As per our appointment, I and my father where at SMG Porsche, in Mohandeseen to test drive the new Panamera 4S. We were scheduled for the test drive at 14:00 hours, however, on our way there, I got a call from our salesman, Mr. Riad, asking me to delay our appointment for 30 mins as the car went to the service center to get the 120 kph speed warning disabled. I didn’t object because I had already paid to disable mine while in Qatar, and I know how annoying it could be.
So, we slowed down and got there about 14:30, but unfortunately, the car was NOT there. We were informed that they had just finished working on the car and it was on its way (Although I know it takes less than 5 minutes on PIWIS). Very good then, we’ll hang on for a while.
Tick, tock… Tick, tock… It’s 16:30 now and the car still hasn’t arrived, considering that the distance between the service center and the showroom is less than 10 kms, and that the streets were not that crowded, it was getting ridiculous. We decided to go out, if its not in sight, we’ll hop in our car and reschedule.
Luckily though, she was waiting for us outside, damn she’s huge. While my father still wanted to get a quick look and reschedule, I was eager to drive it that I suggested we do it since we’ve already waited that long. He agreed and off we go.
Starting off, Mr. Riad took the driver’s seat, I took the passenger’s seat and my dad sat in the rear. Mr. Riad started off heading to “el me7war” and I was busy playing with the new PCM 3.0, trying to connect my iPhone.
Here you can see the iPhone finally playing through the Universal audio interface, I say finally because I had tried it before while the car was still on the showroom but to no avail. That optional 18 speaker Burmester sound system is a true sonic masterpiece. It sounds so well that no matter how much that volume knob is turned, if you hear distortion, its your mp3’s fault. One more reason to switch to lossless formats :D.
I tinkered with the system for a while, and I found a rather interesting option, although I didnt have much time to fully understand it but it was really nice. It displayed an overlay of the cars with the four seats and all, you get to choose where you want full surround experience by tapping the respective seats (or something like that :D)
Mr. Riad on the other hand, not knowing how much of Porschephiles we really are, started explaining about the different systems in the car, PASM, SportChrono, PDK, etc… Initially, we let him explain everything, hoping we’d hear something we didnt know... Nope, all old stuff, I think he was surprised we knew almost more than he did about those systems!
This car had almost all options, the ones of interest right now are:
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PDK: Porsche Doppel Kupplungstriebe, thats german for Porsche double clutch transmission.
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PASM w/ adaptive air suspension and PDCC: The air suspension is pretty self explanatory, PASM is Porsche Active Suspension Management, it continuously regulates the suspension based on road conditions and the chosen mode (Comfort, Normal or Sport). PDCC is Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, it basically increases the stiffness at the opposite side the car is turning to eliminate body roll.
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SportChrono+ (SC+): This provides two buttons, Sport and Sport+. Sport sharpens the throttle response, increases shift speed (ie decreases shift times) and puts PASM in sport. Sport+ takes this a step further in everything, enables launch control and locks out the 7th gear in PDK (which is the overdrive gear made for fuel economy).
While on our way to “el me7war”, I took some time to look around and snap a few pictures, it was not my first time inside a Panamera, but it was my first time in broad daylight and with a camera at hand.
While in traffic, the size of this thing shows up like a sore thumb. She is indeed huge, and depending on the suspension settings, you will be higher or lower than the cars around you. Besides, this car had 6 front sensors, 6 rear sensors and a backup camera (which is really needed, considering the rear view is like that of a space shuttle). The front sensors kept beeping all the time since other cars were in close proximity. Not sure if she was meaning “Be careful” or “Get them out of my vay before I crush them”!
The Center console, so many buttons you’d think its a space ship, just more luxurious. And these are not even all the buttons in the car, not even all buttons at the front!!!
My father enjoying the back seat
The view from the side window, a really big mirror
Finally, we got to our destination, it was time for some real fun, after some arguments about who would go first, I insisted that my father does. And he did…
Starting off, nice and slow… SC: Off, PASM: Comfort
Then he was talking and keeping his foot relaxed on the accelerator, the only 2 things that tell you you’re accelerating, is the sound of the exhaust and the speed you’re passing other cars. There are G forces, but the car holds you so well that you barely feel them. Before we knew it, we were @ 220 kph, definitely faster than our Boxster, my father had some braking to do. He then tried it on SC and SC+.
Meanwhile, I was snapping more pictures of the rear.
Like buttons?? The rear console has many of them as well.
Door handles and air vents, notice it has 4 rear air vents, they are real aluminum. Very classy!
