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Stimulus Packages: The startling new Porsche sedan goes toe-to-toe with a glamourous Italian and a businesslike German.
Exhibit A: The German sports-car maker’s bestselling vehicle since 2003 has been a sport-utility vehicle, the Cayenne. Exhibit B: The car before you, the company’s first production sedan, is a further hyperextension of the Porsche lineup. Exhibit C: The attempt by Porsche to take over Volkswagen resulted in a perfect reversal of fortunes: Volkswagen took over Porsche. At which point, Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking was hurried off the premises, replaced by his right-hand man, Michael Macht.
With the above in mind, you might think that Porsche is getting a little distracted, a bit off its game. Would the Panamera have the Porsche-ness—that magical sports-car sensitivity—to outdrive its increasingly fleet competition? That’s what we wanted to find out.
Its competitors are all European. Three Mercedes-Benzes would qualify for the job: the CLS63 AMG (same number of seats, similar dimensions—the car Wiedeking hoped to improve upon), the pricier S63 AMG (closer perhaps to the Panamera’s flagship, luxury-transport mission), and the E63 AMG wagon (same number of doors). But Mercedes begged off, skittish about pitting the aging CLS against this new Porsche. Complicating our selection process, a Mercedes S550 had recently been knocked off by a BMW 750Li, and the other logical competitor, the E63 wagon, may not even come to North America.
So we decided on two challengers for the new Porsche: a standard-wheelbase BMW 7-series and a Maserati Quattroporte. The Quattroporte got the invitation because we hadn’t had it in a comparo since one disposed of a Jaguar XJR and a Mercedes E55 AMG in 2004. Of three QP models, we chose the top Sport GT S because its 4.7-liter V-8 makes 433 horsepower, 37 more than a standard 4.2-liter Quattroporte, and it has the sportiest suspension. The Porsche and the BMW both make 400 horses.
We’d hoped to keep our entry-level Panamera reasonable—even $10,000 in options would have made it the least expensive car in the test—but, as usual, our rear-wheel-drive S model (base price: $90,775) was zooted up with more than $40,000 worth of options.
Still, the Maserati was the costliest, at $150,375. Our fully loaded BMW 750i checked in at $104,230, though it starts at $82,280.
We threw a six-pack of clean Jockeys and a stash of Altoids into a rucksack and jetted to Bavaria for a weeklong road bender. It’s fair to say we drove the spätzle out of these cars. Here is how they stack up.
First: 2010 Porsche Panamera S
Second: 2009 BMW 750i
Third: 2009 Maserati Quattroporte GT S
Car and Driver - Porsche Panamera S vs. BMW 750i, Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S
M
of course I am drooling over all those Panny's victories.
