2024 Porsche Panamera

It’s a great-looking one, too, with a new set of squared-off headlights with matrix-LED lighting and a reshaped set of front air intakes. It’s swole only where it needs to be, mostly at the rear haunches, and low-slung like a swinging French sedan from the ‘60s. Refined, with typical Porsche styling elements incised only where needed, the Panamera wears its cutlines and air intakes and sculpting very discreetly.

The Panamera cockpit sees more dramatic change. A 12.6-inch digital display houses the gauge cluster and configurable displays for navigation and infotainment, while a central touchscreen hosts infotainment and ancillary vehicle controls. There’s a third available screen, one that faces the front passenger with a limited set of touch functions and the ability to stream content without disturbing the driver. Streamlined and spared the button infestations of the first Panamera, this latest one draped its cabin in metal or carbon-fiber or gloss-black trim, with synthetic or real leather or houndstooth check upholstery and a evocative palette of trim colors.

How fast is the Porsche Panamera?

So far this model year, the Panamera comes with a single powertrain, and it’s a blast. The twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 spins out 348 hp and 368 lb-ft of twist at low rpm. Though it’s saddled to at least 4,295 pounds of curb weight, its slick-shifting 8-speed dual-clutch automatic launches it to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds, and onward to a 169-mph top speed. With the optional Sport Chrono package, Porsche shaves two-tenths off its 0-60 mph time, for a net 4.8 seconds. 

That’s not bad for what’s really the base car. In the offing are a slew of variants, including a 493-hp Panamera GTS powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 and good for 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds with the Sport Chrono setup; a Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and 4S E-Hybrid, with the same engine coupled to a single electric motor for a net output of 463 and 536 hp, respectively; and the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, good for 771 hp, a 0-60 mph time of 2.8 seconds, and a top speed of 202 mph.

The ridiculously fast shifts of the dual-clutch transmission egg on drivers to use all the 348 hp offered to them, but it’s the car’s air suspension and adaptive dampers that bless it with unflappable poise and grip that borders on stubborn. There’s little the Panamera can’t do in any driving circumstance: we’ve threaded it around race tracks and shimmied around winding Appalachian hairpins without fuss. Precise steering and resilient ride motion control get more edgy and insistently firm as the car’s dialed into sport drive modes, and with bigger wheels and tires than the standard 19-inchers it’s borderline stiff. We’d opt for the rear-axle steering for that reason. It gives the Panamera the sensation of being shorter and more nimble than its SUV-sized footprint would indicate on a spec sheet. With it, the agile low-speed feel translates into a stable, planted footing at high speeds.

Oh, and the Panamera will tow 4,850 pounds and can step over small obstacles with its 5.2 inches of ground clearance. But you would never—would you?

As a hatchback, the Panamera sits 198.9 inches long, on a 116.1-inch wheelbase. It’s longer than a Cayenne SUV, though also lighter at 4,295 pounds, and lower.

With upgraded front seats now offering heating and 14-way power adjustment, the Panamera’s more attentive toward driver and front passenger needs. They’ll have to get used to synthetic leather support, though: The real stuff’s now an option. Options can turn the faux hides real, and fit the front seats with cooling, massaging, or sporty bolsters. The space surrounding those front seats strikes a great balance between low-slung and sporty, and spacious grand tourer. Six-footers will find a fine driving position.

They’ll do fine in the rear two seats, too, but while the doors open wide, the roofline’s low. The pair of rear seats does fine by foot, knee, and headroom. The console that divides them can be upgraded to a slim middle seat—or, better yet, the twin seats can be fitted with power adjustment, heating, and cooling, as well as a rear-seat entertainment system. 

The Panamera’s 17.4 cubic feet of cargo space rises to 46.9 cubic feet behind the front seats when the rear seatbacks fold down. 

Porsche doesn’t glitz up the interior of the Panamera in its standard forms, but it makes tweedy upholstery and carbon-fiber trim—and a handsome set of interior hues ranging from purple to blue to burgundy to greige. It’s a no-nonsense environment, but one that’s tightly screwed together of very high-quality materials.

The base Panamera can be configured with a slew of options, ranging from a passenger touchscreen that can stream video, to adaptive 18-way power front sport seats, cooled front and rear seats, 2+1 rear seating, power and heated rear seats, a full leather interior, 20- or 21-inch wheels, and Bose or Burmester audio.

Which Porsche Panamera should I buy?

With only the base model available thus far in the 2024 model year, we’d add on the Sport Chrono package and rear-axle steering in the $4,880 Sport package. 

How much is a fully loaded Porsche Panamera?

A $7,110 Premium package ladles on driver assistance, Bose surround sound, a surround-view camera system, heated rear seats, cooled front seats, and quad-zone climate control. The $4,440 Assistance package includes the passenger touchscreen, a head-up display, and night vision. Spend more for the custom paint color you’ve always wanted, a fab leather interior, and the Panamera’s price soars beyond $150,000—before the spicy powertrains have entered the chat.