Porsche Panamera S Hybrid First Test

 

The "Why Bother" that's the insider nickname for a decaf, nonfat, sugar free vanilla latte at the coffee shop I frequent. You are getting some of the flavor and none of the fun, but in the end you feel better about yourself for drinking it. Most hybrid versions of sport sedans could easily be called the WB Edition. You give up performance and handling for a car with marginally better efficiency. To make matters worse, the customer is generally charged a huge premium for doing the car company a favor by helping out with its CAFE numbers.

Say what you will about Porsche's pricing strategy, the hybrid is the deal of the century compared to other manufacturers. Yes Porsche will happily collect another couple of grand from customers for options like embossed headrests or body color painted keys, heck, they'll even wrap your air vents in leather if you so desire, but they aren't forcing you to do any of these things. While other manufacturers may get as much a forty-percent premium for a hybrid version, the Panamera S commands less than six-percent more cash on top of the V-8 powered sedans $90,000 base price.

 

So what do you get for a stack of cash roughly equal to most Porsche drivers' yearly latte budget? First, and most obviously you get increased fuel economy. The Panamera S Hybrid is rated at 22 mpg city and 30 mpg highway compared to the Panamera S's 16 and 25. It should be noted that EPA testing doesn't show the advantages gained from start/stop technology, so mileage might be further improved for those who sit in traffic on a regular basis. But let's be realistic, if you're buying a sedan this expensive does a gallon or two here or there really matter? What you really get with the hybrid version of Porsche's super sedan is some intellectual nerdtastic tech to help keep you entertained on your otherwise boring commute.

Like all hybrids, the Porsche is filled with enough colorfully animated charts, graphs and diagrams to make the original Tron look like it was done on an Etch-a-Sketch. The information in the 4.8-inch TFT color screen located in the instrument cluster alone provides more data than what was available to Mission Control during the Gemini years. Through the 7.0-inch infotainment system's screen, aptly named Porsche Communication Management (PCM), occupants can watch bar graphs of current and past efficiency, watch energy flow from engine to wheels to battery and from wheels back to the battery, sadly the only screen apparently missing is the smugometer flowing from energy recovery circuits to driver's ego every time the Panamera passes Prii and the realization sets in that hybrids don't need to be boring.

 

The Panamera S Hybrid shares specs with the Cayenne S Hybrid, like our very own long termer. Both planet saving goliaths produce 333 horsepower from a 3.0 liter supercharged V-6 and can muster an additional 47 horses from an AC electric motor. For comparison, the 4.8 liter V-8 Panamera S puts out an even 400 horsepower. The Hybrids have the clear advantage in torque however with the V-8 producing 369 lb-ft and the Hybrid throwing out a whopping combined total of 428 lb-ft. The torque figure would be even higher, but the gas engine and electric motor make peak torque at different rpm. The engine can churn out 325 lb-ft of peak torque from 3000 - 5250 rpm while the motor cranks out an unreal 221 lb-ft at 1150 rpm.

At our test track, all that torque translated into 0-60 mph in just 5.2 seconds, or exactly the time Porsche has listed for the Panamera S V-8. It should be noted that Porsche rates the Hybrid at 5.7 seconds, so likely the V-8 is slightly quicker. For comparison, a 2011 Lexus LS 600h L we tested recently ran a 5.8 second 0-60 mph while a 2010 Mercedes S400 Hybrid came in with a 7.0 second run. Even the Infiniti M35h, which lays claim to the fastest accelerating hybrid turned 60 mph in only a tenth faster at 5.1 seconds. The Panamera S Hybrid also ran a 13.8 second quarter mile at 101.5 mph. The Lexus a 14.2 second quarter at 101.3 mph and the "fastest accelerating hybrid on the planet" Infiniti ran the same exact time but loosing in trap speed by 0.8 mph.

 

So the Panamera S Hybrid is obviously fast in a straight line, but drag racing isn't really what Porsches are for anyway. It was on the figure eight where the Panamera really started to shine. While the M35h, S400 hybrid and LS600h run a 26.3 second, 28.2 second and a 27.2 second figure eight respectively, the Panamera S Hybrid blows them all out of the water with a 24.7 second lap time at an average of 0.78g. That's only 0.3 seconds behind a Panamera Turbo and get this, a half second faster than the last time we figure eighted our 556 horsepower, magneto-rheological suspension equipped long term CTS-V Wagon. The shortest stopping of the competitive set is the Infiniti at 118 feet from 60 mph and the Porsche destroys that as well at 104 feet.

But numbers are numbers, what really matters is how the car feels. While other hybrids are generally a letdown in handling, the Panamera is world class when compared to all cars, not just hybrids. On the track it feels like any other Porsche, the steering is telepathic, body movements are controlled to near perfection and it does exactly what you want. At the limit of handling, it is completely drivable on the throttle. Long smoky sideways drifts are completely controllable and the irony of doing it in a hybrid never gets old. If the showy style isn't your speed, the big Porsche will carve through turns with sports car like precision nipping apexes and exit markers like a car half its 4539 lb weight. The brake pedal still has a bit of the ponderousness in the first half-inch travel we have come to expect in our Cayenne Hybrid. On the track, it isn't quite as noticeable as on the street.

During normal breaking, the first section of brake pedal travel is using regenerative stopping only which then transitions to good old fashioned friction. Unfortunately, the brake calipers bite a bit too quick in the beginning and it is tough to get a smooth application. That is really the only downside of the hybrid drivetrain in the Panamera. The extra couple hundred pounds over a V-8 Panamera S are barely perceptible. The ability to cruise down the freeway on electricity alone with the engine off is as peaceful as being in open water being pulled along by a main sail. If all hybrids were like this and offered at a six-percent premium, I have to think no one would have a problem buying one. All the flavor, all of the fun and you can still feel better about buying it. This without a doubt, the best hybrid to bother with.

 source: motortrend