On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:18 This is the second generation Panamera.
00:21 But is it the car Porsche should have built?
00:24 Yes.
00:24 Well, if yes is the answer, then why is the Panamera's
00:28 engine under the hood?
00:30 Why isn't it in the rear, just like the 911?
00:33 Put more succinctly, is it ever a good idea to make a front
00:36 engine car look like a rear engine?
00:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:59 I'm driving the Panamera Turbo Executive.
01:02 Let me tell you what that means.
01:04 Executive means this is the long wheel base model.
01:07 There is 5.9 extra inches added between the wheels, almost all
01:11 of it going to leg room for the rear passenger.
01:14 What's interesting is that they actually lowered the roof a
01:18 little bit in this car.
01:19 However, there's still more rear headroom.
01:21 Why?
01:22 Because they lowered the seats, too.
01:25 A couple years ago, I went on this unbelievable architecture
01:28 tour of Paris.
01:29 And I say unbelievable not because of the gorgeous
01:32 Parisian architecture, but because of our tour guide.
01:34 And while he was a native French speaker, his command of
01:38 the English language left me with some of my
01:40 favorite bon mots.
01:42 For instance, there was this architectural journalist on
01:45 the tour with me, and she wanted to see some building.
01:47 And the tour guide said, no.
01:49 And his rationale for not letting her see the building
01:51 was, it looked like a tsunami of vomit.
01:55 The reason I bring him up is because we started the tour by
01:57 looking at the Eiffel Tower.
01:58 And he said something I'll never forget.
02:00 All buildings in Paris must answer to the Eiffel Tower.
02:04 When they launched this car, the all new second generation
02:08 Porsche Panamera in Berlin, I was talking with the head of
02:11 Porsche Design.
02:12 And I asked him, do all Porsches have to
02:15 answer to the 911?
02:17 His response?
02:18 Yes.
02:20 And that's why this car looks the way it does.
02:22 Now, that car looked like that weird hunchback pill bug for a
02:26 very specific reason.
02:27 The CEO of Porsche was a guy named Martin Witteking.
02:30 And he was about 6 foot 6.
02:31 And he wanted to be able to sit in the back.
02:34 So at the last second, they had to pull the roof line up.
02:36 And it just looked odd.
02:38 And again, when I was talking to the head of design, I said
02:40 to him, I said, how soon after the first Panamera was
02:44 finished did you guys start working on this one?
02:47 And his response was, the next day.
02:49 This engine is all new.
02:56 This is a Porsche design.
02:57 It's not related to the 4 liter twin turbo V8 you'd find in
03:01 hot Audis and Bentleys.
03:02 For turbo duty, it makes 550 horsepower and 567 pound feet
03:07 of torque.
03:09 There will, of course, be the Panamera Turbo S E Hybrid,
03:13 which is not only the clunkiest name ever, but will
03:15 use a hybrid assist system to electrically add another 130
03:19 horsepower, bringing the total system output up to a massive
03:23 680 ponies.
03:25 That said, I'm thinking we're going to see a much more
03:28 powerful iteration of the turbo's gasoline engine.
03:31 How much more?
03:33 My guess is a lot more.
03:34 The 8-speed PDK transmission can handle up to 738 pound
03:40 feet of torque.
03:40 So it's quite under-stressed.
03:43 Besides, why would Porsche go out of their way to explain
03:46 the transmission's maximum capabilities if they weren't
03:49 going to at least get near them?
03:53 Just because this is not the Turbo S model, and because
03:57 this car weighs 4,823 pounds, do not make the mistake of
04:02 thinking this car is slow.
04:05 Watch this.
04:07 Launch control in all Porsches is simple.
04:09 Make sure you're in Sport Plus.
04:11 Bury your left foot on the brake pedal.
04:13 [INAUDIBLE]
04:14 [INAUDIBLE]
04:19 3.2 seconds.
04:21 [INAUDIBLE]
04:22 11.6 seconds at 119 miles per hour.
04:27 That's as quick as any sedan that's not a Tesla.
04:30 That's as quick as the Audi RS 7 Performance.
