Taycan or Panamera?

[f1eng]

I'm comparing to my 2012 Panamera GTS 3,960 lb vs 5,101 lb for my Taycan Turbo S.

I had looked at a plug in Hybrid Panamera myself, which is 2300kg - a bit more than my Taycan and a main reason I didn't buy one. I checked the spec of the current GTS against Taycan and it is around 200kg lighter.

 

[mc9er]

I’m keeping an eye out for the new Panamera announcement this coming Friday the 24th. PHEV might be the winning ticket in a state like Wisconsin (where I am) for the time being. Electrify America is super limited and destination charging (especially once north of Milwaukee and Madison) becomes hard to find as well. And the cold winters here reduce range noticeably.

The Tesla supercharger network up here is great though. I just can’t imagine myself in a Tesla and would really like to stick with Porsche. We’ll see!

 

[Avantgarde]

I got a Panamera loaner during my Taycan’s software update. I had always wanted a panamera but never owned one. I had a full long weekend with it so had the opportunity to test it in detail. My impressions were surprisingly underwhelming, except for the interior quality/luxury feeling of materials. Mainly ride comfort - handling trade off was way worse than Taycan. I somewhat expected the handling to be worse but what surprised me most was the ride comfort. The car had air suspension and was more bumpy on highway driving compared to my taycan on steel suspension and mission E's! (which i found very odd). Maybe it was tiny bit refined in town driving that's it. But the car's willingness to change direction was way worse than Taycan.

This puzzle made me better appreciate one aspect of Taycan's identity. As I think about Caymans and 911s, what gives these cars the unique porsche handling feeling and the ergonomics/visibility of a low hung front dash is the lack of an engine under the front hood. Cayman is a 2 seater and 911 is a 2+2 but essentially there was no realistic way of creating a proper 4 door Porsche in an ICE format. Because you could not put an engine behind two full-size row of seats. What EV tech made it possible for porsche engineers was to create a car that was not possible before. Now I came to realize that taycan is not unique because it is an EV porsche. It is unique because it is a proper 4 door porsche that could not exist in a non-EV format.

Separate from Taycan comparison, Panamera suddenly started to feel like a pointless car. It does not handle anything like a porsche, but more like any other luxury sedan, you can feel 100% the heavy bulk of an engine and a transmission sitting right infront of you. To make it "feel like" a porsche they had to articifically "tighten" the suspension set-up, which gives it an odd rigidity that you don't have in other luxury sedans. And price-wise it is more expensive than a A8 or 7 series but then I can't really see how it is a better car than even a nicely specced 5 series..

 

[andb]

What version did you drove, did it had PDCC, RWS?
I have the Turbo S and in Sport + is as fast as the Taycan Turbo except power delivery is not instant but I can drive it really fast for longer. Its luxurious and handles amazing for such large car, you can't compare it with A8 or 7-series, those handle like a boat.
A friend that also has a Panamera Turbo S almost got a Taycan but returned it after a week to dealership because getting in and out is too difficult for his height at 1.9m.

In my view both have good and bad parts:
- Taycan has better air suspension and has best handling but to me its not worth the price for what you get inside, lots of scratchy plastics, no luxuries like soft close doors and its cramped in the back.
- Panamera is luxurious, more spacious, better quality overall but ride is stiffer and electric drivetrain is weak.

The new model is vastly improved with 50 miles electric range, 140kw motor, active suspension with no antiroll bars.

 

[Avantgarde]

What version did you drove, did it had PDCC, RWS?
I have the Turbo S and in Sport + is as fast as the Taycan Turbo except power delivery is not instant but I can drive it really fast for longer. Its luxurious and handles amazing for such large car, you can't compare it with A8 or 7-series, those handle like a boat.
A friend that also has a Panamera Turbo S almost got a Taycan but returned it after a week to dealership because getting in and out is too difficult for his height at 1.9m.

In my view both have good and bad parts:
- Taycan has better air suspension and has best handling but to me its not worth the price for what you get inside, lots of scratchy plastics, no luxuries like soft close doors and its cramped in the back.
- Panamera is luxurious, more spacious, better quality overall but ride is stiffer and electric drivetrain is weak.

The new model is vastly improved with 50 miles electric range, 140kw motor, active suspension with no antiroll bars.

The one I drove was a plain Panamera 4. But the reason I dinged the car was not on power/acceleration. I actually don't care as much about straight-line performance as all cars are fast today. There are lots of tight-suspension powerful front engine luxury/sedan cars out there with pretty much similar handling characteristics. My point is Panamera is just another one with maybe a nicer interior (and a dated exterior). It does not have the aspects of what makes a porsche unique. You have the "fat bulk" sitting in front of you (not only you can totally feel this in curves but you can actually see it from the significantly higher dash compared to 911/cayman/taycan). I don't see how panamera is a better/more special car vs say an M550i or even a genesis g80 sport (I know i will be attacked for this but it is the truly how i feel). Taycan on the other hand offers you something truly unique that you can't get anywhere else, a 911-like feeling in a 4 door set-up. I've driven many cars and luxury sedans since I sold my Cayman. The only car that reminds me the driving joy and nimble/light dynamic feeling has been Taycan. I really don't care about EV. If an ICE Taycan with a frunk could exist, I'd buy it tomorrow. But it can't.

 

[Crazymind]

I get your point. However one of my friends after 4 Panamera moved to taycan and a week later has returned to the Taycan because he didn’t find it better than the panamera.

 

[Avantgarde]

I get your point. However one of my friends after 4 Panamera moved to taycan and a week later has returned to the Taycan because he didn’t find it better than the panamera.

I am not disputing that. I also have a friend who got excited and got a 911 and ended up getting rid of it because she thought it is too difficult to live with (difficult ingress, egress, steep driveway etc etc). I know others who thought 911 is too uncomfortable after owning it for a while. My first cayman had 1,400 miles on it when I first bought it. The original owner did 1 long trip after buying it and dropped it to a MB dealer and got a e-class coupe as a replacement. I mean those people would probably won't appreciate a taycan over a panamera. My point is what Taycan offers is a more unique/difficult to find propositon. What a panamera offers (or something very close) can be found at a lower price from competitive offerings

 

[andb]

I don't see how panamera is a better/more special car vs say an M550i or even a genesis g80 sport (I know i will be attacked for this but it is the truly how i feel). Taycan on the other hand offers you something truly unique that you can't get anywhere else, a 911-like feeling in a 4 door set-up.

The friend that I mentioned traded the M5 for Panamera Turbo S, my feeling was the M5 drives like a powerful sedan and the Porsche like a heavier sports car plus it looks more special.

Between base Panamera 4 and Taycan I would take the Taycan no doubt because chassis is so good that a Turbo/S is not really needed to have the Porsche feeling.
But if I want the top trim Turbo/S level I'd take the new Panamera over current Taycan because its a more expensive interior and you get latest Porsche suspension and no range issues.