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By Jonathan Crouch

The PHEV version of Porsche's Panamera luxury five-door Gran Turismo model has been usefully evolved. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 65

Porsche's E-Hybrid PHEV technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the last decade, creating in its third generation G3-era Panamera luxury Gran Turismo the much improved E-Hybrid model we look at here. In this case, we're looking at the base Panamera 4 E-Hybrid version. If you're considering the brand's Taycan full-EV, check out some kind of E-Hybrid Panamera as well as an alternative.

Backgroundword count: 133

In an age when Porsche is increasingly known for its full electric cars, it's easy to forget that the brand was one of the earliest premium brand adopters of PHEV technology. First with the Cayenne E-Hybrid (in 2010) and then shortly afterwards (in 2013) with a similarly-engineered E-Hybrid version of the Panamera, the brand's luxury Gran Turismo. Those early E-Hybrid Porsches were difficult to justify, with a tiny 14.1kWh battery that seemed to take the car hardly any distance at all before it needed replenishment. But as you'd hope, aided by the VW Group, Zuffenhausen's grasp on Plug-in Hybrid tech has come on in leaps and bounds in the decades since and the G3-generation Panamera E-Hybrid we look at here is a very different proposition from its predecessors. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experienceword count: 405

The Panamera 4 E-Hybrid uses basically the same 2.9-litre V6 as is also used in a base Panamera V6. The 4 E-Hybrid model offers 470PS, or you can also have a 4S E-Hybrid variant with 544PS. Those power outputs are dramatically increased over the previous generation model and come courtesy of a 190PS electric motor inserted into the housing of the heavily revised version of the ZF-built PDK 8-speed dual clutch auto transmission that all Panameras now use. The big difference this time round is that this motor is mated to a much larger battery, boosted in size from 17.9 to 25.9kWh. Hence EV range figures that are almost doubled over the equivalent previous generation models - to 59 miles for the E-Hybrid and 56 miles for the 4S E-Hybrid. There's still a throbbing 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 petrol powerplant for top-of-the-range models, but like the V6 unit it too has been fundamentally altered, with everything different except the block. You can still get this powertrain in conventional form - in the form of the 500PS GTS model. But most Panamera customers who want a V8 will order it mated to PHEV tech, where in combination with the E-motor we just mentioned, it produces 680PS in the Turbo E-Hybrid model, allowing 62mph to flash by in just 3.2s on the way to 196mph, with EV range of 57 miles. Should that level of performance be somehow insufficient, you can ask your Porsche Centre about an even more powerful Turbo S E-Hybrid flagship model which offers 782PS, makes 62mph in 2.9s and manages 202mph. EV range is 52 miles. Other than engines, the big choice for Panamera customers lies with suspension. Earlier, we mentioned the standardisation of the air-sprung set-up across the range; it's a 'PASM' 'Porsche Active Suspension Management' adaptive system that combines with a semi-active anti-roll bar and uses more sophisticated two-valve dampers that have allowed Porsche to switch from the previous three-chamber set-up to a simple two-chamber arrangement. And it works both together and independently of the three drive modes ('Normal', 'Sport' and 'Sport Plus'); and can be set at four levels - 'Lift', 'Normal', 'Lowered' and 'Low'. For those who want to go further, Porsche now offers an even more advanced suspension set-up called 'Active Ride', offered as a fearsomely expensive option and only available with the Plug-in Hybrid variants because their 400V hybrid system is necessary to power its hydraulic pumps.

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