- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 4 seats
- Engine
4.0TT/100kW Hybrid, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
600kW (comb), 400Nm
- Fuel
Hybrid (95) 2.9L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid review
There is something deeply disconcerting about driving a half-million-dollar Porsche with super-car performance and 500kW on tap, and seeing the rev counter sitting on zero rpm, giving off a strange, green glow, while the speedo says 120km/h.
Welcome to the future, a strange place where Porsches have swallowed Prius technology and spat it back out in a more palatable form, using hybridisation for good - boosting performance - as well as feel-good means, like efficiency.
This strange and slightly confusing car that we’re driving at its international launch in Victoria, Canada (clearly there’s something about the word “Victoria” and speed limits, because they are draconian here, too, with open country roads bristling with 50km/h signs), is the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. And, as Ze Germans keep repeating ad infinitum, it is a Very Important Statement, because it’s the first time the range-topping car in any Porsche line-up has been hybridised.
The other thing they’re very keen for us to tell you is that this Panamera, which can travel up to 50km in its default EV-only mode at speeds of up to 140km/h, carries the DNA of arguably the most astonishing car Porsche has ever produced, the 918 Spyder.
It might well share its DNA, although the engineer in charge of its hybrid tech admits all the actual parts are different, but in semi-human terms the Panamera would be the fat Kardashian (whichever one that is).
Not just because it is far less pleasing to look at - the new-look Panamera is far, far more attractive than the original but still has an ungainliness to it that is only really fixed if you go for the Sport Turismo version, which will get this powertrain, eventually - but because it is seriously heavy.
While the hybrid system, or “Electric machine” in Porsche-speak, does chip in 100kW and up to 400Nm, it also adds almost 300kg, which the company’s hybrid expert, Thomas Neumann, admits makes the whole thing a bit of a trade-off.
“Weight is always an issue and we made it as light as we can, but at the moment, if you want a battery with these kilowatts, you have to have the weight,” he explains.
The battery alone is 130kg, the motor another 50kg, and then you have to add the on-board charging system, and the high-voltage heating system - because the car can’t always use the heat from the engine to keep the cabin warm any more - and the electrical air-conditioning (the bonus of which is you can set it remotely to pre-cool the car on hot days, regardless of whether you’re plugged into the grid or not).
All up, you’re looking at a vehicle that weighs 2.3 tonnes, which is almost acceptable for an executive express like this, but will surely blunt the performance and dull the handling. Or it would, if Porsche engineers weren’t involved.
The pay-off of the clever, 918-style plug-in hybrid tech is an instantaneous whack of torque, which hits 850Nm from just off idle and stays there, flat and fabulous, unlike torque “curves” of old, all the way to 6000rpm. The 4.0-litre biturbo V8, which makes 404kW and 550Nm on its own, does its bit as well.
The result is speed, with more speed on top, particularly when it comes to rolling acceleration. The boring old internal combustion only Turbo Panamera, which is no slug, goes from 100km/h to 200km/h in 9.2 seconds, while the E-Hybrid does the same in 8.3. That's the kind of mid-range punch in the back you really notice. It can also launch all of its considerable mass from a standing start to 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds, compared to the normal Turbo at 3.6. That makes this Panamera as fast to 100km/h as a Lamborghini Huracan.
So, it’s seriously, properly fast in a straight line, and yet the other advantage of its save the whales PHEV tech is a claimed fuel-economy figure of just 2.9 litres per 100km, vastly better than the stock Turbo Panamera at 9.4 litres per 100km.
This is, of course, a highly theoretical figure, because by the time we took our E-Hybrid off the race track and out on to the road it was averaging 28L/100km.
Clearly, that claimed figure is arrived at by making the car default to E-mode every time you start it, and assuming that drivers won’t immediately switch to the slightly thirstier, and more aggressive, Hybrid or Sports modes, every single time they fire it up.
To be fair, if you were driving in traffic, or worried about fuel bills - or you live in London and want to be able to avoid paying the Congestion Charge - you really could live with it in EV mode around town, or even on city motorways. Depending on your charging set-up and amps, it will take between 2.4 hours and six hours for a full recharge.
There’s plenty of torque when the engine is off, and your rev counter on zero, and the 140km/h limit for that kind of driving is more than ample. The throttle also provides a helpful detente feeling against your foot, so you know how hard you can push before the engine will kick in.
We gave the E-mode a good try and are willing to believe it really would make its claimed 50km range, particularly in traffic with lots of regenerative braking. And it is wondrously smooth and quiet without the engine on.
But the thing is… why would you buy all that power and performance and not use it? Particularly when its gurgle-growling V8 sounds so good (although it does sound like it’s having its fun in a far-off place, perhaps the other end of your mansion, thanks to the refined cabin).
The Turbo S E Hybrid is so, so much more fun when you slip it into Sport Plus, and its software turns to using all of its electric power to add boost to your already intense V8 engine. As the acceleration figures suggest, this is a staggeringly fast and vast machine.
Hang on, though, did we say “race track”? Why yes, yes we did, because truly there is no machine that Porsche launches which it doesn’t think would be best presented with a few screaming laps around a race circuit.
As implausible as that sounds for a 2.3-tonne car that’s 5m long and feels all of its 2.16m width, they also chose a Canadian track its own instructors described as “ideal for go-karting”, with 19 sharp, undulating corners in its 2.3km length.
This sounds like a recipe for both disaster and understeer, but the S E-Hybrid comes with every tech trick in the Porsche book, from Porsche Traction Management and Torque Vectoring Plus, to Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport, three-chamber air suspension, ceramic composite brakes and rear-axle steering, all of which, along with its sexy 21-inch wheels, is borrowed from the very track-capable 911 Turbo.
The result is that this big, heavy and bonkers Panamera managed to tackle this tricky, technical track with staggering aplomb, and virtually no understeer to speak of. The steering is lighter and not as wondrous as a 911, obviously, and you are always aware of the weight, particularly when the rear end starts to step sideways, but the car’s software is so good at putting the power to the wheel that needs it, precisely when it needs it, that it can do things no vehicle this size should be able to.
The Panamera’s all-new eight-speed PDK was also a particular joy to use via the slick shift paddles as we giggled our way around the track in a mixture of surprise and awe.
Perhaps the only things that surprised me more about this car are the price tag, a whopping $460,100, which is $70K more than a 911 Turbo (or line ball with the Turbo S, to be fair), and the fact that Porsche Australia is holding orders on almost its entire allocation already (think single figures, but still). Despite the fact those prospective buyers are yet to even sit in one, let alone drive it.
Honestly, the Panamera in general has never made a lot of sense to me, personally, but if you’re going to have one, and you love both clever technology and outrageous speed, this would be the one to go for.
2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Price and Specifications
Price: $460,100 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol, electric
Power: 500kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic, AWD
Fuel use: 2.9L/100km