DaveM993

Friend of mine took a Panamera Turbo for a 45 minute drive. He is a 35 year Porsche enthusiast. He said when he got in the car he thought it was ugly...when he got back and got out of the car...he thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

I little tongue in cheek...but he said the cars performance and ride were spellbinding.

goofballdeluxe

As they should be for a car that costs $150,000!

Yes, the Panamera is a technological tour-de-force. No question about that. But it's the automotive equivalent of Susan Boyle: great voice, but not much to look at, alas.

George from MD

"the Panamera is the lovechild of a dung beetle and Rosie O'Donnell"

I'm sorry but that was drop dead funny.

"the automotive equivalent of Susan Boyle: great voice, but not much to look at, alas"

and that sums it up perfectly IMO.

In terms of design the Aston simply blows away the Panamera. I'm ashamed of what Porsche did too and while I don't think the car is as ugly in person as it is in the pictures it's still weird looking and far from beautiful. It reminds of the ill fated Jaguar XKE 2+2 but with trim designed by a North Korean committee. Just plain awkward, poorly proportioned and poorly detailed. I'll never buy one no matter how well it performs- life's just too short for ugly cars.

Besides a Cadillac can stomp it (non Turbo) or come darn close to stomping it (Turbo) on a race track- for tens of thousands less. If you want ugly performance why pay more?

FGL28

Where is this proof that the Caddy will beat the Panamera?

Ocean Blue C2S

"in my little town..." of one million, Calgary, Alberta Canada, the dealer already sold 3 Panameras, but why put it on the Porsche factory calendar? Marketting I suppose, I just wish that PCA and clubs that CATER to sports cars just did that! I'm tires of seeing the Cayenne and now the Panamera photos and articles... instead focus on the sport!

My 02 cent rant,

Bert

goofballdeluxe

What is this, Perry Mason?!?

Even if the Caddy doesn't beat the Panamera, it has 95% of the performance at 66% less cost. And it's not nearly as ugly.

Name me an uglier car for over $100K than the Panamera.

George from MD

"Where is this proof that the Caddy will beat the Panamera?"

http://www.egmcartech.com/2009/10/29...lts-coming-in/

Why aren't any of the Panamera lovers accepting the Bob Lutz challenge? Where was Porsche's entry? Have you seen the CTS-V's Nurburgring lap times? You can look up that answer anywhere- it's all over the net. Porsche knows better- they'd lose just showing up.

And the Cadillac even offers a manual transmission- why doesn't Porsche give the US buyer that choice?

Let's face it- Porsche wants big egos with money- if you read the Racing and Driver's Ed forums or know a 917 from a 908 you aren't a likely customer. If you have plenty of money, want to spout zero to sixty times like a high school kid and show your neighbors something that beats their Lexus you might be interested.

goofballdeluxe

Exactly. Hopefully the seeing-eye dog can drive, because it'd help being blind if you own this overpriced fast cow.

abiazis

I test drove all three of the Panamera offerings and while they are competent performance cars, they left me with an overall feeling of being "underwhelmed" to sum it up in one word. Porsches usually create a WOW feeling after a test drive or seeing it in person.....I really wanted to be excited and I wanted to like it better in person.....where was the Porsche emotion?

The cars did not get my "blood racing" or give me an exhilarated feeling as other 4 door sport sedan cars I have driven, i.e. E63 AMG, E39 M5, S65 AMG, etc...or other Porsches...including Cayenne Turbo or GTS......

The luxury appointments of the car also fell short in my opinion....again kind of thrown together in the interior with the dash and console too "choppy".....radio still sub-par for the class....

I think the Cayenne Turbo or GTS is a better buy, more versatile in its use both on and off the road. Its exterior and interior design flows a bit better and the performance is also close to that of Panamera.... relative to driving on American roads.......and also can go offroad quite capably......

Additionally, we should not have to state that the car "looks better in person"
(which is a stretch).....it either looks great or it doesn't in photos or in person.....

If Porsche wanted to steal an appreciable amount of Mercedes, Maserati, Bentley, Audi 4 luxury door customers, etc.....I would really be surprised, other than some Pcar consumers being so loyal to the Porsche marque that they would buy a "turbocharged box" with a Porsche engine.....

Marco8

You can blame the Panamera's looks on Porsche staying true to one of its core principles "form following function". Not sure what the spec is for rear seating (6'5" to 6'7" I guess) but if they would have made the spec say two to three inches shorter the profile would been much better.

And while this reduction would have precluded some buyers, it would likely have improved overall sales making the bean counters happy. Too bad no one on the design team had the nads to fight this specification.

dbf73

The Pananarama looks nice from the front but that back - uggghhh. The thing that impressed me most in person, and not in a good way, was how big it was. Any idea how the Rapide compares sizewise? Maybe it is just modern cars in general but the Pananarama has more switches inside than a NASA control room. Looks like you'd need a copilot to drive the thing. Rosie indeed

Flying Finn

Marco,

That (headroom) somewhat explains the rear ugliness but the whole car is just so "meh". Even the front which is the best part of it is so common, bland looking.

There is absolutely nothing about styling of Panamera that is bold, edgy, ground breaking, being a leader, not a follower. It doesn't need to have all of those qualities (for example I hate short term styling such as Cadillac often does) but at least have something. Maybe most importantly, it should have something that would distinguish it from other cars on the road. but as already has been said, it looks 100% something that was designed by a design committee to please the masses and to be absolutely safe.

George from MD

I would love to see the Cadillac go back to the Ring and better the Turbo. As I understand the Turbo bested it by three to four seconds- not a lot when you're talking about lap times of almost eight minutes. And the Cadillac did it's lap at the end of a test session- with an automatic. Walter Rohrl (the Ringmaster) drove the Turbo and you better believe it was a lot better prepared.

Trouncing the S or 4S carries some sting; the Porsche, after all, costs half again as much- before you dip into one of the most expensive option lists out there. But besting a car that's being touted as the ultimate in four door performance and costs twice as much?

That's really gonna hurt.

odurandina

this is too much fun. love the TV ad too but not too crazy about this big ugly car.

and why now ?


My perfect Porsche if anyone cares ?

a 968 with a lot of modern Porsche upgrades, a 997 front and a Chevrolet LS2 engine... in Cobalt Blue.

cuz it'd have plenty of room for surfboards, and it feels like the most perfect car on earth when you drive it.

I'll try to get some photos up soon.

Allan -- Massachusetts.

FGL28

Now at the Panamera Test session on Monday November 9 one of the Porsche Driving School instructors claimed that a couple of weeks ago the Panamera Beat the Chevy record. As I understand it they are developing ads to make this fact known.

Of course you guys think PCNA is lying.

But after driving the Turbo Panamera around the track I think it is possibe.

Of course one birngs out the huge egos of Porsche owners. But I submit to you that Aston Martin owners and those "feel good about saving the enviorenment" Karma owners have egos that make Porsche owners look humble.