2025 Porsche Panamera Turbo Review: A 680HP Aston Martin Killer?

Because I'm a man of a certain age, I've spent a lot of time recently thinking, in this case about James Bond. And I've come to the conclusion that Mr 007, Mr Licence to Kill, he's been driving the wrong cars. Don't get me wrong, Aston Martin DB10, Lotus Esprit Turbo, V12 Vanquish, great cars. But if you're a secret agent, you're not exactly going to blend into the background, are you? It's almost like it's an entertainment franchise and not really an accurate depiction of MI6. But anyway, I've come to the conclusion that the car that James Bond needs has to be fast, obviously. It's got to be full of tech, duh. But crucially, it's also got to be stealthy, inconspicuous and fly under the radar. The car 007 needs to drive is one of these. The new Porsche Panamera. This is the new third generation of Porsche's four-door sports saloon. At least Porsche calls it a new generation. About 70% of the parts are changed from the previous generation. Does that make it a facelift or a new car? I guess if engineers changed 70% of me, you definitely couldn't call it a facelift. A travesty, perhaps. Freak show, maybe. Crime against nature, almost certainly. But a facelift now. Mind you, it is quick enough to rearrange your face. Let me demonstrate. OK, sport plus, brake, accelerate, head back for safety, launch. Yeah, OK, OK. Face well and truly rearranged. Reason being, this is the Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, which combines a four-litre twin-turbo V8 with some electrics. And that, combined with the motor, means the car has access to a massive 680 PS and 930 Nm of torque. 0-62, 3.2 seconds. Flat out, 196 miles an hour. And that is quick. If bad guys are chasing you in this car, they're not keeping up. They're going to need a jet. For this version, they've increased the injection pressure and swapped the old twin-scroll turbos for single-scroll units, which could mean more turbo lag. But that's where the new e-motor comes in, very effectively filling in torque gaps. This gearbox, brilliant as well, nice and snappy. But there are a couple of downsides. First of all, that e-motor is actually packaged inside the housing of the dual-clutch gearbox. Great for packaging, great for weight. Bad news when something goes wrong. It's going to be expensive, I can tell you. The other downside is that even though it's a V8 and it does sound quite nice on the inside, on the outside, it's way too quiet. I drove past a couple of kids the other day and they were like, rev it, rev it. And I didn't, because I didn't want to embarrass myself. But that quietness at least means you can sneak around, which is exactly what a secret agent needs. And if you want to be really stealthy, the Panamera has a full electric mode, where it goes almost totally silent. It's really clever, actually. It's got a 26 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It can drive at a top speed of 87 miles an hour in EV mode. And it's got an official range of 55 miles in electric-only mode. Although in reality, that's going to work out somewhere closer to around 30 miles. Still, not bad. You're welcome, nature. All right, that's enough of that. Sport mode, let's go. Yes. Now that's more like it. And this isn't even the quickest Panamera. If close on 700 horsepower isn't enough for you, you can have a Turbo S version with another 100 horsepower on top. Do I need all of that extra power in the real world? No. Do I want it? Absolutely. Bad news, though. For this generation, Porsche has ditched the Sport Turismo body style, the estate Panamera. Not enough global demand, apparently. So now you can only have it in this saloon flavor. But let's not worry about what Porsche have lost and talk more about what they've added. And what they've done in typical Porsche fashion is not a lot, really. As you can see, it looks very much like a Panamera. But there are some subtle updates. It's now got a little bit of extra sharp creasing at the front to make it look a bit more aggressive. It's also got more air intakes to feed cooling air into the engine and batteries. And I also like these headlights as well. Yeah, I'd call it subtle, but understated. This color, by the way, is called Oak Green, and I love it. I'm not really a fan of green cars, but they've actually nailed this. As you can see, it is pretty much spot on. I've taken the liberty of bringing a leaf from my oak tree in the garden, and as you can see, it's pretty close. I've actually also got a sample of European ash. Not close. And this is Valley Oak. And of the three colors, I think you'll definitely agree that the Oak Green is exactly as it should be. Have a closer look at my particular oak. It's got some sort of weird disease on it. This brown indicates that there's something wrong with the tree in my garden. However, if you look at the interior on this Panamera, it matches this particular shade of disease. So congratulations to Porsche for coordinating the interior with the exterior for this very particular arboreal infection. There are lots of other nice details too. These wheels are the optional 21s with center locks. There are plenty of turbo-specific details, including the badge color, the painted diffuser panels, and the chrome-plated tailpipes. You also get a little bit of flair from the familiar transformer-style rear wing. Subtle, but then there's this. You want to see an even bigger change with the Panamera? Check this out. Cool, right? The new Panamera's biggest party trick is a suspension upgrade called Active Ride. This does away with anti-roll bars. Instead, each wheel gets an active hydraulic damper powered by the car's 400-volt architecture. These soften or stiffen independently, allowing the Panamera to raise or lower whichever corner it chooses, or to hoist the whole car up by a Let's do that again. Nice. Basically, it rises up to make the car easier to get in and out of, which is perfect for James Bond, because according to the books, the geezer was born in 1917. That will make him 107 years old. He's not going to be hopping in and out of an Aston Martin, is he? Perfect. Before I show you the inside, I just want to hammer home the point about this detail on the leaf here. This disease, look at it. It perfectly matches the brown on the