Styling
Like any other third-gen Panamera, the Turbo S E-Hybrid is a fastback only because, inexplicably, purchasers of the old 971-series didn't realise that the Sport Turismo was
clearly the best body style and so Porsche won't be bringing it back. Fuming. Anyway, Stuttgart also likes to refer to the G3 Pan as a saloon, but it isn't of course; it has the top-hinged tailgate which makes it a five-door. Nevertheless, it's a good-looking shape, a gentle evolution of the old car with some key styling cues that help it stand out as the latest example.
And when it comes to spotting the ultimate current Panamera, then you're looking for the 21-inch centre-lock alloy wheels, all the 'Turbonite' (dark grey) exterior detailing, and the boot badging which reads 'Turbo S' along with the front-door emblems that render 'e-hybrid' in a handwriting-type script. Now, if you've been paying attention, none of these features save the model designation on its rump are unique to the Turbo S E-Hybrid: you can get the centre-locks on the GTS and Turbo E-Hybrid too, while the latter of those cars comes with Turbonite flourishes. And all the plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) in the Panamera range wear the e-hybrid badges. So, in essence, if the owner specifies it in a certain way, or you only afford it a casual glance, you might not immediately spot that you're looking at the variant with the monstrous power figures. That sort of tasteful discretion will please buyers of this car no end.
Interior
Similar to the outside, there's more Turbonite trim inside the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, while the generally excellent layout and superbly built cabin of any third-gen model is present and correct. In the Turbo S E-Hybrid, all of the 10.9-inch Porsche Communication Management (PCM), the 12.6-inch Curved Display digital instrument cluster and the super-clear head-up display are all standard fit (the HUD is typically a cost option elsewhere in the line-up), but if you want that 10.9-inch screen in the passenger side of the dashboard then you still have to pay extra for it. Indeed, while the Turbo S E-Hybrid does gain a wealth of standard kit as befits its top-level status, there are still many, many items that can swell the purchase ticket of this car to ever-higher realms if you're injudicious with the online Porsche configurator come ordering time.
Practicality
It's worth remembering that the G3 Panamera is a strict four-seater - we don't just mean the centre-rear seat is small or ineffective, but rather that there is no seatbelt nor buckle here, while the two outer positions are both individual chairs. However, while it can only accommodate a quartet of people, they all get loads of space to loaf about in, with ample legroom in both rows of the car. Perhaps the Porsche's bigger failing is a typical PHEV one, in that its boot space is savaged from the 494 litres of the base six-cylinder Panameras to just 421 litres here, by dint of the placement of the hybrid system's battery pack. Even if you fold the second row of seats down, you only get 1,255 litres of room in the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. Which is about what a Volkswagen Golf Mk8.5 hatch provides. In the Porsche's defence, its large-opening tailgate does make loading bulky items into the back of it easier than if it was actually a saloon in this class, while no one is really going to be buying the Turbo S E-Hybrid on the primary basis it can fit a shedload of Ikea flatpack furniture in its cargo bay if needs be.
Performance
Right, we've kept alluding to it in the review so far, and you've probably already looked at the tech spec or the standfirst so you know the answer to this... but how much power do you think the new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid has? Oh, let's just cut to the chase: it has 782hp. And 1,000Nm. Seriously, even in an age where it seems like every five minutes, some new electric-vehicle start-up comes along promising a 3,000hp, 12,000Nm supercar that'll do 0-62mph in less than zero seconds, the Porsche's on-paper numbers still look faintly ridiculous. Especially as this is a luxury 'saloon' and not, in fact, some mental GT department derivative of the 911.
Despite clocking in at almost 2.45 tonnes, the Turbo S E-Hybrid will hit 62mph from rest in just 2.9 seconds and can go on to more than 200mph, where legal and appropriate. And if you need us to tell you that, subjectively, when you're in this almighty petrol-electric hybrid and you fully unleash all the resources at its powertrain's disposal when in Sport and Sport Plus modes, then it feels fast... we mean, it is
monumentally fast. Dementedly so. Any point on the rev counter, even with only modest amounts of throttle application, you press the right-hand pedal and the Panamera explodes in a fury of rich V8 noise and thumping electric-enhanced torque delivery. And you're suddenly half a mile further up the road than you were a moment ago.
