Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid Review: Porsche's Best-Kept Secret

The Drive

6 hours ago

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Have you ever talked to a self-professed Porsche fanatic about a car that isn't a Porsche? Nope, that's not how they roll. Sure, there might be a quick aside to casually mention a competing vehicle that gets close to the experience, but for the diehards, it's like those old ads used to say: 'There is no substitute.' Not that I would know; up until recently, I'd never driven one. That changed last month, when I finally had my shot behind the wheel of a Panamera 4S E-Hybrid. Would it measure up to the hype? Could it? My short answer is that the loyalists just might be onto something.
Now, I'm sure some will read that and question whether a Panamera counts as a true Porsche. There's that impression, going all the way back to the first Cayenne, that four doors are a pair too many to pass the test. But after those initial, admittedly awkward years for the Panamera, I'd argue that the big sedan (and once, but sadly no longer, wagon) has cemented a reputation for performance and comfort that very much fits within the brand's ethos. And these days it's sort of a niche choice, like a deep cut from your favorite band's back catalog. It'll never share the spirit of the 911 or 718, sell as well as the SUVs, or wear its gadgetry on its sleeve like the Taycan. Is the Panamera as sharp as the sports cars? I'd guess not, but then I'd also guess it can do things that they can't. And it feels damn special doing all of it. Adam Ismail
If you're not up on the Panamera lineup these days, I do not blame you. There are seven models now, from the base Panamera at $108,550 to the Turbo S E-Hybrid at $232,950, and seemingly every permutation of those words and the number '4' in between. The all-wheel-drive 4S E-Hybrid sits smack dab in the middle, normally starting at $133,350; the sticker on mine was $150,985. The some $17,000 in options was mostly well spent, for reasons I'll get into later. But before that, let's establish what differentiates the 4S E-Hybrid from the rest of the range.
The standard Panamera comes with a 2.9-liter, twin-turbo V6 making 348 horsepower and 368 lb-ft of torque, and this engine has been a part of the Panamera family for a good while now. The E-Hybrid supplements that with a 188-hp electric motor that, unlike the last generation, is now integrated inside the eight-speed PDK transmission's housing to reduce weight. That's 536 hp and 533 lb-ft all told, in a sedan that weighs 5,068 pounds. In the gas-only GTS and Turbo E-Hybrid, the V6 is swapped out for a V8, and up to 771 hp—not that I was hungry for more power. The hybrids can also travel for around 40 miles on electricity alone, up to 87 mph. Adam Ismail
This third incarnation of the Panamera is still pretty fresh, having only been around since last year, but it also shares a lot with the previous generation that debuted way back in 2014. You can see the similarities inside and out. They carve practically the same profile, but the bumpers and lights have been resculpted, and the outgoing car's physical instrument cluster and manually operated climate vents have been switched out for a screen and software. On principle, I don't like it either. But Porsche's digital gauge design actually looks quite good, and I was surprised how much the computer-controlled vents didn't annoy me.
If you read the sum of these changes and say to yourself, 'Looks like a gas-burning Taycan,' you certainly wouldn't be alone in that. I do like the Panamera's exterior, but next to Porsche's first EV, the benefits of not having to design around a big lump in front of the driver are obvious. The Panamera is clean and tasteful, but also a little awkward from almost every angle. It's certainly not the ugly duckling of the lineup that it was when it first launched, but it's also hard to imagine it would be anyone's favorite.
Sure, the 4S E-hybrid is quick, and the powertrain deserves part of the credit. The twin-turbo V6 might not break any ground, and you may struggle to recall how it sounds as you're actively hearing it, but it's smooth, and the 8-speed PDK is very responsive. If you're viewing the Panamera as a luxury sedan, it's certainly more than enough. If you want to be wowed in thrust, I imagine that V8 would do the trick.
To me, though, what makes this Panamera special isn't the power—it's the ride. For that, we can thank Porsche Active Ride, a $7,150 option on my car. Yes, that's a lot of money, but trust me: It's worth every penny, and if I were buying a Panamera myself, it's the first box I'd tick. Adam Ismail
Active Ride is a complex system that, frankly, is beyond my level of understanding; my friend Andrew spilled some words on it almost two years ago, when the current Panamera was launched. Very basically, all four active dampers are connected to motor units that drive hydraulic pumps, but also draw from the car's battery pack. (That's why Active Ride is only available on the hybrid Panameras, by the way, as well as the Taycan.) This allows the system to adjust damping force extremely fast—Porsche says 13 times a second—with unparalleled precision, as sensors determine the exact volume flow of fluid inside the tubes necessary for each wheel, independently, based on whatever situation they're in and where the driver wants them to go.
