Guest
Thanks: 3D Rental Car 2024 Porsche Panamera Softens Up without Losing Focus Wherein Porsche relies on electro-witchcraft to broaden its sport hatchback's appeal. Cars that boast high levels of luxury often mollycoddle at the expense of sharper handling. Since its inception, the Porsche Panamera has tended toward the opposite, offering genuine agility—as one would expect from a car with a Porsche crest on its hood—by sacrificing a measure of on-road comfort. Seeking a broader performance envelope for the 2024 Panamera, Porsche hopes to remedy that by giving its luxury sports sedan a little extra, you know, luxury. What's New Across the Panamera Lineup The third-generation Panamera comes out swinging with changes to nearly every corner of the car. Sure, you might not notice that its visage has been altered, but it has. The front end picks up a new nostril above the license-plate holder that seeks to deliver better airflow. The silhouette has changed a bit, but honestly, it's still Very Much A Panamera. Inside, the 2024 Panny does a better job standing apart from its forebear. The dashboard underwent a big ol' digital rejiggering. The twist-to-start “key“ on the left side is now simply a button. The gear level for the standard dual-clutch automatic transmission has been removed from the center console, replaced by a less-than-ergonomic nubbin behind the steering wheel. To fill that shifter-sized hole on the center console, Porsche has . . . added more gloss-black pieces. Hopefully your fingertips don't produce any oil. The air vents are still controlled through the infotainment and remain as convoluted as ever, but they do look a little better. Porsche has finally relented on the mandatory analogue center gauge—perhaps the biggest potential heresy. In its place is a digital gauge display, and to its right is a central display that handles all the traditional infotainment duties. An optional second screen mirrors that capability for the passenger, and it's engineered to prevent a driver's prying eyes from further distraction. Porsche Active Ride's High-Tech Brain Trickery We saved the most fascinating change for last. Porsche Active Ride is a new suspension option for plug-in-hybrid Panameras that takes advantage of the E-Hybrid's new 400-volt electrical architecture. Two-valve dampers and a single-chamber air spring are employed at each corner, which may sound pretty normal at first. Each damper is connected to an electrically driven hydraulic pump, which can adjust the flow inside the damper up to 13 times per second, changing rebound and compression on the fly (and individually, at that). This system also does away with the front and rear anti-roll bars entirely. Porsche Active Ride is a strange beast to experience. It can raise the entire body by 2.2 inches for more comfortable entry, thrusting itself skyward upon your opening the door, like a race car on air jacks. It can firm up the dampers on one side of the car enough to remain flat under a surprising amount of lateral load—something we experienced firsthand with an emergency-lane-change test. Read More
