Porsche Panamera GTS 2018 first drive

Not that any of this stops the latest Panamera from feeling unnaturally athletic for its 1995kg kerb weight. Our time on the road is limited but stints on track highlight the car's ability to summon truly tenacious grip one moment then indulge the driver with tip-toe poise the next. 

Porsche has tuned the four-wheel drive in the GTS to remain rear-biased even after grip turns to slip. Along with an ESP Sport mode calibrated to intervene a moment later, it really shows, with the chassis adopting just a touch of yaw and feeling supremely well balanced in general – at least on track.

Indeed, there are more genial super-saloons, and quicker ones, but no comparable car dials you into the driving experience like a Panamera, and that is more palpable than ever in the GTS. It’s responsive to the sort of subtle throttle inputs lost on other big-boned cars and, thanks to a linear EPAS steering setup you'd be grateful to have in a bona fide sport car, devastatingly accurate right up to the point the Pirelli P Zeros begin to wilt. You’re not conscious of the body control, either, which suggests it is superbly effective.

Caveats? Blemishes, more like. There’s some latency to paddle-prompted shifts from the eight-speed PDK ‘box and, despite a hot-vee configuration, there’s still no question this engine is blown. 

Admittedly, our fully loaded test car was equipped with eerily effective rear-wheel steering, the PDCC chassis and carbon ceramic brakes, which together add the cost of a Volkswagen Up! to a £105,963 starting point. At £6707 the brakes are simply unneccesary (how many of these cars ever see a track, you wonder), but the rear-steering and sport chassis are certainly beneficial to both the Panamera's useability and capability. We'd have them.

That price, by the way, rises to £108,110 for the more practical (and prettier) Sport Turismo shooting brake model, whose top speed also drops a touch from the coupe’s 181mph. An M5 Competition costs considerably less but lacks the Porsche’s glamour. AMG’s new four-door take on the GT coupe has more presence and certainly wins the battle of perfomance but the asking price is commensurately higher. While expensive, then, the Panamera does find itself in some clear air.

If the GTS leaves you puffing out your cheeks with admiration, as it surely will, then it is also suffers the same affliction as so many modern performance cars. You’ll have to contrive to find any meaningful objective fault, but as the driver your window of opportunity to appreciate Porsche’s detailed changes is simply too high to be relevant on the road.

There’s some technical overkill going on here, and there’s also the fact the ever-present charm of the old 4.8-litre V8 has left the building. Fabulous as the GTS would be own, it leaves us wondering why you’d get one of these instead of the already excellent Panamera 4S. 

Ultimately the most satisfying Panamera to drive isn’t as characterful as it once was. Neither is it’s delicacy so easy to appreciate.

Porsche Panamera GTS specification

Where Bahrain Price £106,963 On sale Now Engine V8, 3996cc, twin-turbocharged petrol Power 454bhp at 6000-6500rpm Torque 457lb ft at 1800-6500rpm Gearbox 8-spd auto Kerb weight 1995kg Top speed 181mph 0-62mph 4.1sec Fuel economy 27.4mpg CO2 235g/km Rivals BMW M5 Competition, Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S