04:34 And remember, this is the base Turbo.
04:37 This isn't the S.
04:40 Oh, and brakes.
04:42 This guy can stop from 60 miles an hour in 105 feet,
04:45 which, for a car that weighs as much as it does, is really,
04:48 really good.
04:50 Because there's such great body control, it's not flopping
04:53 all over the place.
04:53 It's not diving into brakes.
04:55 It's not doing anything bad.
04:56 It's very controlled.
04:57 It's very calm.
04:59 A lot of capability here.
05:00 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:03 So look, we know the car is quick in a straight line.
05:05 What's it like to drive?
05:06 How does it sound?
05:07 How does it feel?
05:08 Well, first thing we've got to do is get
05:10 through all the modes.
05:10 So it has this cool rotary dial switch, which is literally
05:14 lifted off of the Porsche 918.
05:15 You can also now find it in 911s.
05:17 Currently, we're in Normal mode.
05:19 And Normal mode sort of feels like an AMG S63, right?
05:24 You have a lot of power, but it's a big car, and it's a
05:26 little floppy.
05:28 Suspension's a little soft, but it's good.
05:30 It's good.
05:31 If you click into Sport mode, ooh, things
05:34 get more interesting.
05:35 It's tied down a bit more.
05:37 And the way the engine growls, it reminds me of a Jaguar XJR.
05:42 It's really good for a big car.
05:45 Now, because this car has the Sport Chrono package, when I
05:49 click into Sport Plus, magic happens.
05:52 Suddenly--
05:52 I know you're not going to believe me, but trust me--
05:55 I feel as if I'm driving a Nissan GT-R with numb steering.
05:59 This Turbo Executive drives 1,000 pounds lighter than it
06:06 is, and the reason why is physics doesn't care.
06:08 And what I mean by that is, as long as you have enough grip,
06:12 it doesn't really matter how much a car weighs.
06:14 And look at these tires.
06:16 275/35/21s up front, 315/30/21s out back.
06:24 That's insane for a sedan, for a limousine.
06:27 But look at this grip.
06:29 I mean, it just digs right in.
06:31 A big part of the reason why the Panamera Turbo handles so
06:37 well and feels, again, to me like a Nissan GT-R, is the
06:41 rear steering.
06:42 And that's new for this generation.
06:44 Now, there's a long-winded technical explanation about
06:47 what it does, and how many degrees it turns, and how it
06:50 effectively elongates the wheel base and virtually extends the
06:53 chassis, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
06:55 All you need to know is it makes the car drive a lot
06:58 smaller than it actually is.
07:01 It's just incredible.
07:05 What's also cool is when you do finally run out of steering,
07:08 what the car does is it doesn't default into understeer.
07:11 It'll actually snap into a little bit of oversteer, which
07:14 A, is pretty Porsche-like.
07:16 B, is really cool.
07:23 So here's the dirty little secret that nobody who sells
07:26 cars wants to talk about.
07:27 99.999% of the time, you're not in Sport Plus.
07:32 You're not hammering it on a back road at 11/10 on the
07:35 bloody edge of the envelope.
07:36 You're commuting to work.
07:37 You're talking on the phone.
07:38 You're listening to the radio.
07:39 And suddenly, you have to pass somebody.
07:42 Luckily, Porsche's got you covered.
07:43 See, they've included this button right here.
07:45 It's called the Sport Response button.
07:47 But I call it the BMW Mode button.
07:49 And I don't mean by pushing it, the Panamera becomes a
07:52 BMW.
07:53 No, it's still a Porsche.
07:54 What I mean is that you become a BMW driver.
07:57 Here's a for instance.
07:59 I've got to get around this truck.
08:00 So if I were to push this button, suddenly, in 20
08:04 seconds, I would slow this down.
08:07 Everything's cranked up to 11.
08:09 The suspension's harder.
08:11 The rear steering is turning sharper.
08:13 The transmission's shifting later.
08:15 It's just this awesome sports car for about 20 seconds.
08:18 And then, at the end of it, it's off.
