Sleek and stylish, the new hybrid Panamera will offer looks as well as unrivaled performance.
Occasionally, you have to pinch yourself and recall that, not long ago, thoroughbred racing cars struggled to match the kind of stats seen on the spec sheets of today’s road-going sports cars. Such is the case with Porsche’s Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, which incorporates the best of their hybrid technology into an uncompromising, opulent package. With the space-age powertrain, this comfortable cruiser can sprint to 60 faster than it takes most people to say its full name.
This mouthful is one of the most powerful machines in the Porsche lineup, with a total of 680 horsepower and an asphalt-churning 626 lb-ft of torque—the latter figure available at just 1,400 rpm thanks to its hybrid powertrain. The lion’s share of that grunt comes from a 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8, but crucially, it is assisted by a 136-horsepower electric motor. By inheriting the “boost strategy” of the 918, delivering power with an eight-speed PDK, and utilizing all the traction offered by four wheel-drive and a locked rear differential, this sumptuous cruiser might be the ultimate stoplight-to-stoplight sleeper.
Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo
That means the E-Hybrid Sport Turismo surges to 60 in 3.2 seconds, snags 120 MPH in a scarcely-believable 8.5 seconds, completes the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds, and continues onward to a top speed of 192 miles-per-hour. Twenty years ago, the fastest 911 Turbo couldn’t dream of those sorts of numbers, and now a Porsche “station wagon” is the one boasting those outrageous stats.
With the rear seats upright, the Sport Turismo offers 15 cubic feet of luggage space, but that figure grows to 45.7 cubic feet with the backrests folded.
2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo Pricing
Despite the starship performance, this new hybrid Panamera will retain all the amenities which have made it such a popular commuter, like the digitalized Porsche Advanced Cockpit and assistance system options such as Porsche InnoDrive. With 15 cubic feet of storage space, a higher roofline for improved ingress and egress, and a 30-mile range on the electric motor alone, the newest, fastest Panamera is even more accommodating. That unrivaled combination of comfort, performance, and practicality comes at a price, though—the 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo starts at $188,400 in the US and $214,900 in Canada with deliveries expected sometime in the Spring.
Yet, considering the package, that price begins to sound reasonable.