Tom in Austin

Hi, a group of us on the 928 forum were just trying to figure out who buys Panameras? Is it like Cayenne, traditional Porsche owners (say, 911 or Boxster) who want a second vehicle with different capabilities? Or is Panamera bringing new owners into the Porsche family from other brands?

Targa Tim

I'm a very tradition Porsche owner.
Pan4 is my wife's car.

milrad

Ditto

Panaseeya

Never had a Porsche before, never was much interested in them.
GTS is my wife's car.

743CO

My first was a 1957 1600 Super, then a 1979 928, 1999 911 Cabriolet, 2002 911 Cabriolet, then 205 GT3.

Then my hips got severe arthritis and I could only get into a Panamera Turbo!!

Cheers, JohnnyB

NelsonF

Traditional Porsche guy here (911 Carerras,Turbos, GT's). Purchased a Cayenne Turbo S and was favorably impressed and now tried the Panamera Turbo, with the same results.

robhamster

It is Porsche #3 in the house now and Porsche #5 as far as ownership. It shares the garage with an 84 911 Cab and a 07 997 tt. I bought it for the wife, but she prefers her Range Rover oddly, so it is mine now.

cole328

I had a 997S and loved it, but wanted something bigger. Got an M3 'vert, and decided I really need to grow up...ha. So, I need a DD car, and wanted something that a) looked great, b) handled very well, and c) portrayed some status of a sucessful 46 yo guy. COnsidered the new 991 in some variant, but as DD, the 911 just started to feel too small. So, narrowed the field to a) Panny GTS, b) Mercedes AMG CLS63, and BMW M5. Likely will pull trigger on the Panny GTS in January when current lease is up.

I am pumped that Porsche came up with the GTS variant, as ther other ones are all too soft (which is why so many women drive them).

Targa Tim

Interesting comment Cole.

If I'm driving anywhere by myself, then the club coupe is always my preferred DD.

I found the Panamera a bit long sometimes, esp. for tight parking spot.

I look forward to Porsche making a new 928-sized GT car again (although compared to my GT3RS and ex-air-cooled 911s, the new 991 is already a GT car to me. It is just too comfortable.)

kip1

I have driven lots of powerful sedans. Then moved and needed awd, tried the 997tt as I have always wanted 911. Was not as everyday usable as everyone said, otherwise loved it. Was scraping the front spoiler everywhere and plowing the snow. Car was too hard for a dd also in winter and after having kids and to be able to put a child seat only in the front seat, meant the wife would have had to go to the back seat. So wanted awd, similar speed as 997tt, air suspension and 4-5 seats. So it actually came to the Audi RS5 RS6 or the PTT. Once the turbokit came out, it was no competition. Dont regret it, except the crappy reliability has really surprised me. It has so far been the most unreliable car Ive ever owned and if it doesnt recover from it soon, its the only reason that will make me change to something new. Funny thing is that the future RS6 seems to be the only option, or maybe the 991tt as the child seat can now be attached in the back with isofix.

cole328

a) you have quite the stable...I'm jealous
b) I have two kids, so while commuting to work was fun, it was tough on the weekends. Plus, and this is just me, whenever I was in the 997, I could never just drive it slowly...felt like it was this awesome machine that begged to be driven hard (but safe). So, no accidents, but 9 speeding tickets in 2 years (no joke) probably also influences my decision.....:-)

pcar_finally

I am a former 996 C2 and 996 GT3 owner from a few years back. Work and life have made it impractical lately to have a purely fun two-seat car. The GT3, for example, was driven about 8-9 hours total the last year I owned it. I found that sad. I didn't want a garage queen.

The Panamera GTS won't be my daily driver, or my wife's, but it's a car that we can enjoy as a family every weekend and road trip. Comfort for the family *and* a good deal of fun for me at the same time; it should be the ideal car for us. It's already gotten my son excited about cars and Porsche again. Porsche is no longer the car collecting dust as we take the Mercedes/Audi/VW on our trip.

Perhaps a couple years down the road we'll look at a 991 again.

(Our daily drivers are a Touareg TDI and MB E350, if that helps to paint the profile for you)

neuneleven

Came from a 997.2. Tried to get the forward facing seat for my one year old in the back but it was not secure without Isofix - somewhat wobbly when held by the seat belt. Went to the dealer ship to test drive a few Panameras since I had time on my hands... returned home with the PS4. Not as flexible as a C2 but a good all arounder for now. And while not being the GTS, it still hauls @$$ - quite literally so given the impressively large rear end. Was at a DE with it and still slayed some C2 and cayman drivers on the slalom. Back to 991S once the last kid can climb in and belt self up ... though I just might get comfortable and continue with a panamera

pmichaelis

The 4S is my 5th Porsche, owned a 944, 911 Targa, 911 Cab, 993C2S and now the Panamera. Of all the cars, I find the 4S to be the most enjoyable from a utility/performance viewpoint. It can perform as well as or better than the previous cars while allowing a better degree of comfort. Interestingly, I tested the performance and found that it does 0-60 in 4.3, 1 ft rolling start and when driven moderately will turn in 32 to 33 mpg on longer trips. This, in my opinion, puts the Panamera in a class by itself.

As for dependability, it matches the earlier cars and then some. Some have complained about oil consumption which I find very normal, 1 qt in 3,200 miles at 20,000+ on the counter. The only issue was a computer brain-fart which threw a bunch of error codes, reprogramming solved this and it hasn't returned.

cole328

Man....these comments are making me VERY excited to pull the trigger on my GTS order in January....Great thread gents