How fast is the Porsche Panamera

Previously, if you wanted the fastest Porsche Panamera possible, the answer was the Turbo S E-Hybrid. The thing is, although its 671bhp sounds impressive enough, the Panamera flagship has to cart around a motor, a 14kWh battery back and a load of other electrical bits.

The result is a car that tips the scales at 2.4-tonnes, blunting acceleration and hampering handling. For the newly refreshed Panamera range, however, the S E-Hybrid has been dropped, with a new pure-ICE Turbo S model becoming the new top dog in the line-up.

The Turbo S also serves as a replacement for the old Turbo, serving up a 621bhp and 605lb ft of torque from a tweaked version of its predecessor’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, up from 542bhp and 567lb ft. 0-62mph happens in just 3.1 seconds, which is three-tenths faster than the Turbo S E-Hybrid. It’s a tenth faster than a McLaren 570S, for Pete’s sake. Find a long enough bit of tarmac, and you’ll be able to hit 196mph.

It isn’t just fast in a straight line, though - Porsche has already sent the Panamera Turbo S around the Nurburgring, where it completed a lap in just 7min 29.81sec, giving it the honour of being the “‘fastest executive car” at the Green Hell. Niche.

If - understandably - you can do without such rabid performance, you might consider the Panamera GTS. It’s been given a 20bhp boost relative to the outgoing version, yielding a total output of 473bhp. The GTS will sound fruitier than before too, thanks to the Sports Exhaust option now being fitted as standard.

While the Turbo S E-Hybrid has fallen by the wayside, it is still possible to get a potent plug-in version of the Panamera. The new 4S E-Hybrid mixes a 17.9 kWh battery pack and electric motor with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, giving a total system power of 552bhp and 553lb ft of torque. It’s able to reach 185mph and crack 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds, just a little slower than the old Turbo. Running on electrical juice only, it can cover up to 34 miles.

At the lower end of the range are the Panamera and Panamera 4 derivatives, each using the same 2.9-litre engine as the 4S E-Hybrid, minus the electrical gubbins. It’s good for 335bhp and 332lb ft in each car. For now at least, there’s no 4 E-Hybrid model.

The range starts at £69,860.00 for the entry-level Panamera, rising to £72,890 for the Panamera 4, £101,690 for the 4S E-Hybrid and finally £135,610 for the mighty Turbo S. Sport Turismo estate variants will be charged at a slight premium, which will, of course, be worth every additional penny.

There was a time when buyers looking for a fast, spacious, and luxurious car would need three separate vehicles: a fast one, a luxurious one, and a spacious one. Like, say, a Porsche 911, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and a Subaru Outback. Somewhere along the way, automakers figured out how to combine all the above in one mindbendingly capable package, and the latest Porsche Panamera Turbo S is one of the best such vehicles.

Meet the New Panamera Turbo S

Our Porsche Panamera Turbo S test car sports a familiar face but is part of the updated-for-2021 Panamera lineup (and it's worth pointing out, is functionally identical to the 2022 Panamera Turbo S). You can get a full rundown of the changes Porsche made to the 2021 Panamera in our in our First Drive, but here's the CliffsNotes version: Panamera customers wanted a car that slotted between the 550-hp Panamera Turbo and the (now) 690-hp Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid plug-in. So Porsche dropped the Panamera Turbo and brought back the Panamera Turbo S. It sports a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 churning out 620 hp and 604 lb-ft of torque. All that power is routed through Porsche's quick-shifting PDK eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and to a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. Other standard features include mildly revised styling, four-wheel steering, an electronic adaptive air suspension, a 48-volt active anti-roll bar, and massive carbon-ceramic brakes.

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How Fast Is It?

The end result is that the Porsche Panamera Turbo S is one of the fastest four-doors we've ever tested, and among the quicker new gasoline-powered vehicles on the road. Aided by launch control, it ripped from 0-60 mph in just 2.6 seconds and pounded through the quarter mile in 10.9 seconds at 126.0 mph. That's significantly quicker than its direct gas-powered competitors; the Mercedes-AMG GT63 4-Door, for instance, hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds and ran through the quarter in 11.6 seconds at 118.3 mph. We haven't tested the four-door BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupe yet, but we have tested the lighter, leaner two-door coupe. It's still slower than the Porsche, needing 3.3 seconds to hit 60 mph and 11.4 seconds to get through the quarter mile at 124.6 mph.

The 2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S SpecificationsBASE PRICE$179,050PRICE AS TESTED$201,200VEHICLE LAYOUTFront-engine, AWD, 4-pass, 4-door hatchbackENGINE4.0L Twin-turbo direct-injected DOHC 32-valve 90-degree V-8POWER (SAE NET)620 hp @ 6,000 rpmTORQUE (SAE NET)604 lb-ft @ 2,300 rpmTRANSMISSION8-speed twin-clutch autoCURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)4,694 lb (53/47%)WHEELBASE116.1 inLENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT198.8 x 78.2 x 56.2 in0-60 MPH2.6 secQUARTER MILE10.9 sec @ 126.0 mphBRAKING, 60-0 MPH100 ftLATERAL ACCELERATION1.09 g (avg)MT FIGURE EIGHT22.9 sec @ 0.90 g (avg)EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON15/21/17 mpgEPA RANGE, COMB403 milesON SALENow

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