Where Do I Take My Panamera?

The Panamera feels right at home on mountain roads and by the sea, but it suits the city just as well. I can easily picture it cruising down Fifth Avenue in New York—or around Omotesando and Minami-Aoyama in Tokyo.(Not that I’ve ever been there.) Here in the Kansai region, it would look right at home around Kobe’s Daimaru department store or parked outside a luxury watch shop. And yet, my top five Panamera destinations are:

1: Dropping off and picking up my daughter from kindergarten
2: The convenience store
3: The co-op grocery store
4: The 100-yen shop (Seria or Daiso)
5: Uniqlo

What am I even doing? And where exactly am I saving money? The Panamera can be a real gas guzzler around town, so even if I save a few hundred yen buying something at a 100-yen shop, the fuel costs can easily wipe out those savings. And if I took the train instead, I could skip the 100-yen shop and buy plenty of household goods at Muji…

But more than anything, I love my Panamera, so the truth is, whether I’m heading to the convenience store around the corner or anywhere else, I want my trusty companion by my side.

Still, sending the Panamera on such small errands feels a bit like dispatching the commander-in-chief to put down a village uprising. To make up for it, I try to take the Panamera to work whenever I can—even when I’m going as far as Yonago, or when the train would be more convenient—so I can let it stretch its legs on the expressway.

These days, I’m starting to wonder what on earth I’m trying to accomplish…