Picture Perfect

The old Panamera Turbo was known to be one of the best-driving luxury sedans. The new one is still that and also one of the best looking!

- Rahul Richard

Magic is pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Sorcery is making a 2-tonne, 5m-long car carve up a mountain road better than a frigging sportscar. Pardon my French, but that’s what the new Panamera Turbo makes you want to do – swear in absolute disbelief!

Let’s start with how it looks – B E A-utiful. From the outside, it’s this massive, gorgeous, Porsche 911-looking thing, but with five doors. The front is where the Panamera resembles a 911 the least because of the wider stance and the larger headlights. But step to the side and you’ll see quite a bit of the 2-door sportscar’s silhouette with the high haunches and the sloping roofline. I love how Porsche has managed to bring that element in without making any of it look out of proportion.

Step inside the car and I guarantee, you’ll be drooling. The Panamera Turbo’s cabin is just as gorgeous as the outside, maybe even a little more gorgeous. It’s so typically German with its simple and elegant shapes flowing oh-so-neatly into one another. Gone are the 101 buttons placed around the gear lever. What you get now is a pressure sensitive touch panel which works like Apple’s 3D Touch technology – it even provides feedback like a normal button would. The 12.3-inch touchscreen, which flows neatly into the black panel, is crisp and offers a whole lot of information. Reaching the far end of the screen is a bit of stretch when you’re in the driver’s seat, but you have quick access buttons for almost every function, on the touch panel.