The Panamera’s Incredible High-Speed Stability

Yesterday, I went out with my family of four in the Panamera for some errands. On the way home at night, we encountered a heavy downpour on the Chugoku Expressway. The expressway is quite dark at night due to few streetlights, and with the heavy rain, there were puddles on the road surface. Normally, you’d expect the high-speed stability to drop significantly, but it felt just like driving on a clear day. What an amazing car.

Because it’s such an incredible car, my goal to buy a Panamera on my own remains strong. But just how much does it cost to maintain a Panamera annually? Even if I manage to buy one, it’s meaningless if I can’t afford to keep it, so I did a rough calculation.

A Rough Estimate of Annual Maintenance Costs

Annual costs vary greatly depending on how often you drive and parking fees, but here’s a rough breakdown…

① Fuel Costs

Monthly: ¥5,000 (for those who don’t drive much) to ¥20,000 (for those driving about 1,000 km per month)
The Panamera’s fuel tank holds 75 liters. Filling up premium gasoline from one bar left on the gauge costs about ¥10,000. Regarding fuel efficiency, if you mostly drive in the city, you definitely won’t exceed 10 km/l. It’s usually around 7 to 8 km/l, so a full tank roughly covers about 500 km.

② Parking Fees

Monthly: ¥10,000 (our neighborhood is cheap) to ¥30,000 (typical in urban areas)
The Panamera is over 1900 mm wide, so it often doesn’t fit in mechanical parking garages or typical apartment parking spots. Ideally, a spacious rural parking lot is best, but if you live in the city, finding a spot that fits a Panamera can be a real challenge.

③ Automobile Tax

Annual: ¥66,500

④ Vehicle Weight Tax

Annual: ¥16,400

⑤ Oil Changes

Annual: ¥35,000 × 2 times
If you do it yourself, you might only pay for the oil, which could be a few thousand yen (though it looks pretty tough). But at the dealer, labor and oil costs add up to about this amount.

⑥ Tires

Per tire: ¥60,000 to ¥70,000 × 4 tires
Choosing Porsche-certified tires for the Panamera is expensive. If you drive carefully and rarely hit the track, you probably don’t need to replace them every year. However, since the Panamera is heavy, tire wear is faster than expected, so I think you’ll need to replace them about once every three years.

⑦ Vehicle Inspection (Shaken)

Per inspection: ¥200,000 to ¥300,000
Inspections are every two years (three years for new cars). If there are no issues, it costs about ¥200,000, but if parts need replacing, it can get quite expensive.

Assuming tires and inspections happen every two years,

Adding it all up…

Annual cost: ¥622,900 to ¥1,042,900 (quite a wide range for a rough estimate, haha)

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On a TV show called “Ogiyahagi’s Car History” on BS Nippon Television, actor Jo Shishido appeared as a guest. When asked, “What does a car mean to you?” he replied, “Cars are expensive.” That’s exactly right (laughs). Time to work hard!

*Afterwards, I purchased a new Panamera and wrote an article calculating the actual annual maintenance costs including fuel, insurance, oil changes, and initial inspections. (Feel free to check out my article about the Boxster GTS as well.)

新型ポルシェ パナメーラターボの実際の年間維持費を計算してみた結果は？

981ボクスターGTSの年間維持費を計算してみた−ガソリン代、オイル交換、自動車保険、燃費etc.