Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo

FIRST DRIVE Sleek estate looks good and adds extra practicality, but is it as convincing on the road?

- Paul Bailey

PORSCHE has history with estate cars. The iconic Audi RS2 was partly a Porsche collaboration, and was even built at the German sports car maker’s plant in Zuffenhausen. The RS2 arguably kick-started the trend for super-wagons back in the mid-nineties. That resonates to this day, but it’s taken a while for the company to produce its very own.

First hinted at five years ago as a concept, the Panamera Sport Turismo has finally rolled on to the road. The production car has changed very little from that early design concept; the longer roof suits the proportions of the second-generation Panamera, the bigger hatch adding some usefulness.

Visually it’s transformational, then, but if you’re looking for a more practical Panamera then you might be a little bit disappointed. Most Panamera Sport Turismos offer 520 litres of space with the seats up, and 1,390 litres with them down, but Mercedes-Benz’s CLS Shooting Brake betters that with 590/1,590 litres. Choose this fuel-sipping Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and that shrinks a bit, to 425 litres and 1,295 litres respectively, thanks to an electric/petrol drive train that demands a little more room for packaging.