Ride Comfort of the Panamera

The other day, I took our Panamera out for a drive after a while. Since I had recently test-driven the Panamera GTS, compared to that, the Panamera GTS felt more comfortable to ride than the Panamera Turbo.

The ride comfort of the Panamera GTS reminded me of the smoothness of the current Cayenne… it felt so light and smooth, it was hard to believe it had the same V8 engine, while the Panamera Turbo felt heavier and a bit more rugged.

While we were talking about this, my husband said,

Ride comfort isn’t something you can simply compare by model alone. The size of the wheels, tire pressure, and the type of tires you have on—these factors can change the feel drastically.

I thought that made a lot of sense. Then he continued,

The Panamera GTS you test-drove had 20-inch wheels and tire pressures around 2.6 to 2.8 bar, right? Our Panamera has bigger 21-inch wheels and a higher recommended tire pressure—like 3.1 bar in the front—so it naturally feels stiffer and bumpier.

I asked, “In that case, why don’t we try lowering the tire pressure on our Panamera? Wouldn’t that make the ride softer and smoother?”
He replied,

Well, yes, but our Panamera has a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System), so if you lower the pressure too much, it triggers a warning. By the way, we have it set to the ‘Standard Pressure’ setting. If you switch it to ‘Comfort Pressure,’ the ride becomes smoother, but the Japanese-spec models are set to warn you if you exceed 160 km/h at that pressure. I don’t think anyone drives over 160 km/h on Japanese roads, but I don’t like that Japan-specific restriction, so I keep it on Standard Pressure. That’s why the ride ends up feeling a bit firmer.
By contrast, the German-spec Comfort Pressure setting allows speeds up to 270 km/h without warnings. That’s the Autobahn for you.

I remembered my husband had explained this to me before…

Apparently, for the 971 Panamera we currently drive, you can choose between two tire pressure settings: ‘Standard Pressure’ and ‘Comfort Pressure.’ When you buy the car, the dealer sets one of these by default, so it’s a good idea to adjust it according to your preference.

For the 971 Panamera, you can change this setting via the touchscreen by going to “Vehicle → Control Vehicle → Tire Pressure Monitoring.”

Also, for Porsches equipped with TPMS, you need to check the car’s display to see exactly how much air to add or release. Using a regular air pump gauge without this info doesn’t account for temperature differences and can lead to incorrect pressures. Surprisingly, many Porsche enthusiasts don’t know this.

My husband said this, and when I said, “Wow, you really know all these details,” he laughed and said,

Of course! I can’t be satisfied unless I know 100% about the tools I use (laughs). I research everything to death before buying anything, haha.

The Depth of Ride Comfort

Our Panamera’s ride, while firm, is by no means uncomfortable—in fact, I find it quite smooth. The Boxster has also become more supple and smooth, but when I switch back to the Panamera right after, I think, “Even within Porsche, the ride comfort between sports models and luxury models is this different.”

With 21-inch wheels and standard pressure, the ride is already this good, so if the wheels were a bit smaller and set to Comfort Pressure, our Panamera’s ride would probably be even smoother.

Of course, the brand of tires you use also makes a difference… it’s really a deep subject.

Thanks to various opportunities to test-drive many cars, I’ve realized that you can’t simply say “this car’s ride is like this” after just one test drive.

Ideally, even with the same model, you’d want to try different tire pressures and wheel sizes to make a comprehensive judgment, but that’s rarely possible during a test drive.

Thinking about this, I’ve come to realize that when writing articles, it’s really important to clearly state the specifications, options, and wheels the test car is equipped with.

Wow… the more you learn, the deeper the world of cars becomes.