The road ended, we took the exit to Cairo-Alex road and then the first U turn. Now it’s my turn to drive this beast *evil grin*
Starting off, just before putting PDK on D, Mr. Riad asks whether my car was a tip or not. Surprised at the question I ask why, he says “I noticed that you have your left foot on the brake, in automatics we only use one foot”. I laugh and explain that I always left foot brake and what left foot braking is. I dont think he totally trusted me with that, but off we go.
Fighting the urge to just hit the SC+ button and floor it, I put it back in comfort mode and start off slowly. I heard stories about PDK jerking at slow speeds, not this time, it was so smooth you’d think its a CVT. By the time the speedo hit 60 kph, it was already in 7th gear!
Enough with babying, time for some real testing, I skip SC and press SC+ directly, the car lowers, suspension sharpens and PDK shifts are insane. I decide to “test” the handling in a little “slalom” between other cars. I know, I know. Its not safe, but hey, a test is a test.
Damn this beast can handle, all wheel drive, air suspension and PDCC really do their job well. I was zipping in and out between cars at breakneck speeds with barely any body roll. It really doesn’t feel that huge anymore.
Now thinking I can shift better than PDK, I decided to switch to manual. Pull the lever to M and off with the shifters. But wait a sec, why doesnt it want to shift?! I try again, and again to no avail. Finally I discover why so many reviewers were saying that the PDK buttons are counter intuitive… Although they are well layed out, I kept pulling the right one as if it were a paddle shift. This in PDK button language meant “downshift”, and it wouldnt of course downshift at the red line! But I hear they can be re-programmed to act as flappy pedals, with the right one for upshifts and the left for downshifts. For either push or pull!
The road ended quickly and we are in traffic again, and again I feel her size. However, when we were stopped next to an S-Class in traffic and its driver was staring at us in amazement, that’s when I felt the Panamera would take her rightful place in the market.
Unfortunately, life is not pink
Not everything in the car is great though, here what we thought needs more improvements:
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As I said earlier, rear visibility, considering that the rear view cam is an option, and is only for reversing. Rear visibility should be improved.
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Rear doors’ shape; They have almost the same problem as the rear doors of the Opel Astra Hatch, the windows protrude that they hit you if you’re not paying attention when opening or closing them. It happened to me in the Astra, and was very close to happening in the Panamera.
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The sun roof; In a nutshell… Useless. It is extremely small for a car of this size to be of any use, I say either remove it or make a panoramic roof like the Cayenne.
Now it was time to go, it was a short test drive and we didnt test everything, but we did test all we could in that short time. While we were leaving, I thought to myself, “One day, I will buy one of those… But not before we had a garage that could fit her” She is really wide, she can’t pass through our garage’s door!
Before we left I decided to snap a few more pix
Some background about the car we were driving, this was the 4S, I didnt see the spec sheet, but these are the options I saw in the car, I might miss a couple of them which I’ll add if I remember:
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This specific car cost $156,000, too much I might add, they get it cheaper in the US. I configured a similar one that only cost $135,000
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4.8L V8, 400 bhp, 500 Nm torques.
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Cognac metallic exterior, a $3200 option.
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Adaptive air suspension w/ PDCC & PASM.
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PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control): a system that prevents body roll during cornering by changing the stiffness of the dampers according to corner, for more info search for PDCC.
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PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management): a system that actively regulates suspension stiffness according to road conditions, driving style and chosen mode (Comfort, Normal and Sport)
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PDK w/ active differentials. (Porsche Doppelkupplungstriebe, i.e. Porsche double clutch gearbox, Germans just love big words :D): A 7-speed double clutch tranny)
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SportChrono+: Increased throttle response, better and faster PDK shifts, and launch control are the highlights of SC+.
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2-tone leather interior, Cedar and Cognac.
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14 way adjustable power seats front w/ seat ventilation.
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8 way adjustable power seats rear w/ seat ventilation.
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4-zone automatic climate control.
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PCM 3.0 touch screen HDD based navi, + universal audio interface (for iPod, iPhone, USB, AUX, etc…)
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Burmester high end surround system: THE BEST system I’ve heard so far, period.
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Adaptive Cruise control: Been on high end Merc’s for years, it regulates the speed based on the chosen distance between you and the car in front.
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Porsche Entry & Drive: A fancy name for keyless entry.
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Bluetooth phone interface / Sim card based phone, cordless color screen handset included.
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Adaptive Xenons, auto height adjustment and auto rotation.
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Front and Rear parking sensors.
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Backup camera.
