RE: PH Fleet: Porsche Panamera Diesel

RE: PH Fleet: Porsche Panamera Diesel

Author
Discussion

CJP80

1,091 posts

147 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Even Audi's twin turbo six would be nice.

Itsallicanafford

2,759 posts

158 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
'Oh, and I even like the way it looks.'

...i know that all these things are subjective, but really can this be true? unshackled from the constraints of the corporate design language (i.e make them all look abit like 911's), would porsche's designers really have come up with this design. Its Desirable, it has premium product stamped all over it, but is it really a good looking object?

Carnnoisseur

531 posts

153 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Great review. I'm a massive fan of the Panamera. I've driven all variants so far and have been aiming to upgrade to a turbo ever since. However, I was provided with a Panamera Hybrid as a courtesy car quite recently and that changed my opinion again. Fantastic performance with great MPG to match, it's a win win. In relation to the looks, each to their own, but in my opinion, it looks fantastic.

toppstuff

13,698 posts

246 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Itsallicanafford said:
Its Desirable, it has premium product stamped all over it, but is it really a good looking object?
Yes. I can't think of any other genuinely spacious 4 seat, 4 door up market saloon that equals it.

bodhi

10,331 posts

228 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
So it's an ugly, overweight diesel saloon, basically an appliance with a Porsche badge on it.

Remind me again why I should care?

bob1179

14,107 posts

208 months

Monday 20th August 2012
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19" wheels 'weeny'?

The world has moved on I suppose.

smile

Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
If it's anything like the 'S' with the V8 petrol they are really nice cars to drive. Cossetting, comfortable and really user friendly without feeling anywhere near as big as they are.

I suppose in Europe the diesel makes more sense but the V8 is a great engine.

Bill

52,471 posts

254 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
toppstuff said:
I simply cannot comprehend for the life of me, how people think the car is ugly when they consider other cars out there, which do not attract so much as a grumble. The irony of people who own any modern Peugeot, any modern Vauxhall, even most Audi's with their absurd DRL's, calling the Panamera ugly simply tells me that a lot of people seem to have no sense at all. But, of course, it is a purely subjective thing. I do wonder, however, if sometimes these things become an accepted mantra that is simply followed by the masses, like so many sheep. Many people seem to continue to quote Clarkson, so this theory has some merit..
Peugeots, Vauxhalls and Audis aren't meant to be good looking, it's just a happy coincidence if they are. As you say the Panamera is a case of function over form, so you'll have to accept that plenty of people think it's ugly.

DuckDuck

459 posts

147 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
I really like the Panamera, but i have to say it is a big disappointment they couldn't squeeze in the new Audi 3litre bi-turbo 309hp engine. I'll stick to my 535d touring for now.

mat205125

17,790 posts

212 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Is that an especially small parking space, or do all Panameras hang out of spaces by a good foot, and not leave any space for the doors to open when someone parks alongside?

I really want to like this car, and look forward to their demise towards a £20k price. The simple mechanical spec appeals greatly to a post-warranty private buyer some years along the way.

Regarding my first semi-tongue in cheek question, and the 4 seat limitations mentioned in the piece, I'll be reading with interest with how the car deals with day to day usage.

esvcg

851 posts

184 months

Monday 20th August 2012
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I do like the look of these in red or brown:








Shame the rear is needlessly ugly, it could have easily been so much better:


toppstuff

13,698 posts

246 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Bill said:
Peugeots, Vauxhalls and Audis aren't meant to be good looking.
I completely disagree.

We should insist on good design for everyday objects. There are simply horrendously ugly, ill conceived car designs out there. Accepting that they are ugly "but they are'nt meant to be beautiful" is nonsense.

Every time I see a pre-facelift Audi A5 come up behind me I am reminded that the idiot who designed the DRL's should be locked up for crimes against car design. Thankfully the facelifted versions are better. And how anyone can not see the face of any modern Peugeot and not wonder what the hell they were thinking when they signed that off, must have a strange sense of aesthetics in my book.

There really is little wrong with the Panamera's design IMO.

Edited by toppstuff on Monday 20th August 13:07

a11y_m

1,861 posts

221 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
DuckDuck said:
I really like the Panamera, but i have to say it is a big disappointment they couldn't squeeze in the new Audi 3litre bi-turbo 309hp engine. I'll stick to my 535d touring for now.
Bugger, I was going to say that would be the perfect engine for it (reading evo mag's reviews of various Audi's with that engine the last couple of months). The stats of that engine appeal very much, shame it's be donkeys years before anything with that engine will fall into my budget.

I really like the Panamera, much more of a Porsche than the Cayenne IMO.

Dagnut

3,515 posts

192 months

Monday 20th August 2012
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I don't see the opposition to a diesel in this car. It's a commuter car that's it's prime objective.

RemarkLima

2,366 posts

211 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Yeah, I like the Panamera... It was only after seeing a couple in the metal that they made sense, photos really do it no justice and do not convey the presence it has.

LuS1fer

41,080 posts

244 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
It is a shame it looks so utterly vile.

However, in a few years as it has slid down the depreciiation curve faster than it might have done had it been born with good looks, it may well make sense as a family wagon. Too much sense, probably.

However, there is something "wrong" about owning a Porsche you have no desire to look at, let alone look back at as you walk away. Rather destroys the point of it being a Porsche and it perhaps should have been conceived as an Audi instead.

F1GTRUeno

6,333 posts

217 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Without quoting Clarkson I can decide with my own eyes that the Panamera is horrendously ugly.

Everything points to it being an amazing car though and you don't have to look at it from behind the wheel...

Johnboy Mac

2,666 posts

177 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
I would hope if I could ever justify £66k for a diesel, I could afford the extra £15k & assoicated running costs to buy the V8S.

Bill

52,471 posts

254 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
toppstuff said:
Bill said:
Peugeots, Vauxhalls and Audis aren't meant to be good looking.
I completely disagree.

We should insist on good design for everyday objects. There are simply horrendously ugly, ill conceived car designs out there. Accepting that they are ugly "but they are'nt meant to be beautiful" is nonsense.

Every time I see a pre-facelift Audi A5 come up behind me I am reminded that the idiot who designed the DRL's should be locked up for crimes against car design. Thankfully the facelifted versions are better. And how anyone can not see the face of any modern Peugeot and not wonder what the hell they were thinking when they signed that off, must have a strange sense of aesthetics in my book.

There really is little wrong with the Panamera's design IMO.
... When I say they're not meant to be beautiful I mean that no one cares if they're ugly. It's just another car. But a Porsche is aspirational so people have expectations and want it to be desirable, and part of that desire is the looks.

toppstuff

13,698 posts

246 months

Monday 20th August 2012
quotequote all
Bill said:
... When I say they're not meant to be beautiful I mean that no one cares if they're ugly.
I care more. We have to look at them everyday.