steering wheel. The Porsche guys are an absolute joke when it comes to attention to detail. Fantastic. Anyway, interior design. Got a screen here and a screen here. That one's flat. That one's curved. High definition, high resolution. It looks fantastic. Really responsive. It's got a bunch of native apps as well, including a video player, so you can watch Netflix and other things if you want to. Although, why would you bother? Just use your phone, I think. It's also got a weather app and a news app. The news app is intriguing because you can actually program in specific news feeds, including from the BBC. Look, you've got auto car there. Maybe you should get an auto trader app in there as well. Or your favourite sports team. In this case, I've got Liverpool, so you can actually play some news from your favourite sports teams or whatever on the move. I'll tell you what else I like. These controls for the heating down here. This is actually one big button. It doesn't move when you press it, but if you press a specific icon, it does go down. Gives you some haptic feedback. However, it's quite reflective because it's glossy black. What it means is that as you're driving along and the sun hits it, you can't really see what's going on as you're driving. Shut that up. This is quite cool. If I open up this compartment down here, this is a wireless mobile phone charger, and it's cooled. It's constantly flooding that compartment with cool air so your phone can wirelessly charge without overheating. On top of that, I've also got massaging seats with a number of different massage programs and massage strengths, and it is very strong. I do want to show you my reversing camera as well because it's quite good. If I tap this button here, I get a 3D representation of the car. If I tap this icon here, what you'll see is I get a little spray icon. If I press that, look what happens. It sprays water over the lens, so you haven't got to go out and clean it. Now that is some proper James Bond. Despite the optional panoramic glass roof in this car letting in lots of light, this is still a snug cabin. You sit low down, cocooned within the belly of the Panamera. Less SUV, more sports car, which is great from the driving seat, but maybe not so good for those in the back. Although there is reasonable room back there for money penny and Miss Galore, and there's even enough space in the boot for any bad guys you might want to tie up. Speaking of which, let's go save the world. This active ride system that I mentioned earlier, very clever stuff. It's only available on the hybrid Panamera because it needs the 400 volt architecture in order to operate, but it's very, very cool. What it does is it constantly monitors what the car is doing in relation to the road, so it keeps the car level regardless of what you're doing. For example, you can slam on the brakes like now, and it stays nice and flat. Most cars will pitch directly onto the nose and be all out of shape. Likewise, I can floor it, and instead of doing a wheelie, the thing stays completely flat. Then when you're in a corner, again, it's exactly the same. It's remarkable. It just stays like a pancake regardless of what you're doing. It's incredible. It's not just good for performance either. It's also good for comfort. The amount of body control you get from this new suspension system is breathtaking. It's not soft and wallowy, but it still does an amazing job of just soaking up all the imperfections in the road. I'll tell you what it's like. It's like flying business class. When you're at the front of the plane during turbulence, it doesn't affect you quite as much, whereas if you're in the back, then you're getting thrown around all over the place. It doesn't eliminate the turbulence completely, but it makes for a much better ride. That's not even the most mind-bending bit. In a fast corner where the outside suspension would normally compress under lateral weight transfer, Active Ride can not only level up that side of the car, but actually raise it so the Panamera tilts into the corner like a motorbike rider. Quite a nervous rider, admittedly. It only leans by a maximum of three degrees, so you're not exactly going to feel like Valentino Rossi in this corner here, but every little helps, and it does a really good job of masking the car's two and a half ton curb weight. Sure, it's not really as flashy or as impressive as an ejector seat or a flamethrower, but how often are you going to use that stuff in the real world? I'll tell you what gadget you might use in the real world quite often. It's this little button down here. You press that, the sports response button, and it makes the car very angry. It drops down a couple of gears, increases boost, increases aggression and anger, and just makes the car want to headbutt the horizon. Think of it as a shortcut button to the very best that the Panamera Turbo e-Hybrid has to offer. Low gear, high boost, full rage, the lot. If you're worried this won't come cheap, you're right. The entry-level version of the Panamera with a 353 PS V6 petrol engine kicks off at just over 80 grand. This Turbo version doesn't. Prices start at £144,000 before options, and yes, there are a lot of options. Guess how much this particular car costs? £188,000. Now, that is McLaren Artura money. Let's face it. Mind you, I suppose if you're a spy, you're not going to bat an eyelid at that price, are you? You'll just put it on the company credit card or steal one. The Panamera, then, is an excellent choice for any international spy with a generous expenses policy. But what about for the rest of us? Well, the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, had a motto, speak softly and carry a big stick. He could have been talking about the Panamera. I mean, he wasn't. He died about 100 years ago. But he could have been. This is a car that doesn't shout about its firepower. But don't be fooled. It's packing plenty. And that's exactly the sort of car any discerning buyer that fancies themselves as a wannabe secret agent really needs. It's not a bad shot for the rest of us either. If you're the kind of person that wants the best without having to shout about it, this is a great option. The Panamera has always been brilliant, but this new version is even better. Get one. You've only lived twice.