With winter in full force here in Toronto, it is no surprise to see mostly Cayennes and Macans driving around, rather than the more sportier offerings from Porsche. I consider them to be the perfect compliment to a garage containing a sports car such as a 911 or a Boxster/Cayman. While some owners of the latter and the former opt to drive their sportscars year-round, the majority put their toys away for the winter, and drive Porsche’s more practical vehicles. Today I have spotted a vehicle that is not as common as a Macan or a Cayenne, and that is the 971 Panamera, the Sport Turismo model to be more specific.

I remember seeing articles of the first Panamera(970) when it was unveiled 11 years ago back in 2009, and thinking of how odd the exterior styling was at the time with its very round rear end. The car was another step by Porsche to have more luxurious offerings in their lineup. Throughout the cycle of the 970, however, it never caught my attention, despite having several models which I found to be interesting in terms of the advancements they offered. Oh, and then there’s that very complex interior with a center console full of buttons. I recall watching a Top Gear review of the car and seeing Jeremy Clarkson stated that “you had to be a doctor” to be able to understand what all of those buttons do.

When the 971 was unveiled in 2016, immediately I digged the refined exterior styling, which I felt had much better lines than the 970. I also liked the simplicity of the new interior, as Porsche had rid the dash of its high degree of complexity. Gone were also most of the analogue instrumentation in the cluster, replaced by digital screens but the tachometer. For a luxury car, this was a great interior, as it is meant to have all of the latest creature comforts coming from the automotive industry. I was excited, and was really looking forward to the variants coming from the new model.

The Sport Turismo I think has the better exterior design when compared to the fastback. The reason being that it has a more European look to it, which is fitting for a German car. I say this because German car brands are well known for the “shooting brake” style of cars, which is essentially a vehicle that had elements from both a station wagon and sports car combined into one. In other words, it is a sporty station wagon.

The example I have spotted is finished in Black on Black, which is quite solid. Unusually, it has the Deletion Of Model Designation option, which gets rid of the badges in the rear, save for the “PORSCHE” badging. Due to this, I can’t say exactly what model of Panamera this is, but given that it has the SportDesign Wheels, it is likely to be a 4S, but I could be wrong. I personally like the Turbo model, which I consider to be the “middle point” of the Panamera range. It doesn’t offer very little nor too much for a car that would serve its purpose as a daily driver. It’s gonna be interesting to see how Panamera sales stack up, now that the Taycan is essentially here, but that car could very well serve a totally different customer base, so Panamera sales would not be in Jeopardy. In all, it was very nice to see a car that is quite rare on the streets being winter driven.

Best Regards,
Juan Reyes-Abreu