Video: 2017 Porsche Panamera 4S Review

And now that Porsche has fully redesigned the Panamera, the question is, is it as unique as it once was? By the Panamera's body style, the answer to that question is, yes. The Panamera is a unique alternative to those flagships and aunts, because well, it isn't a sedan. The Panamera remains technically a hatchback, though it's a little bit better looking of a hatchback than before. Now the old Panamera had a lot of bulkier, above the rear fenders, it really sort of was an unavoidable issue in the profile of the car, and the bulbous taillights really only drove that point home here. The new Panamera, thanks to a lot of subtle changes, again has sort of solved some of those issues. Overall height and width remained roughly the same, but wheelbase is up a little bit over an inch. And right here above the rear axle, this is down about three quarters of an inch on this redesigned Panamera. It serves to give the car kind of an overall leanness in its profile that was missing from before. You get around back, these taillights, borrowed from the 911 and the Macan Suv, and they also contribute to this overall sense of leanness. Inside there are plenty of differences as well. Now that hatchback might benefit cargo versatility, but you pay for it in terms of visibility, of just not a lot of glass looking around in terms of the side glass and the rear glass. Not great sight lines between those bulky rear window pillars as well, and Porsche does no favors here on our test car with two fixed rear seats, outboard seats, that have large head restraints. Those don't move. They stay in your line of sight. Now in terms of the overall layout here, a are very cockpit like orientation versus the shelf-like dashboards you find another sedans in this league. Still very good cabin materials, and reasonably good room in terms of space to stretch out your legs and your knees. Lots of technology here in the center stack, just kind of a tour-de-force of, of buttons, of displays, of different things going on. the overall screen here, it's about 12 inches, pretty quick response to everything you need to do and lots of menus to get through, but once you kind of figure it out, it's reasonably intuitive. Less so here, the capacitive buttons here, some of them are just straight touch sensitive, some of them have some feedback as you press down on the buttons. I don't know, our editors were kind of split over it, but at least there's must have volume controls here and climate controls. Those are physical. Those are not capacitive. We like that. Now Apple CarPlay will be offered, Android Auto, though, unavailable for the 2017 model year. And there's a screen here to control where the fan is directionally pointed at. You kind of have to meander around with your finger and hope that the fan directs to where you want it. I don't know. That seems like a total gimmick. Now the Panamera also drives differently. For 2017, Porsche offers three suspensions of ascending complexity, as well as, three engines. Our car is the middle choice on each, so a twin turbo V6, good for 440 horsepower, and an air spring suspension with adaptive shock absorbers, but not the optional active stabilizer bars. As such, it's a lot of fun to drive with an exotic car sounding exhaust, plenty of cooling power at any RPM, and really, really good road holding. Though one editor did observe a little bit of under steer under hard throttle and modest overall power, but transmission could be part of the problem. It seems very, upshift-happy in normal driving modes and it doesn't kick down to lower gears very quickly when you really hit the gas, which kind of forces you just to pick one of the sportier driving modes to drive all the time, which all but eliminate the problem. Ride quality is on the firmer, even slightly busy side, especially if you're comparing this to an S-Class, or seven series, both of which ride pretty soft. The Porsche rides well enough, but it's not the isolationist experience those German rivals have perfected. So take note. Take note of pricing as well. Pile on the options and the Panamara can sale well into six figure territory. A V8 Panamera turbo can even go past $200,000. So that is one thing the Panamera has in common with those other luxury sedans, it's pricey. But other similarities are few. This remains an alternative choice for four-door flagship luxury, but it's no less deserving of a look. And given that next year, there will be a Panamera Sport Turismo Wagon, and two plug-in hybrids available, the Panamera is about to get even more unique.