelerates just as quickly as that Smart, on electricity alone, and gets better gas mileage, and yet is a much, much larger car. Choosing this car also means you don’t have to drive a Smart Fortwo.

Then, of course I remembered this car is nearly eight times more expensive than that Fortwo — but hey, whatever. I was able to get my curling broom, camera bag and curling bag into the trunk with no hassles!

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I’ll agree the centre stack has a lot of buttons and is confusing as all heck the first time you get in. But like anything else, you do get used to the array of buttons. Eventually, though, most of them aren’t really needed.

The informational display in the gauge cluster is perhaps a little too informational, telling you about everything from navigation to fuel consumption and tire pressure. As you switch between all the screens, you realize you haven’t looked at the road in two minutes — not good.

Everything in the interior is driver-focused and wrapped in leather or fine wood. The seats are sculpted to your body — both front and rear — so there isn’t much bad to say. It feels like a 911, only larger and more comfortable for highway cruising.

Note: I’ve added about 30 pictures to the gallery to feast your eyes on.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

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I got out of the Panamera this evening after doing some grocery shopping and had forgotten that this thing had four doors! It really is that easy to forget that this is a rather large car; if you drive it with the sport suspension active, it feels like a nimble sports car thanks to the lowered ride height and firm ride. Drive the Panamera in comfort mode, and it is still nimble and agile but it soaks up the bumps and ruts like a luxury car should.

Despite the fact that the Panamera unexpectedly drives like a sports car, it does feel big in some situations. Parking it, although easy, makes you realize it is a long and wide car and you want to keep your distance from door-dingers. Backing up can can be a little difficult too, with the very small mirrors and small rear window opening. It seems that my test car has a reversing camera system as there is a camera on the trunk, but it is not turning on… not sure what the problem is there.

The real story, though, is found out on the open road or the twisty back country road. The Panamera turns quickly and precisely even on the winter boots my tester is wearing; get on the power and — whoa boy — you will be pushed back into the seat! Press the electric mode button and you can come to a stop and accelerate up to 70km/h before the engine bumps in to assist, and unlike most other hybrids you do not have to be ridiculously light on the throttle to keep from engaging the engine.

The Panamera Hybrid has what Porsche calls a “coast” mode, allowing the engine to shutdown at any speed, where as all other hybrid manufacturers have a limit to the speeds at which the vehicle will run on electricity alone. The Infiniti M35h, for example, allows you to travel up to 100km/h with the engine disengaged while the Ford Fusion goes up to 70km/h; I had the Panamera cruising with engine off at 120km/h.

The switch between gas and electric assist is, as expected, completely seamless, as are the shifts from the eight-speed transmission. If you aren’t paying attention to the tach you would never know the vehicle is switching between electric and gasoline power, except when stopped as you can hear the engine purring away at idle. The brakes do suffer from the hybrid sponge syndrome: although they can be modulated carefully when a quick decrease of speed is needed, at slower speeds the brakes tend to go from nothing to grabby in an instant, bopping your passengers around in parking lots or slow-speed traffic.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

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After 780 kilometers behind the wheel of the Panamera S Hybrid, I have to say I will be very sad to give it back. The only downside to my week was having to swipe my credit card twice at the fuel pump as I nearly drained the 80-litre fuel tank and then topped it up with the high octane juice required.

But with all the impressive numbers this Porsche has attached to it, the as-tested fuel consumption figure is probably the most impressive of them all. I drove the Panamera as I would normally drive, including a few bursts of “wow-this-thing-is-fast-accelerating,” and some in-town shopping and errand-running and a highway jaunt, all of which averaged out to 7.8L/100km in real world numbers.

On short highway trips I saw averages of 7.5L/100km, and if it hadn’t been for a heavy foot a few times, I suspect I could have dropped down into the low sevens. Also impressive are stats such as engine running time: over a two-hour trip on Saturday, the engine was off for 25 minutes — no doubt this was the reason behind my excellent fuel economy.

Porsche could still improve the vehicle for the luxury crowd though: a little more lighting on the interior panels at night, an easy way to turn off the dash mounted clock at night as it reflects into the windshield, and a little more sound insulation in the wheel wells to keep the road noise out of the cabin. Other than those things, I’ll take mine in white please.

*Rating out of 5: