i ordered this car for my wife last december to replace the 07 A8L that was going off lease in may. just picked it up the other day and i think its really nice.

best way to think of it is as a bentley for almost 1/2 $. its definitely not a sports car as driving it makes it seem even heavier and bigger than it actually is. that is the opposite of the gt3 which drives like its lotus sized. the ride quality is perfect though

rear visibility is awful and i didnt order the park assist bc dealer told me its std which it should be. anyone considering one must get it. pdk is not great either. seems no faster than the audi's old tiptronic.

the interior is best part of the car even though i didnt realize it would be almost white. not going to be fun trying to keep clean. its like a show car interior though. i happen to like the outside style too. and the brown color is very rich looking.

unfortunately, wife like driving the nissan cube better!

 

So....you dont like the car you just bought......hummm

 

no, i do like it. its just that i got it for my wife and she's not crazy about it although she does like it better than the audi. the cube will be gone next year anyway and she will just have to 'suffer' with the panamera. she has weird taste in cars.

 

should have ordered sport chrono or 1/2 of the fun of PDK is lost

 

You'd be surprised on how competent this thing is on the track! Drove all the Porsche models, which included all the Panamera models and I was more impressed with it everytime I was behind the wheel. Anyway congratulations on the new purchase.

 

I drove a turbo recently and in normal automatic mode the Panamera is underwhelming compared to my previous E55. The combination of its weight, turbo lag, or lazy downshifting made the car unresponsive when going for a quick burst. It didn’t have sport plus but sport mode made things better.

 

One thing I've learned is that you cannot buy a car for your wife. She has to be the one to bring it up, go look at it, test drive, etc., etc. At the end you can pay for it...that'll work, but you can't bring a car home and go "here you go" no matter how nice it is.

J

 

"Congrats" to you...... I would say you have a new daily driver.... I would get a used Audi A8 for her and she will be happy!!! ( It is worth the 40k$)

 

I posted this on the other site concerning a similar 'complaint'. Might be the same poster.

Excerpts from After Sales Training Manual
• M Sport Plus not active: Always starts in 2nd gear
• M Sport active: Always starts in 2nd gear
• M Sport Plus active: Always starts 1st gear. 7th gear not available. Launch control available.
• D Sport and Sport Plus not active: Always starts 2nd gear
• D Sport active: Always starts in 2nd gear. 7th available only at higher speeds
• D Sport Plus active: Always starts 1st gear. 7th gear not available. Launch control available.

No specific description of kickdown other than to reference reduced engine torque in D, with Sport and Sport Plus inactive (when calling for downshifts). Program is for comfort.

Sport Chrono is a MUST option to get full use of the Panamera and PDK.

 

To the OP, I ordered a P4S after a drive in one and my impression was oposite your's in that I thought the car felt smaller than it is. Did my homework so I knew parking sensors were not standard so I ordered it with the sensor/camera option. I do agree with you that they should be standard........ as should many of the other items that are not!

Had an E55 at the same time I ordered the P4S and I didn't find it underwhelming at all. In fact I preferred the way the P4S drove compared to the E55..... The P4S I drove had sport chrono plus and I ordered it as well.

 

put over 200 mi on it this week and it definitely feels/looks special esp compared to mb, bmw, even maserati. im happy with it overall

 

I presently own quite a few cars. One of them is a panamera turbo. I still can't get used to the rear end treatment.However the car is quite amazing. I find the PDK shifting much faster than my CL63 and the car is much quicker and handles much better than the MB.The interior is one of the best I have seen on any car.The acceleration is what all the car mags say. The car is very very fast . I drive it in the sport mode and I find the back seat room is very adequate and trunk room plentiful.I am surprised at how good the car is.Some of my present cars are a Lambo670-4 SV,Lambo Gallardo Spyder,MB CL63,Ruf CTR,AudiS5 Conv.,Etc.The point here is that I have other cars to compare the Panamera to and I personally am very satisfied with my purchase.I just don't like the rear end of the car.In this case the pluses outweigh the minus.

 

>>>>>>
• D Sport active: Always starts in 2nd gear. 7th available only at higher speeds
>>>>>>

Too add to this, 7th kicks in at 80mph.

 

can you adopt me? I'm clean, have my own job, and can cook, too

 

I was in 4th in normal drive mode and it felt like the least aggressive parameters of the Benz adaptive transmission, just anemic. The sport and sport plus settings do make a big difference.