I drove the panamera this morning., And Wow! Options

[Chris Hamilton]

I thought you guys might be interested in the 914 owners perspective of the new car, since most of the magazine articles seem to be written by people who own 997s and Cayennes and other such things. PCNA set up a big hospitality tent in Carmel today and invited the PCA over to drive the Panamera. I showed up early and got to take a pretty long drive in the thing.

Let me start off by saying I've never been a fan of heavy cars. Anything over 2500lbs seems big and fat to me. I've got a 914 and a 912, and by comparison I think my '94 Del Sol is too damn heavy.

All I can say though is, I'm amazed. I drove the RWD Naturally-Aspirated 4.8 Panamera S.

The handling: This thing has every bell and whistle I never thought I would like ( mostly all 911 stuff ). Computers to keep the ass in line. Computers to keep the brakes from locking up. Computers to keep the tires from spinning. A button that stiffens the shocks for you. The most amazing thing though is the body roll, or should I say lack thereof. You pitch that thing into a turn, and it hardly rolls at all. The steering is so quick and precise, it really feels like driving a small lightweight car. If you had told me what I just said before I drove it I never would have believed it. It was truly remarkable to be driving around a 4000lbs 4-door sedan with three full weight adults and toss it around the corners like we could. I'm still not quite sure how they managed to make the car do this, but it really felt like driving a lightweight sportscar.

The comfort: Spectacular. I drove to the event in a 2004 VW R32, which I had always thought had the best seats in the world. I was wrong. I've driven a 2007 S500, and this thing beats it in comfort and road noise. The back of it is as easy to get in and out of as the front, and easier than the 997. This thing is smoother and quieter driving down the road at 70mph than my 914 is idling in the driveway.

The power: As far as I know, this is the same 4.8 V8 that goes in the Cayenne S, and it pulls hard and sounds good. Not sure what else to say there, it's a Porsche V8. I would have liked to drive a turbo, but they didn't have any out to test today.

The transmission: The PDK unit is awesome. This thing is a 7-speed manual gearbox that the computer just happens to be clutching and shifting for you. Until you start giving it suggestions with the steering wheel paddles. When you step on the gas hard you can't feel it shifting gears, the only way to tell would be to look at the tach and gear number display. It felt a bit weird since all my cars are always manuals, but I got used to it pretty quickly, and in full manual mode it's just a sequential shifting manual gearbox with an automatic clutch. The thing that surprised me is how nice it is to have it in auto mode and be telling to to upshift or downshift or whatever, but if you forget and just start driving it takes over again and starts shifting for you until you give it another command. I swear the thing was reading my mind while I was out driving it.

The brakes: I hopped into the thing at the porsche loading ramp they had there, belted in, put it in drive and pulled forward to the gate. When I lightly touched my foot on the brake I just about pitched everyone through the front windshield. Not only are the brakes on this thing big enough to stop a battleship, they are VERY sensitive. It took me about a mile of driving before I could stop the thing smoothly.

The looks: Looking at it in the magazine it was ugly as sin. Looking at it in the parking lot at 7AM this morning it was decent, but overall not so great. After standing around looking at them in person the morning, passing them on the road, and then driving one for a while I think I've come to like the design a bit. Not in love, but something I could certainly live with.

The price: I failed to convince the sales guy to lease me one for $100/mo. Not sure why, I mean they should know I'm good for it.