So it's brutally quick and great to listen to, but is it good on fuel? Officially, you're looking at something like 175-200mpg, along with around 50 miles of electric range. Realistically, it has the same shortcomings as any PHEV, which means if you don't charge it often, then you're asking the 599hp/800Nm twin-turbo V8 to do the brunt of lugging around 2,440kg of prime German pork. Which'll result in economy in the teens, maybe even lower if you're working the drivetrain particularly hard. Admittedly, we had a short, 20-mile blast in the Turbo S E-Hybrid in which we were driving it in a spirited fashion, and it managed to give back 29.1mpg in such circumstances because it had plenty of battery power in reserve. And while 29.1mpg might look feeble in the face of a printed 201.8mpg, for such a heavy, ultra-powerful V8 to even get close to 30mpg while being dynamically extended is a testament to what the Turbo S E-Hybrid's drivetrain might be capable of if used more responsibly.
Charging times for the 25.9kWh battery, by the way, are reasonable. A 9.6kW AC wallbox would require three-and-a-quarter hours to perform a full top-up of the power pack, while at its maximum 11kW AC the Panamera could do the same job in two hours 39 minutes. It'll be three-and-a-half hours on the more typical 7.4kWh domestic unit, though.
Ride & Handling
Porsche fits the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid with every bit of chassis trickery it can think of to help it cope with 782hp and 1,000Nm. Thus, it benefits from Rear Axle Steering (RAS) to give it as much agility and manoeuvrability as possible, it has Porsche Ceramic Carbon Brakes (PCCB) with discs measuring a massive 440mm front/380mm rear in order to try and rein in two-and-a-half tonnes of hard-charging luxury sedan, and it also gains the magical Porsche Active Ride (PAR) suspension - the set-up which can lean the car into corners like a motorcycle, or which keeps the body preternaturally flat even during full acceleration, maximum deceleration or traversing a lumpen road surface at high speeds.
All of this works brilliantly, as evinced by the fact the Turbo S E-Hybrid is now the record-holder at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a searing 7:24.172 lap time (for luxury saloons with hybrid drivetrains). And yet... driving the fastest G3 Panamera on a twisting road is a curiously uninvolving experience. If you switch it up into Sport and Sport Plus, the PAR stops doing the fancy tilting action in corners to give it a more organic performance-car feel, while there's much credit due to Porsche's chassis engineers for making a near-800hp machine as approachable and benign as this. If you want and you get on the power smartly out of corners, you can overwhelm the Panamera's rear tyres and force it into an oversteer stance, without feeling like you're on the verge of a massive off.
But linking it all together, eventually the sheer mass of the Turbo S E-Hybrid comes to the fore. You feel it despite the sterling efforts of the PCCB system, which does its best to mask the bulk of the car, but there are times where even those carbon stoppers are struggling to do their work. And so the weight of the car is there, in the back of your mind, ultimately meaning you hold back that little bit as a driver, resorting to a more 'point-and-shoot' approach to dissecting a country road. Honestly, if you want the best-handling Panamera, it's not this tech-laden atom bomb of a PHEV - it's the purer, lighter, less-powerful but oh-so-rewarding GTS, which has a 300kg kerb weight advantage that simply cannot be underestimated in terms of its dynamic outcomes.
Obviously, the Turbo S E-Hybrid is lovely when you're driving it more sedately, with a smooth, accomplished ride and impressive rolling refinement. The most audible thing in the cabin is tyre noise, thanks to the sheer width of the rubber fitted to the Panamera (Pirelli P Zero Rs, in the case of our test car), but it's never intrusive. The problem there, though, is that the other models in the range can match the Turbo S E-Hybrid for comfort levels, so it doesn't particularly stand out in its range as the most elegant or cosseting version.
Value
If you want this sort of power in your Panamera, you obviously pay handsomely for it. The Turbo S E-Hybrid starts from £168,700, which is a meaty £23,300 more than the 680hp Turbo E-Hybrid - although as standard the S comes with 21s, PAR, PCCB and RAS, among more, to justify the uptick over the other mega-power V8 PHEV in the range. Nevertheless, of more concern to us is the huge £41,000-plus gap down to the GTS, which leaves an awful lot of room for fitting choice options to the pure-petrol Panamera and for buyers still end up with lots of change at the end of the process.
Verdict
The Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid is a technological tour de force and a shining example of what this German company's incredible engineering team is capable of when given carte blanche to come up with its idea of an ultimate supersaloon. For many, the beneficial tax implications of the Turbo S E-Hybrid's sub-50g/km CO
2 outputs and the sheer
Top Trumps numbers it can dole out will make it an irresistible option for Panamera customers, and we can totally understand why you'd go for it (if you can afford it, natch). But in our minds, you're better off sticking with the one Panamera in the range which has nothing attached to its V8 but a fuel tank, a gearbox and an absolute peach of a chassis, and that's the phenomenal
GTS.
