keithos27:
RC,
Your car looks beautiful! I'm a member over at 6speed and Rennlist and just found this forum. This was the first post I read (all 37 pages). What a journey! Hope your father is doing better and that you are getting more opportunities to enjoy your car!
-Keith
Thank you so much for the kind words and welcome.
My father isn't really better I'm afraid but my mother is OK again and things have been more relaxed lately. Unfortunately I still can't enjoy my car as much as I would want to, work also keeps me busy but I already have almost 6000 km on the car and it has been absolutely trouble-free (not a single issue, nothing).
Performance-wise, I didn't have much time for real life comparisons. From standstill, there is no other car in it's class to be able to keep up, the traction is just amazing. I even gave a Ferrari FF driver a run for his money, I was at least half a meter ahead of him up to 80 kph (from standstill). Kidding aside, the performance is amazing for such a heavy car.
Another encounter has been a BMW M550d on the Autobahn: In the 80 to 250 kph speed range, he always fell back by at least a couple of hundreds of meters, so while the M550d might be a great and powerful Diesel, it is not even slightly close to Panamera Turbo S performance (which was to be expected). Things looked a little bit different with an E63 AMG (latest bi-turbo version with performance package) though: From 80 kph to 180 kph, we were side by side, not a bit of difference but over 180 kph, my Panamera Turbo S started to move away from him but very slowly. At 270 kph, he was only around two car lengths behind, not more. Still...impressive.
So yes, I am very happy with performance and reliability but I always have the feeling, especially on the Autobahn, that the Panamera Turbo S is underpowered. This car could easily handle 100 horses more. Easily.
Handling performance however is amazing. On straight roads, the car feels heavy and the steering feels light and slightly disconnected from the street. The moment I start to drive through some fast and narrow curves, the whole character changes and the car feels very close to a 911. The only thing which actually kind of waters down the 911 feel is...the steering. I wish it would be slightly more direct and less light.
Next week, I get winter wheels on my Panamera Turbo S. I will post some photos, I got the 20'' RS Spyder rims with Pirelli SottoZero II W240 on them. The rims have been painted in matte black, they look amazing.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche Panamera Turbo S, BMW X5M, Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe PP/DP, Mini Cooper S Countryman All4