REIDEN, Germany—There is a lot to be said for testing a car on the roads it was developed on. A Kei car, for example, makes more sense in downtown Tokyo than on one of Nashville’s arterial highways, surrounded by construction trucks. Likewise the German supersedans. For decades, an arms race has been conducted between rival engineers in Munich, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, and Zuffenhausen, each trying to best the others and build the ultimate four-door, four-wheel Autobahn crusher, fit for the fattest fat-cat captains of industry. The Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid is Porsche’s entry into this heavyweight bout.
In most of the world, the horsepower war has little relevance. Huge engine outputs, short acceleration times, and ridiculous top speeds that result from a casual indifference to fitting a speed limiter are at best of interest to the bench racers and are otherwise academic. Not so in Germany. After inventing the motorway in 1932, the country declined to impose speed limits on some sections, a practice it maintains as long as there’s daylight and the weather is good. And drivers there make use of that privilege—in the fast lane, at least.
Seen in this context, the $239,000 Panamera Turbo S starts making more sense. It’s the most powerful Panamera to date, combining a (fruity-sounding) 591 hp (441 kW) 4.0 L V8 that has been reworked compared to the version you might find under the hood of the last version. New monoscroll turbochargers and a higher peak combustion chamber pressure help warm up the catalytic converters quicker, and instead of cylinder deactivation at low load, the engine can change how much and how long it opens its intake valves, shortening the travel and duration under those conditions.
