Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid 2020 UK first drive

The idea of buying yourself an imposing and highly capable Porsche four-door GT car for the thick end of £100k, yet deliberately denying yourself the two most stirring twin-turbo V8 applications in favour of a more economical electrified model, might look an odd decision to those who imagine using private funds on the purchase.

Why have a £101,690 Panamera 4S E-Hybrid, tested here, when for a mere £5500 more you can have the simpler, lighter, sportier, better-sounding and more agile Panamera GTS V8?

Concern for the environment is one big driver, Porsche reports, and tax is another. As a company car, the E-Hybrid attracts dramatically lower benefit-in-kind taxation because of its 51-67g/km official CO2 output, which less than a quarter of the CO2 figure of its nearest twin-turbo V8 counterpart.

No surprise, then, that 60% of British Panamera sales have been PHEVs, and the situation is expected to stay that way – or accelerate – when this revised Panamera generation hits the market next month. After all, you’re not giving away anything significant in performance: the PHEV sits comfortably between the two V8 twin-turbo models, offering a 3.7sec 0-62mph sprint time and a 185mph top speed against 3.9/186 for the GTS and 3.1/196 for the full-house Turbo S.

The answer to that question depends dramatically on what you’ve been driving beforehand. If you’ve been used to grumbling V8s that can rev as well, this V6-electric powertrain (whose noise takes over only when the silence of the electric drive runs out) sounds a bit thin. 

From the outset, we believe the best approach to the E-Hybrid is to glory in the new capability of the 2021-spec Panamera’s PHEV powertrain rather than wishing it were something else. The unique combination of performance and economy is deeply impressive, even if the WLTP figures quoted for mpg and CO2 output still don’t tell the full ownership story.  

Advertised as good for 34 miles of electric cruising before there’s any need to start the petrol engine, the Panamera PHEV showed on test that its real-world battery-only range can indeed beat 30 miles, an impressive performance for a big car whose kerb weight has been increased 300kg by the presence of an on-board 17.9kWh battery. The Panamera V6’s total performance is augmented by the presence of the associated 134bhp electric motor (mounted in the bowels of the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox), which especially assists at the low end of the performance range. As a result of the twin-powerplant set-up, this Panamera has no fewer than six driving modes, with the self-explanatory E-power, Hybrid Auto, E-hold and E-charge driver choices to go with the usual Sport and Sport-plus.