Porsche Panamera Diesel

Savings for advanced users.

Hand on heart. If someone tells you that they bought their Porsche because it is particularly economical, what would you answer?

I agree.

Who looks at the consumption of a sports car?

And yet - it seems that an unusual but existing gap has been found at Porsche. Not enough of the fact that many “2 fans” still dream of air cooling, no - Porsche now also offers an SUV, a sporty non-4 for XNUMX and now also a XNUMX-seater GT sedan.

In order to break with all traditions at this point, he has Panamera not only got 4 seats and the engine in the wrong place, but also got a diesel engine in summer 2011.

Who wouldn't want to cry out with so much outrage?

250PS and 550Nm from a 3l V6 diesel. Enough for a Porsche?

Without anticipating the conclusion: For me, the Porsche Panamera Diesel is the most sensible Porsche that money can buy. But was it really about common sense in a Porsche?

Driving a Porsche - wasn't that passion, quality and first-class driving performance?
How much of it is left in a 1.800 kg hatchback sedan with 4 seats and only 250PS?

passion
The purely positive interpretation of passion are lived emotions that tingle from the tip of the foot to the bottom to the fingertips while driving a Porsche. It is this feeling of a wonderful driving machine - the best connection between people and the road is in a Porsche.

And in the Porsche Diesel?
You don't notice anything about the self-igniting variant. As good as nothing. Preheating? No. Violent nailing and shaking? Not really.
A rough engine run and uncharacteristic Porsche running noises alone draw attention to the uncharacteristic drive variant in a Porsche shortly after a cold start.

As soon as the standard 8-speed automatic throws in the torque converter lock-up in the second, you no longer notice the phlegmatism of the typical diesel taxi drive train.

Quality
Anyone who carefully browses the Porsche surcharge list for the special can not only spend hours with the most wonderful possible combinations of carbon, aluminum and leather, but are also sure to find completely individual equipment at the highest level. The interior fittings in the test vehicle, made of rich light beige leather, are beyond any doubt. Double seams on each edge and the subtly softly fluffed leather are a treat for the senses.
However, I can only advise against the variant with the light beige leather on the top of the dashboard. The light surface is reflected too much in the windshield and one is inclined to use the mirrored curve shape of the dermis as the ideal line.

What looks simply divine when stationary and especially at night, interferes with free driving. My suggestion for goodness: A Panamera with light beige leather for the living room - as a sculpture - and a variant with dark leather for everyday use ... And if both variants are equipped with the diesel engine, you save twice as much. 😉

performance
You expect superior performance from a Porsche. Can a 3l diesel engine with 250PS meet these expectations?

It goes from 0 to country road speed in 6,8 seconds, which is just enough to put a Golf GTI behind. And with a little run-up, a speed of 242 is possible - here, too, the distance to a Golf GTI is just maintained. But - just between us - whoever buys a Panamera is no longer comparing himself to a Golf GTI - no matter how sporty the performance of the group brother may be.

It is this convincing idea of ​​pulling power in all situations and in every gear that you use to experience your very own personal driving pleasure. And it is this mixture of confident power development and a sportiness inherent in the Porsche family that sweeten the everyday life of the Panamera Diesel driver with convincing arguments, lightly wrapped in a cover made of padded leather and packed with lavish travel pleasure.

If one had to make do with just one word in the sales brochure of the Porsche Panamera in the description of all the qualities and capabilities of the diesel Panamera, this would be:  Sovereign.

The focus of the test drives In the first diesel Porsche in Grand Touring format, the aim was to determine the real everyday consumption values. And here comes the most convincing argument and something that has so far hardly played a role in the description of Porsche qualities: frugality. There has never been a more Swabian Porsche to date. (Incidentally, we also had during the Porsche Road Trips a Panamera Diesel on top of it wrote Jens on rad-ab.com!)

I was able to cover 2.717 km with the Panamera and concentrated on 2 driving profiles. On the one hand, the natural environment of a large touring limousine: the motorway, both in a markedly economical variant and in a form of the everyday “get from A to B quickly”. The second test profile looked at everyday consumption in commuting over the country and through the city.

During the daily stop & go, the Panamera Diesel benefits from its standard automatic start-stop. It's unbelievable how perfectly this function has been integrated. A few years ago people were still convinced that this function could not be implemented sensibly in an automatic vehicle, but Porsche is proving the opposite here. Without jerking and without wasting time, the engine starts up again when you release the brake pedal and you swim with the traffic.

Without detours to the facts:

5,8 and 11,2 - these are the special numbers in this driving report about the Porsche Panamera Diesel.

More than 11,2l per 100km on average over a 400km long motorway stage was not possible. This is not 400km at full throttle, but a very realistic usage scenario as you experience it on our motorways and expressways. In addition to speed-limited areas for noise protection reasons and construction sites, it is the volume of traffic that regulates the average speed. Even if the Porsche is delivered in series with above-average overtaking prestige - the road is always shared with weaker or larger road users.

I consider 11,2l diesel per 100km to be the maximum for the daily average consumption. That in itself is remarkable.

But 5,8l diesel per 100km simply sounds like a sensation.

The same route as in the “maximal test” - the same conditions - but this time you leave it at 125 km / h as the top speed and drive emphatically defensive and cautious. The speed may have been reduced to 100 km / h - which, however, tended to lead to additional braking and acceleration maneuvers in the vicinity of two-lane motorways and the daily volume of traffic. After 2 km, the consumption of 400l was established as the minimum consumption in a realistic test environment.

With a tank capacity of 80 liters, you can only see a gas station every 1.379 km. With the optionally available 100l tank, you would be able to travel non-stop from Frankfurt am Main to Bari in Italy. (A media partner with a WKZ budget is still being sought for this test drive!).
But what is the consumption of the Panamera in everyday life, as a commuter?

50km to work in the morning - the same distance back in the evening?

6,3l on average. An almost unbelievable figure. In this case, the test route consisted of 85% country roads and 15% city traffic at rush hour times.

The test consumption on the commuter route is so remarkable because Porsche itself specifies an EU test consumption of 6,5l. For the first time, the everyday consumption test falls below the manufacturer's EU standard.

In the test average over all driven kilometers, the Panamera V6 Diesel indulged in 7,9l. In everyday life, this cut can safely be reduced to 7,2 or even, and this is rather unusual, to the EU test consumption of 6,5l. As the wide spread between the minimum consumption of 5,8 and the maximum of 11,2 shows, it depends very much on the daily driving profile and thus on the needs of the driver.

What's the bottom line?
Would I buy a Porsche Panamera Diesel?

No.

On the one hand, I don't have € 110.000 left for a premium touring limousine and, on the other hand, the 250PS diesel in the Panamera will soon be replaced by the new 313PS bi-turbo diesel from the sister company Audi.

Until then, I'll put back one euro every day ... because with the 313PS Diesel, the Panamera finally becomes the perfect Grand Tourismo and you don't have to worry about a Golf GTI in the rearview mirror!

// Update: As it looks at the moment, there will be no 313 PS bi-turbo diesel Panamera, according to information I have received, there is simply no space for the elaborate engine under the flat hood of the Panamera. 🙁 Presumably, however, Porsche will bring a 285 hp diesel.