Is Air Suspension a gimmick? A Porsche dealer SM told me that today
 

I was looking at a GT Silver Panamera 4S with air suspension on 20" Turbo wheels. Beautiful ride. I took it for a test drive and after driving one without air suspension on 19"s I didn't feel much of a difference in ride comfort. After putting the comfort suspension in highest setting I noticed it would go back down after 20mph anyway. I had the impression it would stay high and give that floaty comfy Benz feel but that wasn't the case. Am I doing it wrong? What gives?

Like most cars with air suspension (Jeep Land Rover etc.) as you pick up speed the car will lower itself for better aerodynamics and handling. If you are looking the ride to be like a S class you are probably not going to like the Panamera it is geared more to sport than comfort in the way it rides.

Default mode on my turbo is 'comfort' which is nice for older concrete roads around here with lots of seams and small drops between slabs. Nice mellow ride but the PDCC does a great job eliminating any body roll so it still corners like go kart.

Hit the shock button once (one light) and you you are in 'sport' mode. Stiffer valving - now you can feel a lot more of the road irregularities. Love this for newer freeways. but bone jarring on broken surfaces.

Hit the shock button again (two lights) and you are in 'sport plus' mode. Now the air bags drop ~1", the air volume is halved (spring rate is doubled so the tires don't get into the liners on big bumps), and the valving is stiffer again. Perfect for high speed work or the occasional hot lap. Marketing material says with the seat in its lowest position you butt is only 1" higher than in a 911 and it feels like that.

What I like is that it is the one setting that the car remembers on restart.

The 'lift' mode is only for speed bumps or steep entry/exit ramps. As noted it resets once above parking lot speeds.

wished my panny has air, i'm on springs....