2013 Porsche Panamera GTS: The Swiss Army Knife of Driving - Ignition Episode 36 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:02 There's nothing quite like the Porsche Panamera.

00:04 Nothing in terms of style, but more importantly, nothing

00:07 in terms of practicality.

00:09 The Panamera is one of the most uniquely, bizarrely

00:13 versatile cars in the world.

00:15 It's also one of my absolute favorites.

00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:22 Why?

00:22 Well, let's look at the specs.

00:24 This is the GTS, and it slots between the Panamera 4S

00:28 and the Turbo.

00:29 We have all-wheel drive.

00:30 We have a twin-clutch transmission.

00:32 We actually get brakes from the Turbo,

00:34 although this car's on ceramic rotors.

00:36 This car rides 10 millimeters lower

00:39 and has more aggressive suspension tuning.

00:42 We also have, thankfully, a high-revving and naturally

00:45 aspirated 4.8 liter V8.

00:47 It has new valve springs, new camshafts,

00:50 and an airbox, which help it develop 430 horsepower.

00:54 That's 30 more than the standard V8.

00:56 Torque is increased, too.

00:58 And thankfully, so has the redline to 7,100 RPM.

01:02 Top speed, 178 miles an hour.

01:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:08 So what does all that mean?

01:12 Well, the Panamera's fast.

01:15 At the test track, it hits 60 miles an hour in 4.1 seconds,

01:20 and a quarter mile in 12.7 seconds at 107.2 miles an hour.

01:26 That's about as fast as a V8 Audi R8.

01:29 And it's simply effortless.

01:31 You hit the Sport Plus button, hit both pedals,

01:34 and then lift off the brake.

01:37 Our best stop from 60 miles an hour was just 106 feet.

01:40 [TIRES SCREECHING]

01:44 During its 25-second figure 8 lap,

01:51 it generated 0.99 lateral average G,

01:56 which is, again, on par with the R8.

01:58 [TIRES SCREECHING]

02:05 So you hear all that, and you may be thinking, well, yeah,

02:07 that's appreciably fast.

02:09 But what makes the Panamera special?

02:11 Well, for that, you have to look behind me.

02:13 And when you do, you'll see the two extra doors, the two

02:17 extra seats, the tons of headroom and cargo room.

02:20 You see, what makes this car special

02:22 is that it's a four-door supercar.

02:25 And that finally gets us back to why

02:27 we're cruising on the freeway in the middle of nowhere.

02:30 You see, with the Panamera, it's not just the performance,

02:33 and it's not just the functionality.

02:35 It's how masterfully it blends those two aspects.

02:38 And that's something you can only really appreciate

02:40 after driving it for a long time.

02:42 So for this episode, we're going to take it on a long drive--

02:45 we're actually halfway through that now--

02:47 to a good mountain road a few hours north of LA.

02:50 After driving this thing for a long time on the freeway,

02:52 you begin to appreciate certain things,

02:54 like how when you're cruising at 75,

02:57 the engine's barely turning 1,800 RPM,

02:59 the sound it makes on a downshift

03:02 when you roll on the throttle.

03:04 This interior, too, the layout feels futuristic and unique.

03:07 It's like sitting at the bridge of a spaceship.

03:10 But it's not alien.

03:12 It's still functional.

03:13 All the gauges and knobs fall right

03:15 at the touch of your fingertips.

03:16 It's all very easy to use.

03:18 The seats are typically German.

03:20 They're very firm, very supportive, but also

03:23 very comfortable.

03:24 You can spend a couple hundred miles on these things

03:26 and never feel fatigued or tired.

03:28 And then there's the matter of fuel economy.

03:29 This thing on the freeway is rated at 23 miles per gallon,

03:32 which--

03:33 would you guess it--

03:34 beats the current R8 V8.

03:36 [ENGINE REVVING]

03:39 There has to be a few problems, though, and there are.

03:53 The first is, most obviously, this hunchback shape

03:57 in the rear.

03:58 It's definitely the clumsiest visual feature of the car.

04:01 But after spending so much time with this car,

04:03 I don't see it like that anymore because I

04:05 know it's functional.

04:06 The result of that shape is a ton of headroom in here.

04:10 Other problems-- well, this is a lot of car.

04:13 It's a large car.

04:14 And as a result, it weighs nearly 4,400 pounds.

04:19 It also costs quite a bit of money.

04:21 This car, as tested, is $146,000.

04:25 Now, $36,000 worth of that is options.

04:28 And some of them are kind of silly, like this key fob

04:31 here, for example.

04:32 It's silver, right?

04:33 $335.

04:35 This paint, $3,140.

04:38 That's right, you're paying over $3,000 for silver paint.

04:42 You get rid of all those frivolous options, though,

04:44 and you get closer to the car's base price.

04:46 And then you start thinking about how practical it is,

04:49 how fast it is, how comfortable it is.

04:52 And then it almost seems worthwhile.

04:53 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:56 You know, when you drive this car along a winding mountain

05:09 road, you can feel like you can put it right up

05:11 against its limits.

05:13 And it's never going to scare you,

05:14 never going to surprise you.

05:17 It doesn't feel overly cautious, either.

05:19 It's just rewarding the whole time.

05:21 That's really what makes this car so special.

05:25 You know, if you told somebody 20 years ago

05:28 that there would be a sedan that handled the way this thing

05:31 does, they'd call you crazy.

05:33 They'd lock you up in a mental institution.

05:35 If you were to take this car back in time somehow,

05:38 they'd wonder what planet you came from.

05:41 Not just because of the styling--

05:42 OK, maybe because of the styling--

05:44 but also because of how well it drives.

05:47 I mean, this is just a lovely car.

05:49 [ENGINE REVVING]

05:52 So what you have with the Panamera

05:56 is a very good driver's tool, a very good car for the commute,

06:01 a very good car for long hauls, a ton of cargo room.

06:04 You could take this thing camping.

06:05 You could take it up a canyon road.

06:07 I mean, this car does everything.

06:09 OK, it doesn't climb rocks, but it basically

06:12 does everything else.

06:14 It's hard to think of a car that is more

06:16 complete than this.

06:17 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:21 The Panamera is a bit of an odd one, not for its looks,

06:24 but for its capabilities.

06:26 Forget the styling, and what do you have?

06:28 Well, you have all the ingredients

06:30 of a luxury, grand touring car.

06:32 You have four comfortable seats.

06:34 You have an attractive interior.

06:36 And you have lots of cargo space.

06:38 So it's good for the commute.

06:40 It's good for road trips.

06:42 But you also have, wrapped in the same package,

06:44 an excellent sports car with brilliant driving dynamics

06:47 and a wonderful engine note.

06:49 It's an unparalleled level of versatility

06:52 that separates the Panamera from being a mere car.

06:55 It's the Swiss Army knife of driving.

06:57 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:04 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:43 (dramatic music)

2013 Porsche Panamera GTS: The Swiss Army Knife of Driving - Ignition Episode 36

Category

Transcript

Recommended