Driving 1,000km in the Panamera

Lately, I’ve been writing a lot about trips to Fuji Speedway, but this time, I drove approximately 1,000km round trip alone in the Panamera. On past family road trips, my husband usually did most of the driving, and I only got to drive a little here and there, so this was the first time in my life I drove such a long distance for such a long time by myself.

The Panamera (970) first came to our home about three years ago.

Then, the Panamera Turbo arrived a year and a half ago. Over these three years, I’ve driven the Panamera on city streets, winding roads, highways—basically every kind of road—and thought I fully understood its appeal.

However, after this 1,000km drive, I ended up rediscovering the Panamera’s greatness and charm, so I’d like to share a bit about that.

The Panamera’s Excellence

Less Fatigue Even After Long-Distance Driving

The Panamera offers a smooth ride and lets you drive comfortably and relaxed. My husband sometimes says after a long drive home in the Boxster,

“The Boxster is fun, but it always puts me in battle mode like, ‘Alright, let’s go!’ so after driving for a long time, I get pretty mentally tired.”

But with the Panamera, I didn’t feel that kind of fatigue at all.

That said, the Panamera is by no means a sluggish car—it’s a genuine sports car. On the highway, when my husband (in the Boxster) overtook a slow vehicle ahead, the Panamera easily accelerated to follow and overtake as well. (I switched to Sport mode just for overtaking.)

Also, thanks to the optional ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control), when caught in traffic jams, turning on ACC allowed for almost hands-free driving, and even during steady 100km/h cruising, using ACC made driving much easier.

I thought after such a long drive my back might hurt, but that never happened. Well, I rarely have back issues anyway…

Stability Unique to All-Wheel Drive

As I briefly mentioned a few days ago, there was snow on the Kagosaka Pass road from Gotemba to Lake Yamanaka, and it was lightly sleeting, so my husband said the Boxster’s tires felt like they might slip on every curve, which was scary. On the other hand, the Panamera felt completely secure. (Of course, it wasn’t on studless winter tires.)

We were driving around 30–40km/h, and not once did I feel the car slipping or driving became scary. The car maintained a solid grip on the road throughout, even in curves. That’s the true stability of all-wheel drive. I wonder if it would have been different with a rear-wheel-drive Panamera.

Never Tailgated

I’ve written about this many times before, but during the approximately 1,000km round trip—mostly on highways for about 70–80% of the distance—I was never tailgated even once. (Though I wasn’t driving overly slowly either.)

I’ve seen online comments like, “On busy highways, some drivers tailgate unnecessarily when traffic is heavy ahead.” I’ve even experienced that myself when driving a VW Golf.

But with the Panamera, not once was I tailgated. When you exceed 90km/h, the rear wing rises, giving the car a more aggressive and intimidating look, so no one feels like tailgating it.

Driving in unfamiliar places can be a bit stressful or nerve-wracking, but not having to worry about being tailgated meant I could drive as usual without that kind of stress, which was wonderful.

Surprisingly Good Fuel Economy

I completely forgot to check the round-trip fuel economy, but just for the outbound trip, the fuel consumption was 9.2l/100km, which equals 10.8km/l. Since I mostly drove on highways and used ACC quite a bit, the conditions were favorable for better fuel economy. Considering it’s a “2-ton giant equipped with a 4.0L V8 engine,” I think that’s pretty good.

It wasn’t this good when I first got the car, but lately, I feel the fuel economy has been improving.

Over 20,000km Driven!

It’s been 1 year and 5 months since the Panamera Turbo was delivered, and when I checked the odometer after returning home from Fuji Speedway recently, the mileage had finally surpassed 20,000km.

I’ve been consciously driving the VW Golf lately, but at this rate, I’ll probably hit 30,000km in no time. It’s such a great car that I just want to keep driving it endlessly, so it can’t be helped, haha.

Still, the journey of rediscovering the Panamera’s charm seems endless~