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Full 2014 Porsche Panamera Review
What's New for 2014
Major changes come the Porsche Panamera's way for 2014, as the lineup expands to include a long-wheelbase Executive body style and a plug-in S E-Hybrid variant. A new twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 for non-hybrid S trims replaces the previous naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V8, and all models get standard variable-ratio steering. There are also a few subtle styling tweaks, including a new trunk lid. Finally, the Turbo S model takes the year off, but the base, GTS and Turbo models receive slight power bumps.
Introduction
If there has ever been a car that didn't need an update, it's the 2014 Porsche Panamera. The four-door wunderkind has wowed us for years with its inconceivable blend of top-shelf luxury and sports car dynamics, and there's still nothing for the money that can touch it. But Porsche knows how German engineers operate: If you don't give them something useful to do, they'll end up building the world's most intricate glovebox hinges or something. So they were tasked with making the Panamera meaningfully better for 2014, and early signs suggest that they've done just that.
Perhaps the most significant change is the new Executive body style, a nod to the burgeoning market for long-wheelbase luxury cars, particularly in China. With an additional 5.9 inches between the wheels, the Panamera Executive makes Porsche's luxury liner more competitive against its long-wheelbase German and Japanese peers. Also of note is the new Panamera S E-Hybrid, which does the outgoing S Hybrid one better by providing plug-in functionality with about 20 miles of pure electric driving range. With sales of the electric Tesla Model S picking up steam, the plug-in Porsche's timing is impeccable.
We'd like to observe a moment of silence, however, for the passing of the sublime naturally aspirated V8 that formerly powered the Panamera S and 4S models. Sure, the replacement twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 is both more powerful and more efficient, but that high-revving V8 helped solidify the link between the Panamera and Porsche's sports car heritage. Happily, it lives on in the edgy GTS model -- which is up 10 horsepower to 440 -- but we'll miss its effortless, melodic thrust on the other trims.
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