DMoore

'18 Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo, 1st load released from port in San Diego, delivered 3/1/6/18. Approx. 5200 miles - just last week did about 800 miles round trip to Rennsport Reunion. As background, it's my 3rd Panamera ('10 4S; '13 GTS) and 5 of my 6 911's have been PDK as well. I briefly had a '16 Cayman, also PDK.So lots of PDK experience.

I've had NO mechanical issues with my '18 Panamera. I certainly had PDK problems with the '13 991.1 S, which Porsche never did figure out. It kept trying to stall when I pulled out (gently, aggressively, it didn't matter) into an intersection. It was completely unpredictable but annoying as hell.

The ONLY problem I've had with my current Panamera was with the crossbar behind the rear seats which can be removed. The handle for the release mechanism broke and the entire crossbar had to be replaced. A minor issue, and it's the ONLY problem I've had with the car.

So take this together with the other comments and draw your own conclusions. Is any company capable of producing an individual lemon? I'd have to say yes. Are all Panamera Turbos problematic? Clearly not.

DMoore
'18 Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo
'18 991.2 GTS

jtorrebl

Archer1021

So #3 was minor when I bought it, but when it got really hot, it cracked and popped so loud, I thought my roof was going to shatter. My sun roofs never failed but anyway I brought it in, and they fixed it, they said it had something to do with the shade mechanism...so I really don't know. I once in a while hear a minor shift in the roof, but nothing close to what I had before, pretty much anything other than a flat service sounded like a had a Kukaracha shaker in my roof lol. I have had some real hot days since the fix and I am relieved it has been silent 98% (car rattles and creaks are so fricken annoying).

In regards to the front buzz rattle, it seems like its coming from the front right speaker because when I turn the radio up, the noise goes with the beat of the song, but when on mute and driving over rough road, there is that constant rattle buzz. It used to be only when my wife sat in the passenger seat so I never bothered to address it, but over the last month it has evolved into a constant noise whenever I drive which is what finally drove me to get it inspected. Hope it can be resolved.

petelp

My advice is to find a place to rent one of these Panamera's for a weekend, and do a LOT of driving with it, definitely including some winding roads and highways with some real turns in them. I just did that last weekend and I absolutely fell in love with this car. It was truly a revelation.

I've been driving top of the line Lexus and Infiniti sedans exclusively since they both came out in about 1988. Yes their reliability was exactly what attracted most attracted me, and they totally lived up to their reputation in that respect. And for several years, IMO Infiniti had the best Nav and electronics options, for a while being the only luxury sedan with a rear view monitor, same for XM radio.

Some general observations
- You won't have an inkling how amazing the handling is on this car, (even for mediocre drivers like me), if you don't do some very conscientious test drivng over the course of, say, a weekend. I find it shockingly easy and pleasurable to stay centered in a lane on any twisting road in this car. It just blows my mind, Same for super smooth breaking and acceleration.

- The car is truly beautiful (i've got a Metalic White 4S, with Cohiba Brown interior, and the Porsche website images don't come close to doing it justice) My girlfriend and I think it's the most beautiful car we've ever seen.

- On "Attention Getting": The reactions have been draw dropping. Universal enthusiasm and applause.

- IMO it's got a great CarPlay implementation, in that the touch screen is the most responsive I've ever seen in a car, and it's a pleasure compared to the Mercedes and Audi approach (as with some others), which require turning a rotating dial just to select something on the screen. Further, none of the top end Lexus or Infiniti offerings even OFFER CarPlay right now.

- US News and World Report gave the 2011 Panamera a 4 star rating on reliability, and I presume they have the data to back that up (consumer reports doesn't have enough data to show anything) I looked at 2011 because that was the second year of that generation Panny, just as this is the second year of the current generation. The first year of a new generation tends to find some issues that get ironed out in successive years.

petelp

Also, check out some of these great reviews which, from what I've seen, are very typical of most other current generation Panamera reviews, but not at all similar to the review posted earlier in this thread

The Porsche Panamera is Business Insider's 2017 Car of the Year

2017 Porsche Panamera 4S Review | Edmunds


PANAMERA: 2018 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR FINALIST

rthruska

anyone think there is a delay in shifts from when you hit the paddles in manual mode? I came from a GTR and would only drive it in paddle shifting mode because of the crappy programming on the auto modes, shifts were way too low rpm. Now I find myself in the opposite situation, I prefer auto in my 18 p turbo. Especially in a first gear shift, feels like it shifts 1 sec after I hit the paddle. I spoke to my dealer about it and they didn't have much of an answer and I remember the paddle shifts being so quick/responsive in an older GTS that I drove

Archer1021

chance6

I found the same thing when I test drove a PTT earlier this past spring. Remarkably slow PDK response when shifting manually in normal mode, and a little in Sport too. Dealer said it's part of the Turbo approach with luxury ride.

EmMHoLLa

Might need to be in sport mode for immediate shifts. Just tried it and they were immediate..

quicksand1

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask this question but I'm looking at a 2018 or 2019 Pana Turbo and I wanted to know... is there a button on the steeling wheel that allows you to rewind/fwd in the middle of a track? Since there are no radio control buttons, are you only limited to rewinding and fast-forwarding by taking your eyes off the road and using the touchscreen?

Djpeaksd

There is a button on the right side of the wheel that can be assigned to a bunch of different things, one of which is " next track". I have mine programmed to that. So programming that button will solve half of your issue.

quicksand1

Ok, but what if you want to rewind or fast-forward the same track you're listening to? Can you do this without going to the screen?

petelp

Check out this thread I posted about a very inexpensive and effective 3rd party device that might handle your request. I believe when you hold down those forward/back controls you can move forward or backward within a track. I've been using the device and it works well for skipping tracks forward and back, but I haven't actually tested holding down a button to move forward and back WITHIN a track. I will try that and let you know.

Also, If you're using CarPlay, you can use Siri voice control (by pressing and holding the voice command button on the stalk) and saying something like "rewind 13 seconds" or "skip forward 2 and a half minutes". You can use any time interval, and you can do that when maps or any other app is on the screen, and it will always control the current carplay audio app.

Another point to be aware of, if you're using CarPlay, and thinking about skipping forward or back within a track of an AUDIO BOOK app, like Audible (which, for me, is by far the most important use of skipping back within a track):

Audible's response to standard prev/next track button presses can be configured (within the Audible app's settings on the phone) to skip back/forward specific time intervals WITHIN the track, such as 10 or 20, 90 seconds etc, or entire chapters. That works for the Panny steering wheel control button when IT'S configured for skip track, and also works for the third party bluetooth controller button I mentioned above. I use the 10 second skip for Audible books many times a day and find it invaluable. (the Apple Books app might offer similar settings options)

quicksand1

Ok, if and when I pull the trigger on this car, I will test this out during the buying process. Let me know your findings with the 3rd party app.

FYI - you have to admit ,this is a MAJOR oversight on Porsche's part not to have designated pre-set buttons for these commands.

petelp

I don't think it's any kind of oversight to allow a button to be programed for many different options, one of which is skip track. That's better in my opinion than providing a skip track button with NONE of the other options for the steering wheel in any form, as is the case with many cars. But I do agree that it's a definite flaw that they provide no way to have both skip forward and skip back on the steering wheel at the same time.

Keep in mind, however, that many new Mercedes and Audis have no touch screen for carplay and many of them with NO skip forward/back steering wheel options for carplay. Those are much bigger failings in my opinion.