Styling
It's a third-generation Panamera with the usual GTS styling touches, which basically means black detailing, badging and wheels - the last of these being glorious centre-lock 21-inch items shared with the new Turbo S E-Hybrid flagship, although Porsche reckons these are Anthracite Grey. Hmph, they look black to us. Anyway, with bronze-tipped quad exhausts, a Sport lower bodykit and in a strong colour like Carmine Red, the GTS has oodles of presence without being aesthetically overblown. About the only way Stuttgart could make it visually better would be to turn it into a
Sport Turismo. Which, of course, Porsche has said it won't this time around, due to slow sales of the old one. Boooooo!
Interior
Lots of microfibre Race-Tex material is the hallmark of the Panamera GTS' cabin, with the material clothing the centres of the seats (heated, 18-way electrically adjustable Adaptive Sports items in the front of the car as standard), the door cards, the central armrest and the fabulous GT Sport steering wheel. There are also two GTS-specific trim packs that turn the contrast stitching and the seatbelts either Carmine Red or Slate Grey Neo, while the standard equipment includes the 10.9-inch Porsche Communication Management (PCM) infotainment system, the 12.6-inch Curved Display digital instrument cluster and a 15-watt wireless smartphone charging pad, among much more. However, there's still a long options list to play with, including the 10.9-inch Passenger Display and the full head-up display for the driver, but in general the quality and ergonomic correctness of the Panamera's interior is a joy to both behold and interact with.
Practicality
As long as you accept when you're venturing in that you're only buying four seats here - there are individual chairs in the back of the Panamera - then the Porsche 'saloon' serves its purpose well as there's plenty of room for a quartet of tallish adults to get comfortable onboard. Also, as it hasn't got to accommodate a battery under its boot floor like the E-Hybrid models in the range, the GTS has one of the larger boots in the Panamera family at 478 litres, which as ever is accessed via a proper full-sized tailgate (which means the Pan is a fastback, not a saloon... but we digress). Although even that capacity is 16 litres down on the base Panamera and Panamera 4, due to the packaging of the GTS' rear axle and exhaust system. Anyway, what with a good driving position and excellent visibility out in all directions - even through that steeply raked rear screen - the Porsche is about as practical as you'd expect of a sporting yet five-door vehicle from this particular company.
Performance
The old Panamera GTS had the same 4.0-litre biturbo V8 as the new one, which originally gave out 460hp and 620Nm, although it was raised to 480hp for the Mk2's facelift in 2020. Well, the numbers have been tickled up again, to 500hp and 660Nm, increases which are good enough to punt the 2.1-tonne GTS from 0-62mph in less than four seconds (by two-tenths, mark you) and on to 188mph, where legal and appropriate.
Quite remarkably, in the current seven-strong range, a peak output of 500hp and performance stats as supercar as those on-paper numbers only serve to rank the GTS as the fourth most potent model, which means it's technically 'midrange'. And we just find that concept bonkers when you're talking about a car with as much speed and gorgeous noise as this thing. Honestly, equipped as it is with PTM all-wheel drive and another belting eight-speed PDK transmission, the GTS is a proper weapon with a marvellous soundtrack from idle to redline. Rare is the occasion you'll catch this drivetrain out, making it labour in a torque hole or wondering where the power has got to, and even rarer will be the times you think 'you know, I should really have gone for the Turbo S E-Hybrid instead'. It's a fabulous thing to drive for the responsive V8 engine alone.
As to economy, officially it'll attain low 20s for miles-per-gallon if you drive it sensibly, but if you decide to start rinsing the Panamera GTS out then you're going to be looking at returns that are perilously close to single digits, or even well into them depending on how hard you're driving. These are the risks of running a powerful, intoxicating V8 with no hybrid gear like this.
Ride & Handling
It's not so much the ample straight-line speed which sticks in your mind with the Panamera GTS, but the limber way it takes on corners. At 2,140kg, it is by no means a lightweight, but it's a good 300 kilos trimmer than the other two V8s in the Pan's family, which are the Turbo and Turbo S E-Hybrids, which are both plug-ins (PHEVs). And that really shows when it comes to the handling, because while the mega-power PHEVs are undoubtedly impressive and capable on the right roads, they're nothing like as sweetly balanced and exploitable as the GTS.
With its immaculate steering, top-notch body control from the adaptive air springs with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) dampers and the standard fitment of the Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus rear axle, this thing is a delight in the curves. The suspension is classed as a Sport set-up, which means it is 10mm lower than other Panameras, and you can also add Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brakes (PCCB) and Rear Axle Steering to the GTS if you feel like you need to sharpen it, although we'd suggest these two options aren't strictly necessary to access all the handling goodness the GTS can serve up. Make no mistake, Porsche says this is the Panamera for keen drivers and, out of all of its other six stablemates - talented machines though they are - it clearly is by some significant distance.
Yet it doesn't sacrifice every last shred of civility for that dynamic sharpness. It still rides with good grace, admittedly with a firmer edge due to its sporty nature and 21s at each corner, but the isolation of the passenger compartment is generally exemplary. About the noisiest thing you'll hear is some tyre chatter from the road-roller rubber fitted to the GTS to give it grip, but even that never becomes intrusive in the passenger compartment. Honestly, as sports saloons (fastbacks?) go, the latest Panamera is close to peerless as every single aspect of its kinematics feels so wonderfully in tune with everything else.
Value
At £127,304, the Panamera GTS is not in any way inexpensive and, further, as the only hybrid-unadorned V8 in the range, its CO
2 output doesn't exactly help it with any form of UK road-related taxation either. However, it's almost 20 grand cheaper than the Turbo E-Hybrid and a massive £41,396 less than the flagship Turbo S E-Hybrid, which leaves plenty of change for customers to have a little play with the truly extensive (and pricey) options list available for the car. However, the GTS is £25,000 more than the Panamera 4S E-Hybrid, which has 544hp... if that sort of thing bothers you. But we genuinely think for the spectacular way it drives, the GTS is worth its exalted entry fee.
Verdict
There are three more powerful models than the new Porsche Panamera GTS in the range. There are four which will prove to be more affordable to run, because they're all E-Hybrid PHEVs. And the two base-spec cars provide a lovely ownership experience for a fraction of this V8's purchase price. But the long and short of it is this: in the current Panamera line-up, there is no version which is finer than the magnificent GTS. It's the undoubted superstar of the range and a machine to strike fear into any of its natural rivals.
