SYDNEY: It takes a bit to get your head around Porsche’s Panamera eco-warrior. The four-door, four-seat hatch is Porsche’s most advanced plug-in hybrid and prioritises efficiency over outright engagement.
Being a Porsche, the Panamera S E-Hybrid is still damn quick, but in absolute terms it is more expensive and less engaging than the regular Panamera S. It also weighs 285 kilograms more.
The flip side is a battery range of 18-35km, meaning the folk in well-to-do suburbs should be able to make it to the office without directly burning fossil fuel. There’s a plethora of in-car displays to illustrate to buyers how the vehicle is consuming power and regenerating battery charge.
They’re destined to be used, too, if only to remind passengers this isn’t a regular Porsche, though the acid green brake calipers and badge highlights are a bit of a giveaway.
Porsche Australia’s product and planning manager Ingo Appel spent 20 minutes providing a run-down of how the displays, the four driving modes and the recharge process works. The good news for prospective buyers is the best view is the one in the driver’s instrument panel (there are six more screens in the seven-inch multimedia display) showing EV range driven and what’s still in the cells.
Recharging the 9.4kWh battery pack under the boot of the car is as simple as plugging the Panamera S E-Hybrid into a domestic power socket and waiting four hours for the batteries to revitalise.
Buy one — by order only — and Porsche throws in a wall-mounted quick-charger to trim the time to 2.6 hours at home, with the domestic plug-in adaptor occupying space in the already diminished boot for top-ups at work or the weekender.
VALUE
The Panamera S E-Hybrid is $299,200, or $200 more than BMW’s i8 sports coupe. Unlike the lither-looking and 600kg lighter Beemer, the Porsche will comfortably accommodate four adults, though its 2.1-tonne mass means its 5.5-second sprint to triple figures is 1.1 seconds off the i8’s pace. Electric-only range is similar in both but the Porsche uses a 70kW/300Nm motor against the i8’s 95kW/250Nm.
Run out of spark and a supercharged V6 keeps the Panamera mobile. The combined range with the 80-litre tank and a full charge is about 900km.
A Panamera S costs $288,900, while the all-paw 4S is $301,100. Both are quicker; both use appreciably more fuel.
OPERATION
The default E-power mode will exclusively use electricity until the charge is drained or the driver demands supplemental boost using a heavy right foot. The 0-50km/h time is 6.1s and it will run silently up to 135km/h.
Hybrid mode lets the car decide which power supply to draw upon. On the highway it uses the engine, preserving the charge until it determines it is back in a city.
E-charge uses the engine to recharge the battery and Sport draws upon both power sources to maximise progress.
DRIVING
Porsche says the E-Hybrid gives V8 levels of performance with an official fuel use of just 3.1L/100km. Without paying much attention to economy, I managed 4.8L/100km, with the first 29.4km purely using propulsion from the motor.
Set the adaptive suspension to comfort and it finesses small and big bumps alike. It’s a Porsche, so you still know they’re there but the feedback comes from the steering wheel and not the cabin.
Then we recharged the battery, switched everything to Sport and went searching for roads less travelled.
It is obvious from the first corner there’s more weight over the rear wheels. Despite that, the Panamera hangs on as tenaciously as the passengers will and is capable of lateral loads that will fling unsecured items across the back seat.
It blasts from turn to turn without being scarily quick. The only compromises are in a lack of adrenalin-inducing snarl from the V6 engine and less feedback from the brakes than Porsche is famed for. There’s no loss of bite but the left pedal in a regular Panamera gives almost as much feedback as the wheel and that’s been numbed here, presumably due to the battery scavenging power.
VERDICT
If there’s a tinge of green in your outlook on life, this is the Porsche for you, once you appreciate it is pushing the limits of technology rather than the tyres. A 918 Spyder it isn’t but it is evidence of just how well Porsche can integrate electric and internal combustion drive.
WHAT IT’S GOT
Exclusivity, even by Porsche standards, given its rarity.
Bragging rights for early adopters who can impress with an array of switches, screens and eco-sensibility absent in normal Panameras.
WHAT IT HASN’T
The feral edge has been blunted to make this a more presentable Porsche from an environmental perspective.
Features that are standard on cheaper, lesser cars — such as blind spot warning and adaptive cruise control — can only be accessed via the options list.
OWNERSHIP
The Panamera is covered by a three-year, unlimited kilometre warranty and service intervals are set at 12 months or 15,000km. The E-hybrid doesn’t need extra servicing or cost more when it is taken in. The resale is strong at 57 per cent.
