2017 Porsche Panamera - interior Exterior and Drive
New Porsche Panamera 2017 preview – an in-depth look at the new super saloon. New Panamera features sharp new look inside and out, and more powerful engines
Porsche has revealed its all-new Panamera four-door super saloon, with a refreshed new look, a tech-laden interior and new, more powerful turbocharged engines fitted with a new eight-speed PDK transmission. Oh, and a 7min 38sec Nürburgring lap time, two-seconds quicker than a 997.1 GT3. Available to order now, the new Panamera will go on sale this autumn.
The new Panamera will initially be available with three engines consisting of two Porsche designed and developed turbocharged petrol engines – a 2.9-litre V6 and a 4.0-litre V8 – and an Audi sourced 4.2-litre V8 twin-turbo diesel. A plug-in hybrid will also join the line-up early next year.
Fitted to all three engines will be a new eight-speed PDK transmission replacing the current seven-speed double-clutch gearbox, and from launch all Panameras, including the diesel, will only be offered with four-wheel drive, with rear-wheel drive variants scheduled for launch later in the year.
As well as more power, new engines and a new gearbox the 2017 Panamera also gets a new platform and look. Sharper than its predecessor, Porsche’s designers have worked hard to eliminate some the dumpiness that hampered the car’s look in the past.
2017 Porsche Panamera Body and Design
The new Panamera is 35mm longer at 5050mm, thanks in part to a wheelbase that has increased in length by 30mm to 2950mm. The new car is also 5mm wider at 1935mm and 5mm taller at 1423mm, although the rear roofline is 20mm lower to retain Porsche-like coupe look.
There are new bumpers, side sills, wings, roof, bonnet, rear hatch and the retractable rear spoiler is larger on both S and Turbo models. The Panamera also features a 911-esque LED light strip running between its taillights and LED matrix from headlights featuring 48 individual LEDs.
Every external body panel is made from aluminium with the single piece side wall of the car hemmed to the steel shell, a first of its kind in the automotive sector. It will be built, in its entirety including the manufacturer of the body panels and shell at Porsche’s Leipzig factory.
This new Panamera platform is a fully modular, using the VAG pioneered MSB platform, with a long wheelbase model scheduled for launch in early 2017 and a further four applications in the pipeline including a sporting brake and a coupe-SUV. The next generation Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur and Audi A8 will also utilise the Panamera’s platform.
The body-in-white of the new car weighs 335kg, and went a long way to contribute to the 70kg overall weight saving Porsche’s engineers had to find to compensate for the additional weight the car’s new technology has resulted in.
Active aerodynamics play a significant role in the Panamera’s new found efficiency, with active planes incorporated behind the front bumper to either close and prevent airflow into the engine to reduce drag, or open when required to cool the engine. Airflow has also been optimised under the car and the Turbo’s active rear wing has two settings, one specifically to maximise economy the other to reduce lift and increase aero performance at higher speeds.
2017 Porsche Panamera Interior and Technology
Inside the new Panamera is where you will recognise the biggest with clearly recognisable design elements first seen on the 918 Spyder with what Porsche calls Porsche Advanced Cockpit.
All the tradition hard buttons have been replaced with touch sensitive ‘buttons’ on a glass-like surface or migrated to the central 12.5-inch touchscreen. The temperature control buttons for the climate control are a solid knurled aluminium effect rocker switch, the vents are controlled via the touchscreen and the controls for the PSM, PASM and sports exhaust still have their own easy to find, single use button. They may have the appearance of being touch buttons, but these dynamic switches operate by your finger depressing and vibrating when the required action has been completed.
Within the 12.5-inch main screen is every control function for the car, even those with individual switches elsewhere in the cabin. The main screen can be split 30/70 and configured how you wish allowing you to operate music, sat-nav, telephone, car and climate settings accordingly.
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