Necessity was the mother of invention. It's also what's probably behind Porsche's Panamera, suggests DAVE MOORE.
The Panamera offered Porsche an opportunity to steer away from its recent slavishness in terms of following 911 design cues when it creates a new car.
After all, in the past it has designed some pretty impressive models that didn't look like traditional Porsches. The VW- collaborated 914/6 was one, while the 924, 928, 944 and 968 models proved that you can, indeed, sell Porsches without having to have a 911 silhouette and an engine in the rear.
Even the Cayenne, which has a sort of 997 nose grafted onto its huge cross-section, doesn't look like a Porsche, except from head on or three-quarters front.
From every other angle, it looks like a melted VW Touareg, which shouldn't be that surprising, since it's all but the same vehicle in the first place.
Porsche has been proven right too many times for me to worry that the Panamera might be the wrong car with the wrong look at the wrong time.
When a watered-down version of the stunning early 90s Boxster show car was put into production, two opinions dominated.
Some said the smaller, but nearly as quick Boxster would eat up 911 sales, offer less profit per unit than its larger sibling and thus break the company. Others said it was too compromised in terms of its styling compared with the show car, and wouldn't sell at all well.
Both opinions were wrong. Sales of 911s continued apace, while the Boxster appeared to offer a sufficiently attractive entry-point car to snare buyers who couldn't front with the extra $80,000 for the 911, but could now afford a Porsche after all. Even naysayers with their glib "hairdresser's car" terminology had to admit that once they had actually driven the Boxster, they found it a fine, well-balanced, mid-engined car, with none of the rear-engined snap- oversteer worries of its 911 siblings.
The Boxster's sales effectively saved the company and help it accrue some investment for future cars. Like the Cayenne.
Porsche calculated that if only a few of the sport utility vehicles (SUVs) owned by existing 911 people could be changed into what would become the Cayenne, then such a vehicle could be a real money- spinner for them. Many traditionalists were almost up in arms over the perceived sacrilege of a SUV with a Porsche badge on it.
But again, Porsche was right and they were wrong. The Cayenne went off in the market like a rocket, with twice as many being sold in the first few months than was planned, and throughout its career, the car has sold well.
So when people look at the Panamera and judge it without driving it, they remind me of those with phobias about the Boxster and Cayenne. Like black pudding, sushi and Guinness, the Boxster and Cayenne suffered, very briefly, from the "I don't like it because I've never tried it" syndrome.
Everyone who tells me that they don't like the Panamera has not tried it either, and although I'll admit some trepidation before driving the big new sedan, it took not much more than a run around the block to realise that perhaps, yet again, Porsche is right.
Before setting off in my Panamera 4 test car, the accommodation needed to be checked out. After all, if you are paying $100,000 more for a family car than some of its competitors charge, it would pay to get the cabin right in the first place.
With a surprisingly good boot, which goes some way to forgiving Porsche for the rear-end's shape, and a remarkably effective cabin - for four - the Panamera doesn't go far wrong. It would be nice to accommodate a fifth occupant, but four well-shaped chairs each with sufficient adjustment to make its user feel special, are always better than four seats plus a compromised centre-rear place that makes it less than special for all those in the back.
Up front, Porsche has taken the sporting sedan's driving environment to a whole new level. With a centre console that's lined on each side with simple, easy-to-learn switches and an instrument cluster with less of a clutter than competitors' offerings, the Panamera is a cinch to operate. Simple printed switch graphics explain most functions easily.
With a similar selection of engines to that of the original Cayenne - turbocharged and normally aspirated V8s - the Panamera should be quick, being about 600kg lighter model for model than the big SUV. The units are now direct injected, lighter and fettled for mounting lower in the car's chassis, as befitting a sports super sedan, with the standard engine making 294kW and the turbocharged unit 368kW.
My test car was the base Panamera S, which costs $260,000. There is a Panamera 4S with all- wheel-drive for $270,000, while the hot-to-trot Turbo - again with AWD - asks an eye-watering $350,000.
In our much restricted country, flat-out performance figures are largely irrelevant, but my S model managed 0kmh to 100kmh in 5.4 seconds. All-wheel-drive traction makes the 4S a few tenths of a second quicker, while the turbo can get there in 4.5sec.
All Panameras use Porsche's Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (double-clutch) seven- speed, two-pedal transmission, and while this gearbox is probably the best you can buy, the paddles, or more correctly "buttons" used to manually operate it are fumblingly lacking in logic.
Although I managed to master them while spending time with the car, I can't help but think that most owners will eventually select "D" like a conventional automatic and leave the car to its own devices.
It's still great fun, and being closer to the powertrain than you are in the taller Cayenne, the V8 sound is more direct, but never obtrusive, and most of the time, the Panamera is a quiet, easy-going mode of transport, although it will erupt into astonishingly short, crisp overtaking manoeuvres at the drop of a hat.
There's no point in having such urge without the antidote, and the Panamera lives up to Porsche's reputation for having great brakes. The 360mm front and 330mm rear vented discs haul the big sedan down from highway speeds with strap- hanging alacrity.
All-out performance is all very well, and indeed, it's expected of a Porsche, but where the Panamera really does excel is in its ride and handling. With Comfort mode selected for the suspension, the Porsche will dispatch patched and potholed city streets with cosy aplomb, but you'll need to harden things up for open-road driving and bend-swinging.
With Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), which is what the company calls its an electronic damping control system, you can dial-in the Panamera's underpinnings to taste, and once sorted, the car shrinks around you, like all accurate and predictable handlers do.
While all-wheel-driven and turbocharged versions of the Panamera probably offer more grip and excitement than my mere S model, I was delighted with its sheer adjustability and reaction to steering input.
Porsche has managed to get so much of the initial brief for the Panamera absolutely right. It drives as well and probably better than anything else in its class, possesses a ridiculously frugal power unit - I managed better than 9.5L/100km most of the time - and is executed with an eye for quality and detail.
However, Porsche has missed the chance for a design revolution for the brand, something that Jaguar hasn't with its new XJ, for instance.
Also, with prices that work out about $80,000 more than the equivalent Cayenne, I'm finding it hard to justify the spend.
For the price of the Panamera I tested - $260,000 - I might still walk out of the showroom with a Cayenne diesel, a Boxster and some change, but watch the Panamera's sales prove everybody wrong - again.
PANAMERA S
* Drivetrain: Front-mounted rear- wheel drive, 4.8-litre quad-cam direct-injected V8 producing 294kW at 6500rpm and 500Nm at 3500rpm. Seven-speed PDK transmission.
* Performance: Max 225kmh, 0-100kmh 5.4sec, 9.8L/100km, 253g/km CO2.
* Dimensions: L 4970mm, H 1418mm, W 1931mm, W/base 2920mm, F/track 1658mm, R/track 1662mm, weight 1850kg, fuel 80L.
* Pricing: Panamera S $260,000, 4S $270,000, Turbo $350,000.
* HOT: Sharp chassis; ride quality; cabin comfort and equipment; great V8 engine.
* NOT: Costs too much; styling opportunity lost; non-intuitive paddles.
* VERDICT: A towering achievement that deserves a sharper look and better pricing.
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