Hello, everyone! I’m Mina, the editor of “Welcome Home, PORSCHE.” Our Porsche Owners’ File series grew out of readers’ requests to hear firsthand stories from Porsche owners. In this 11th installment, Mamma, who lives in Hokkaido, shares his experience buying a 971 Panamera 4S, choosing its options, and living with it on the road.
This blog features plenty of information about the Panamera, but the driving experience can vary significantly between the base model, 4, 4S, Turbo, and hybrid versions. So how does Mamma rate the Panamera 4S? Read on to find out.
〘Owner profile〙
・Car featured: 971 Panamera 4S (MY2018)
・Name: Mamma
・Location/home: Hokkaido / apartment
・Family: A family of four—my wife (who has a license but rarely drives), a middle-schooler, and an elementary-schooler
・Previous cars:
Honda Prelude (BB4) → Honda Integra Type R (DB8) → Honda Odyssey (RB1) + NSX (NA1)
→ Audi A6 Avant (C6) → Audi S4 (B8)
→ BMW M3 Sedan (E90) → And now, our first Porsche, a Panamera 4S, has joined the family
・A message to readers: I hope my experience will be helpful to anyone considering buying a Panamera.
Looking back over the cars I’ve owned, I’m reminded that “the first half of my automotive life was all about Honda—especially its VTEC engines.”
After moving on from Honda, I happened to move from one German car to another. I was drawn to Audi by the “glittering interior and exterior lighting,” while I remember falling for the BMW M3 Sedan’s “muscular, broad-shouldered design, with its blistered fenders and power dome.”
Somewhere along the way, more and more people around me started driving German cars, and I naturally became interested in them, too. But my priorities when choosing a car—“fast, good-looking, and with a beautiful dashboard”—have stayed the same since my Honda Prelude.
One evening at dusk, I saw a 991-generation 911 Carrera 4 sweep past. Its beautiful shape and striking taillights hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was so moved that I started thinking, “How can I bring a Porsche home to our family?”
As I mentioned, the car that first sparked my interest in Porsche was the “991-generation 911 Carrera 4” (its design is stunning from every angle, and I find the rear view especially breathtaking). But if I bought a 911, we’d need another car to take all four of us.
Running two cars would be difficult for us, so I was starting to lose hope and thinking, “Maybe I’ll have to wait until the kids grow up and leave home…” Then I read somewhere—perhaps in a magazine—that the 971 Panamera’s design had a lot in common with the 991-generation 911.
“Could the 971 Panamera actually be unbelievably cool? No—it’s seriously cool! And it seats four!”
That was when I began actively considering buying one.
Since I was moving on from a BMW M3 Sedan, I compared three models based on power: the Panamera, Panamera 4, and Panamera 4S.
I live in snowy Hokkaido, but modern cars are very capable, and I didn’t consider all-wheel drive essential. (My rear-wheel-drive M3 Sedan handled snowy roads just fine.)
So I naturally went to get a quote for the least expensive, rear-wheel-drive Panamera. The salesperson told me, “Hardly anyone buys this one—the rear-wheel-drive Panamera. (smiles)” I got the distinct impression that he was hinting I shouldn’t order the RWD model! (laughs) I also thought, “I don’t have any particular reason to insist on rear-wheel drive.” So I ended up comparing the Panamera 4 and Panamera 4S.
The Panamera 4 and Panamera 4S come with different standard equipment, of course, but you can get them very similarly equipped by adding options—at an extra cost.
However, the High-Gloss Black Interior Package was available for the Panamera 4 but not the Panamera 4S. (The catalog showed it as available for the 4S, but it wasn’t listed in the configurator. When I checked with the salesperson, he confirmed it couldn’t be ordered. The Turbo model could be equipped with it.) Since I was considering either a black or carbon-fiber interior, I found myself wondering:
“Why can the Panamera 4 and Panamera Turbo have the High-Gloss Black Interior Package, but the Panamera 4S can’t? Is the 4S the only one left out?”
Still, whichever model I chose, I figured its performance would be the limiting factor in my decision. So I approached it this way: “For the interior, I can go with black on the Panamera 4 or carbon fiber on the Panamera 4S.”
In the end, I chose the Panamera 4S because I thought, “If I buy a Panamera with less horsepower and torque than my BMW M3 Sedan, might it feel underpowered by comparison?”
The Panamera 4 has more than enough horsepower and torque by any reasonable measure, and I never felt it lacked power on a test drive. Still, I may also have been drawn to the “S” badge.
■Exterior color: Carrara White Metallic
■Wheels: 20-inch Panamera Turbo wheels
■Wheel accessories: Porsche crest wheel center caps
■Interior color: Saddle Brown / Luxor Beige
■Seats: 8-way power comfort seats (standard)
■Exterior: LED Matrix headlights (including PDLS Plus), tinted LED taillights, Comfort Access, ParkAssist with Surround View, privacy glass, soft-close doors, air outlet grilles painted in exterior color, painted exterior mirrors
■Transmission / chassis: PDK (standard), Sport Chrono Package
■Interior: four-zone automatic climate control, adaptive cruise control with Traffic Jam Assist, floor mats, cupholder covers, white instrument dials, white stopwatch dial
Carbon interior: Carbon Interior Package, illuminated carbon door-sill guards
■Other: leather key pouch, 19-inch aftermarket alloy wheels and winter tires
I initially planned to order a 4S and had a quote prepared. Then I was offered a car in Porsche Japan’s inventory that was configured almost exactly as I wanted, and I ultimately bought that car.
It wasn’t an exact match for the car I’d planned to order, but it had the key options I was determined to have. Most of the missing equipment could be changed, and the car could be delivered within a few weeks. Taking all that into consideration, I decided to go for it. My must-haves were:
“Carrara White Metallic,” “Saddle Brown / Luxor Beige,” “LED Matrix headlights (including PDLS Plus),” “Comfort Access,” “Sport Chrono Package,” “four-zone automatic climate control,” and the “Carbon Interior Package.”
I’d also planned to add ambient lighting, but the Panamera in inventory didn’t have it, and I was told it couldn’t be retrofitted. In the end, I had to give up on that option.
The car also came with quite a few options I hadn’t originally planned to get. Calling them unnecessary might sound rude, but I decided that “if they’re already there, they might come in handy” and made peace with it. I’ll share my thoughts on how those options worked out in practice later.
In the end, I bought the in-stock car—my planned order minus ambient lighting, plus a few extras (quite a few, actually (^_^;))—assuming there wouldn’t be major differences between MY2018 and MY2019.
Ordered in late September 2018 → Delivered in mid-October 2018
Next page → The Panamera 4S engine, acceleration, and updates after six months of ownership
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