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An Icon Arrives

It is an exciting four door sports car that has been leaving many jaws agape since the first generation came to the world. Now, the second generation Panamera is finally available in Malaysia.

It was officially made available here in Malaysia mid-way through April by Sime Darby Auto Performance, the authorised importer of Porsche vehicles here. As a whole, the four-door sports car has been redeveloped, down to the last detail. Its engines and transmissions have been redesigned, its chassis perfected, and its display and control concept reinterpreted for the future. The base retail base price for the new Panamera and Panamera 4S starts from RM890,000.00 and RM1,100,00.00 respectively (Prices exclude registration fee, road tax and insurance).

While hard-driving gearheads would have memorised the luxury sport sedan’s details and specifications by now, it is good to recap what the new Porsche Panamera has to offer. To begin with, visually, the unique concept of this large Porsche is reflected in its long, dynamic proportions, pronounced shoulders, athletic flanks and an extremely fast roof line that is 20 mm lower at the rear. This is the typical Porsche flyline that creates a stylistic link to Porsche’s design icon, the 911. 

The Porsche Advanced Cockpit has been reinterpreted with black panel surfaces and interactive displays that have a clear and intuitive user interface akin to that of smartphones and tablets with the practical requirements for controlling the car. Classic hard keys and conventional instruments have been reduced significantly, replaced by touch-sensitive panels and individually configurable displays which take centre stage in the new cockpit. The tachometer, positioned centrally in the instrument cluster, is a tribute to the 1955 Porsche 356 A.

From the low seat position typical of sports cars, drivers not only get to see a fascinating front-end landscape of the car’s wings and powerdome, but also two 7-inch displays that are placed directly in the driver’s line of sight. Located in the middle of these two displays is the tachometer, which is still an analogue instrument. Meanwhile, the gearshift console between the driver and the front passenger is dominated by the 12.3-inch touchscreen of the next generation Porsche Communication Management (PCM) system. A new control panel with touchsensitive switches on the centre console enables intuitive control of various functions. Even the louvres of the central air vent are electrically adjusted by touch-sensitive sliders. Rear passengers can control air conditioning and infotainment functions using an optional four-zone automatic climate. Raising the comfort experience of the Panamera are also new equipment options such as the panoramic tilt roof, massage seats, ambient lighting and a 3D high-end sound system from Burmester. 

New V6 and V8 biturbo engines are part of the new Panamera package. For the first time, all of them may be equipped with a permanent all-wheel drive system and a new eight-speed Porsche dual-clutch transmission (PDK). The Gran Turismo was first launched with the two all-wheel drive models, Panamera 4S (440 hp) and Panamera Turbo (550 hp). This was followed by the Panamera standard model with a six-cylinder turbo engine(330 hp).

The chassis also houses the typical goodies to bridge the gap between comfort and pure sports car performance, such as adaptive air suspension with new three-chamber technology, including Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM electronic damper control), the enhanced Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport (PDCC Sport) system including Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) and active roll stabilisation, as well as a new electromechanical steering system. The integrated 4D Chassis Control system analyses and synchronises all chassis systems in real time and optimises the road performance of the new Panamera.

The new Panamera is also equipped with new systems such as a night vision assistant, which uses a thermal imaging camera to detect people and large animals and displays a colour highlighted warning indicator in the cockpit. If the optional new LED matrix headlights with 84 image points are selected, people beyond the visual range of the dipped beam headlight are also illuminated briefly if they are in the computed driving corridor, allowing the driver to react even faster.  

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