SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.
This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
Pics supplied by importer. All pics of the Panamera 4S
Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday 20th February, 2010
Isn’t it amazing how a name can trigger unrelated nostalgia? “Porsche Panamera” scans like the title to the old Cuban folk song made famous by Pete Seeger, and later The Sandpipers in the ‘sixties; “Guantanamera.”
And nostalgia possibly describes the motivation of some hard-core Porsche purists who insist that the Zuffenhausen firm is a maker of two-door sports cars. Period. Never mind that the sin-of-all-sins, the four-door Cayenne SUV, has gone on to not only woo much-needed new clientèle, but account for half of the marque’s current sales.
Profits from Cayenne sales funded research and development of the firm’s first premium sedan, the range of 4,8 litre Panamera V8s launched countrywide over the past few weeks.
Bottom of the range at present is the naturally aspirated, rear wheel drive ‘S’ priced at R1040 000 and powered by a quad-cam, 32-valve V8 displacing 4 806 cc, developing 294 kW at 6 500 rpm and 500 Nm of torque at 3 500 rpm.
Priced R25 000 higher is the ‘4S,’ the same car with four-wheel drive. Finally, the ‘Turbo’ model is similar to the ‘4S’ but tweaked to provide 386 kW at 6 000 rpm and 700 Nm of torque at 2 250 rpm, priced at R1 665 000. An entry-level V6 and a hybrid will be introduced later.
All models in the SA line-up use a seven-speed Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) double clutch gearbox, while both four-wheel drive versions enjoy Porsche Traction Management (PTM) as well.
The Panamera S reaches 100 km/h from a standing-start in 5.4 seconds and consumes 10.8 litres/100 kilometres in the EU5 standard (CO2: 253 g/km). Top speed is 283 km/h.
The 4S model gets to 100 km/h in 5,0 seconds and reaches an upper limit of 282 km/h. Fuel consumption according to the EU5 standard is 11.1 ltr/100 km while CO2 emissions are 260 g/km.
Panamera Turbo accelerates to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds with a top speed of 303 km/h. Standard fuel consumption is 12.2 litres/100 km, with CO2 emissions of 286 g/km.
When activated on models equipped with the optional Sport Chrono Package and PDK, Launch Control improves acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h by another 0.2 seconds.
All models feature DFI Direct Fuel Injection, low-friction drivetrains and lightweight body technology. Even the top model in the range, the Panamera Turbo, weighs less than 2,000 kg despite its wide range of standard equipment.
To reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions further, all versions come with Porsche’s new auto start-stop function that automatically switches off the engine as soon as the car comes to a standstill – for example at traffic lights or in a traffic jam – and the driver keeps his foot on the brake, then automatically starts the engine again as soon as the driver takes his foot off the brake pedal. The result is a significant reduction in fuel consumption, particularly in city traffic.
Apart from regular steel suspension with variable dampers on Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), the Panamera is available optionally (standard on the Panamera Turbo) with adaptive air suspension, including PASM, able to build up additional air volume in each spring. By varying spring rates in this way, it offers a wide range of different driving characteristics and set-ups, ranging from greater driving comfort on the one hand to very sporting driving dynamics on the other.
A further advantage of adaptive air suspension is that the entire car is lowered in Sport Plus mode, further improving aerodynamics and centre of gravity of the Panamera, enhancing safety and helping to reduce fuel consumption.
Active aerodynamics is provided by a rear spoiler that raises itself automatically in two stages, first at 93 km/h then spreading wider at 207 km/h and adjusting its air flow angle. The Sport Chrono Package serves at a touch of a button to give engine, suspension and transmission, together with other components, an even more sporting and more dynamic set-up.
A variety of options in seating, music and handling packages allows customers to fine-tune their Panameras to individual requirements.
Despite criticism of the car’s looks by overseas journalists, it looks better in the metal and after a day spent touring some of the world’s finest driving country, through the Cape winelands, the consensus was that it’s actually pretty damn handsome in a Porschey kind of way.
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8