08:22 And things are back to normal.
08:24 Pretty cool, no?
08:25 A generation ago, Porsche introduced the Cayenne, an SUV.
08:34 And the purists went crazy.
08:36 Then, they introduced the Panamera sedan.
08:39 And the purists went even crazier.
08:41 But here's the thing.
08:43 Anything you do that's not a first year 911
08:46 upsets the purists.
08:47 That's the whole point.
08:49 The thing is, the Panamera was pretty damn good
08:52 for a sports sedan.
08:54 This is the second generation Panamera.
08:57 But is it the car Porsche should have built?
08:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:04 This is.
09:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:10 You are looking at a 1941 Tatra T87.
09:14 I could fill up a book pointing out every cool feature
09:17 of this car.
09:18 But the reason it's here is because, just like the Panamera,
09:21 it's a big V8 powered limousine.
09:24 Only unlike this Porsche, but like a lot of other Porsches,
09:28 the Tatra's engine is in the rear.
09:31 Behind the black Tatra's rear seat
09:32 sits a 2.9 liter air cooled V8 with hemispherical combustion
09:36 chambers and equal length intake runners.
09:39 It powers the rear wheels via a four speed manual gearbox
09:42 with synchros on third and fourth.
09:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:47 Paul.
09:48 Yes.
09:48 You are a Tatra expert and co-owner of this car.
09:51 That's true.
09:52 Tell me about the Tatra-Porsche relationship.
09:56 Porsche and Hans Ledwinka, who was the chief engineer
10:00 for Tatra, were kind of like friendly enemies
10:03 from way, way, way, way, way back probably 1902, 1898.
10:09 Porsche was famous for saying, sometimes he
10:13 looked over my shoulder, sometimes
10:14 I looked over his shoulder.
10:15 Which means that Porsche drew a lot of inspiration
10:18 from Ledwinka and Ledwinka probably not
10:20 as much from Porsche.
10:21 Right.
10:23 I hope that's a fair and accurate judging.
10:27 It's conceivable then, if Porsche
10:29 would have gone around to making a luxury sedan that
10:35 had the Porsche Sportiness, it would have looked a lot like
10:37 this.
10:37 This would have been it, yeah.
10:40 I think that's almost a given that had Porsche
10:43 made this-- it's kind of a stupid thing to say,
10:46 but had they made this car, it would have been this car.
10:49 No, no, no, but it makes sense.
10:50 It makes sense, yeah.
10:51 Yeah, yeah.
10:52 They never did.
10:53 Right.
10:53 But when I saw the Panamera, I said, oh man,
10:57 especially the way it's shaped, that's a modern day T87.
11:00 Yeah, absolutely.
11:02 So we know this, if you drive a Tesla, which
11:05 has a huge front trunk, right?
11:08 If there's no engine there, and the engine in the rear
11:10 means you have no drive train components really right here,
11:12 especially in a modern car where it's not a cable shaft,
11:15 so it's a transmission shifting by wire,
11:17 you get a bigger passenger compartment.
11:19 Once again, your point is, had Tata been able to keep making
11:23 cars, they would have made the Panamera.
11:25 That would be their product, not Porsche.
11:29 And for sure, it would have been rear engine.
11:31 Might have had a headlight right here, too.
11:33 It would have had some kind of weird, crazy--
11:35 no question.
11:38 All right, so obviously the Panamera is not rear engine,
11:41 and it's never going to be.
11:42 That's just wishful thinking on my part.
11:44 The Panamera Turbo Executive is, however,
11:47 a supercar with four doors, which
11:50 is its own version of amazing.
11:52 Looks aside, perhaps the way the second generation Panamera
11:56 answers to the 911 is in its purpose of intended function.
12:01 Is there a quicker, faster, better handling, more fun
12:04 to drive limousine on Earth?
12:06 The short answer is, not even kind of.
12:09 As for my buddy Paul's amazing T87, well, I just wish they
12:13 still made Tatras.
12:15 Guess I'll have to settle for a Porsche.
12:18 And yeah, it's a totally terrific Porsche.
12:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]