The Porsche Panamera set its own course from day one, but the latest version of it unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show takes yet another path – The Panamera Sport Turismo.
Because the car has never been accused of being practical, other than to offer a rear seat and two more doors to the Porsche sports car experience, a proper sport wagon has been created with the additional cargo space a traveling foursome might need.
Otherwise identical to the garden variety Panamera, the upper greenhouse is entirely unique. The window line is longer and the roof height remaining higher as it transitions into a tight shouldered D-Pillar at the rear. The roof line flows into an automatic rear spoiler than can raise and lower depending on speed.
This makes the Sport Turismo terminally unique inside in a number of ways. Aside the large cargo area, this is the first Panamera to seat three across in back for a total of five passengers. If that offends your sports car sensibilities you can however option a four-seated version.
The staring attraction for the cabin is the new cargo area with its expansive low flat floor. With a wide opening rear hatch and the seats folded down, the rear cargo hold offers up to 49 cubic feet of space for your best golf bags, Longaberger baskets, or shopping bags from Saks.
There’s optional of course, this is a Porsche, a luggage compartment management system that uses two rails built into the floor with four tie-down points and a luggage compartment partition net.
All this practicality however shouldn’t kill the buzz when it comes to performance as the Panamera Sport Turismo will be available with the same spread of powertrains and options found in its stable mate.
The base level Panamera 4 Sport Turismo is powered by a 330 horsepower 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 Porsche says will go from 0 to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds. The Panamera 4S Sport Turismo hits 0-60 mph in just 4.0 seconds with its 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6.
Next up the scale is the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo which adds a 136 hp electric motor to that 2.9 liter turbocharged V6 for better fuel economy and a still respectable 0-60 mph sprint of 4.4 seconds.
Top of the range of course is the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo that has the 550 horsepower twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 that can rocket you from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds.
Pricing of the new Panamera Sport Turismo will start at $96,200 for the Panamera 4 Sport Turismo and ranges up to $154,000 for the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo. This is of course excluding options, which you should plan for.
The 2018 Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo arrives at North American dealerships later this year.
