How Many Kilometers Has Our Panamera Covered?

Our Panamera arrived in October 2017. (Here’s the story.) It’s only been 16 months, yet our Panamera has already covered more than 18,700 km.

We traded in our previous 970 Panamera Edition after a year and a half, when it had covered 13,000 km. Compared with that, our current Panamera Turbo is piling on the kilometers at quite a pace.

And yet my husband hardly ever drives the Panamera to work these days. We also have a Boxster GTS, a 911 (924C2) and a VW Golf 7, so it’s certainly not our daily go-to car.

So how on earth has it covered 18,000 km…? (*_*)

The other day, I asked my husband, “It’s already done 18,000 km… but we really haven’t driven it that much, have we!?”

“That’s true. I hardly ever take the Panamera to work now. And even the round trip to pick up our daughter from kindergarten can’t be more than 5 km, right? So how have we been covering more than 1,000 km a month? It’s a mystery.”

The odometer definitely isn’t broken, so I decided to add up the distances and see where all those kilometers had gone.

Our Panamera Road Trips

First, I listed all the medium- and long-distance drives I could remember. I may have missed a few, but here’s what I’ve been able to account for so far:

Approximate round-trip distances, calculated using Google Maps
① Hakone Turnpike – Fuji Speedway – around Mount Fuji: 1,000 km
② My brother’s home in Nara Prefecture (3 trips): 110 km × 3
③ Haga, Hyogo Prefecture: 260 km
④ Wakayama City: 180 km
⑤ Kansai International Airport (2 trips): 120 km × 2
⑥ Tondabayashi (2 trips): 120 km × 2
⑦ Tsukigase, Nara – Nara Nürburgring: 250 km
⑧ Nakabayashi Kogyo in Tondabayashi (3 trips): 120 km × 3
⑨ Hakone Turnpike – Nishi-Izu Skyline – Fuji Speedway: 1,000 km
⑩ Toyota City: 250 km
⑪ Nagoya: 200 km
⑫ Nanko – Shinmoji – Amakusa – Aso – Shinmoji (2 trips): 700 km × 2
⑬ Nachikatsuura – Shirahama: 500 km
⑭ Awaji Island (2 trips): 200 km × 2
⑮ Trips to my parents’ home (5 trips): 100 km × 5
⑯ Trips to my husband’s parents’ home (5 trips): 180 km × 5
Total: 8,010 km

Just 8,010 km…? (-_-)

That’s all? So where did the other 10,000 km go!?

Adding Up the Everyday Driving

① My Husband’s Commute

Let’s start with my husband’s commute. His workplace is about 50 km from home round trip, and for a while after the Panamera arrived, he drove it to work almost every day. I’d guess he made around 15 commutes in the first month, then about three a month after that. Excluding long breaks such as Golden Week, the summer holidays and the year-end and New Year period, he’s probably commuted in the Panamera around 50 times so far.

That puts his work-related mileage at about 2,500 km.

② My Work Trips to Osaka

I probably make a round trip to Osaka for work about twice a month, so around 30 trips altogether. The round-trip distance is roughly the same as my husband’s commute—about 50 km—which adds up to 1,500 km.

③ Shopping Trips to Kobe

I reckon we’ve driven the Panamera to Kobe and Sannomiya around 15 times. We’ve visited Kobe Daimaru, the Anpanman Children’s Museum and umie, among other places… At about 30 km round trip, that comes to 450 km.

④ Kindergarten and Daycare Pickups

The round trip to pick up our older daughter from kindergarten is about 3 km, but we often stop at the supermarket on the way home, so let’s call it 5 km. I do the pickup about 20 times a month, and take the Panamera about 15 of those times. Excluding the summer, winter and spring breaks, that works out to roughly 180 trips so far.

Add in pickups from our younger daughter’s daycare, and the girls’ school runs come to about 1,000 km.

⑤ Weekend Shopping and Local Drives

We head out as a family for nearby shopping, a drive or some other outing two or three times most weekends. If each trip is about 50 km round trip, that’s around 150 km a month—or 2,400 km over 16 months.

Even adding up items ①–⑤, the total is only 7,850 km.

Combined with our medium- and long-distance drives, that brings us to 15,860 km.

We’re still missing 3,000 km… (*_*)

Well, it’s easy to imagine that I’ve forgotten a few longer drives, or that we’ve used the car more for everyday errands than I thought. Either way, it’s not hard to see how the odometer could have passed 18,000 km already.

We also almost never take the train or bus when we go out—we drive everywhere. It turns out all those everyday trips really add up.

Trying to Keep It Under 30,000 km

My husband had said:

“I was hoping to keep the mileage under 30,000 km, thinking ahead to when we trade in the Panamera. At this rate, there’s no way that’s going to happen…”

Yep, absolutely no chance (lol).

It would be ideal if I could drive the manual Boxster regularly. I can drive it, of course, but it still feels like a bit of a hurdle. My husband has been using the air-cooled Porsche for his commute more often lately, and the Golf is parked a little farther from home. So, one way or another, we keep ending up in the Panamera.

Maybe we should try using the Golf more for everyday driving from now on… Though perhaps it’s already too late!