Jmiran

I have a question for the current Panamara owners. I went to my local Porsche dealership to look at the Macan and Cayenne as possible replacements for my 2008 Range Rover. I drove both suvs in addition to the Panamara. I love the redesign of the Panamara for both the interior and exterior and I’m keeping an open mind as to the type of vehicle I’d like to purchase. My dilemma is that during the test drive on a local road (speed limit 35) the SA had me slow down considerably on two occasions as there were dips in the road and he didn’t want me to bottom out. I loved the car and would probably buy it but I’m afraid that I’d be worried about scraping the bottom of the front bumper. This was never a concern with the RR or course. I’ve even driven the same road at speed in my daughter’s VW Golf and never had an issue. Really loved the Panamara otherwise. Is this a legitimate issue for any of you? I’ve tried to find the ground clearance specifications for the Porsche in addition to other sedans to see how it compares but with no success. I genuinely appreciate any information.

pmichaelis

I've owned a Panamera for 7 years now and never once had an instance of "bottoming out". Only occasionally have I had to go into the raised mode to enter a curbed driveway. My son's road has speed bumps and no problem there.

ajriches01

It's absolutely fine, I drive around fields on occasion without issue (although admittedly I'd raise the suspension when doing so...also because it looks cool).

and7

I have a lot of speed bumps on the roads near me and I have never had any issues in whichever mode the car is in.

Jmiran

Thank you all for your input. I feel a lot better now. I’m going to go to another local dealer and take an extended test drive. Thanks again.

cometguy

It's a concern for me, also. I have a 2015 Panamera 4, and I insisted on getting one with the Adaptive Air Suspension, which I do use occasionally in areas where there are bad dips.
I've not hit bottom, but I would like to know if there is a way that a Panamera can be raised permanently by a couple of inches, without the Adaptive Air Suspension.
I'm planning to get the new generation Panamera.
In my 2015 model, my clearance at the front near the front tire is about 5 to 5.5 inches normally, and about 6.5 inches with the car raised via AAS; but that raising with AAS ends at about 18-19 mph in driving. I'd like higher permanent raised ground clearance, so I don't have to think about putting on the AAS rise.
Any experts out there know if I can get a mechanic to install something to raise a new-gen Panamera permanently by an inch or two?

cerbomark

No problem after years of driving the Pana also. The car is low but does not give much more movement downward. The only thing is to be careful when pulling up to those parking concrete stops. Never bottomed out.

K777

Never bottomed out on UK speed bumps and I drive permanently in low suspension mode. Only raised it to high lift mode on two very high bumps at local supermarket.
But watch the front like cerbomark says, if parking upto a raised curb, stop before you get there or take out of low suspension mode.
both on my 2015 S EH and my 2017 4EH

Adampanamera

I have similair problem , but i have bought used panamera with lowered suspension with springs from h&h firm . But i would like to put back the original porsche springs since my car does not have air suspension.
any advice if OEM supplier would work for panamer ?

stealthpilot

For normal road driving the Panamera is fine. Only time you will have an issue is when you are entering or exiting a steep driveway, or if you are exiting a parking lot on a dip into a road with a lot of camber. In these instances you can raise the air suspension to mitigate the issue.

If you want to never worry about it but like the fastback looks then have a look at the Cayenne Coupe!

justabout

My guess is the alignment will be non optimal if your driving with the suspension raise for miles. With a short/long arm suspension it can probably compensate with proper adjustment but I would fully investigate the impact of raising it before making any plans.

cometguy

For many of us, the "only time" that you mention occurs daily. And I've driven my Panameras all across the USA and had many cases where I'm glad that I had the air suspension to lift the car over dips between parking lots, gas stations, etc., and the nearby road, as well as speed bumps. In fact, I've taken my Panameras onto lots of dirt and gravel roads, and onto grassy areas, and I've never had the clearance problems there that I've had on paved roads (of course, I would never take a Panamera on a deeply-rutted gravel or dirt road!).

I'd asked a question a couple of years ago (above in this thread) to see if anybody had experience in raising a Panamera's suspension, out of curiosity (because most people modify their cars by lowering their suspension, if anything, rather than raising it). I'd never touch my car's suspension, personally. But I'll never own a Panamera (or a Taycan, possibly forthcoming) without the air suspension for the option of lifting the car. (It seems from my seeing a couple of Taycans that they are more like 911s in their ground clearance than like Panameras, so people with tough road dips/bumps in their daily lives might have troubles with a Taycan scraping bottom a lot, even when lifted.)

martinced

Not really. In 40 000 km / 25 000 miles of daily driving I did scrape the bottom of the front bumper once in a rare while. It can be seen if the car is on a lift. But I wouldn't call a few little scratch over the course of 25 000 miles an issue.