The thing is, you don't need to know all of that to appreciate Active Ride, nor do you need to know that the system is so capable, it negates the need for anti-roll bars, so Panameras equipped with the option don't have any. All you need to do is cruise in Comfort mode. Shortly after this car was delivered to me, I drove it from the greater Philly area into New York City, for the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium. It was a great night; the Yanks won 6-2, and the Knicks trounced the Celtics to win the Eastern Conference Semifinals. But enough about New York sports.
The ride there was just as satisfying, because with Active Ride, the Panamera doesn't feel like it thwarts potholes as much as effortlessly glides over them. Last year I drove a Mercedes-Benz E-Class with Airmatic; It was great, but this is better. I was almost hunting for cracks in the pavement on I-95 (sorry to Porsche's fleet manager), trying to find imperfections in the road too punishing for Active Ride to handle. I might feel a small bump over a crater that would shatter spines in other cars. Adam Ismail
Andrew previously described what Active Ride does as 'surfing the street.' That accurately conveys the sensation, but what's ironic is that sometimes, the car's computer might choose to dive a wheel into a depression, rather than lift it. Whatever it's doing, it works. Active Ride can also counterbalance lateral roll and longitudinal pitch eerily well, and lift the car for entry and exit.
Now, these are not performance-minded benefits to be sure, and Active Ride actually doesn't apply in the Panamera's sportier modes, where you'd want some of the sensations it's trying to snuff out to have an accurate sense of what's going on underneath you. But I'd argue that if you're buying one of these, you're not buying it to be uncomfortable, so Active Ride is a feature precisely in service of the kind of vehicle the Panamera is and aims to be.
So is rear-axle steering, a $1,350 option my tester also had. This one does carry over into performance, and coupled with the Panamera's exquisite, pin-sharp steering, it kind of broke my brain. The turning circle in tight areas is phenomenal, like you'd imagine. In sharp corners, I'd liken the sensation to drifting because of the way you move laterally relative to the steering angle, except you have complete grip at all times. Jarring, but very impressive.
The Panamera's suspension is almost a microcosm for the entire car. You might need a physics degree to truly comprehend it, but the way it works and the way it's conveyed to you are effective and elegantly simple. Take the Drive Mode dial on the steering wheel, for example. The Panamera 4S E-Hybrid has four modes: E-Power, Hybrid, Sport, and Sport Plus. You can access them all through a little knob that is located off the center of the wheel—you know, the place where your hands go. Genius ergonomics most other manufacturers still haven't quite figured out.
It's immediately clear how each mode changes the car's behavior, and I especially love that when you select the Hybrid option, a box pops up on the infotainment screen that lets you choose between two deeper settings: One that prioritizes holding the battery's current state of charge, and another that diverts engine power to topping it up, provided you're driving fast enough. Porsche leaves it up to you to get as granular as you like, or start off in EV mode and let the gas engine kick in and leave the hybrid system to manage itself. Adam Ismail
The Panamera's cabin is about more than its tech, though—it's just a refreshing place to be. Visibility is excellent, with a low dash and slim pillars. Fit and finish are roundly high-quality, and I even like the silver textured plastic trim that runs down the center stack and up over the footwells, and the speaker grilles on the rear door cards. Plastic doesn't need to suck, though it's not surprising that it's taken Porsche to remind the rest of the industry this.
Sure, it's a tired expression when it comes to this brand and its products, but the vibe you get in here is one of practical elegance. Form meeting function. Nothing is overwrought nor underbaked. The center touchscreen is just the right size, and the graphics on it and the digital gauge cluster are clean and informative. Even the knurled gear selector lever represents a little lesson on how the simplest, least intrusive control interfaces are best.
The lone annoyance in this interior is the long piano black panel that holds all the climate controls, apart from the screen. First off, it's piano black, which means it develops hairline scratches on sight. Second are all the common complaints you'd have for touch controls. You can't locate them by feel. They're small. The icons all look the same if you're not focusing on them—you know the drill. Interestingly, this entire panel depresses when you interact with these buttons, which helps the confirmation part of the problem, but not the searching part. But it feels a tad clunky, and you'd think that with all the fancy haptic tech out there these days, Porsche could've settled on a solution with a more satisfying feel, like pressing a MacBook's touchpad.
It'd take another thousand words to cover every accessory and feature available to today's Panamera buyers, so instead I'll center on the 4S E-Hybrid specifically. This trim level starts at $133,350, and in classic Porsche fashion, you can very easily lift it well north of $200K with extras like massaging, heated, and ventilated seats all around; a front passenger display; lime green badging; bronze exhaust tips; a steering wheel lined in suede-like RaceTex; a headliner lined in RaceTex; a cargo cover lined in RaceTex; and, of course, a paint-to-sample exterior—just to name a few options. You could go crazy here and create something truly unholy, and I'm sure people do.
Setting aside Active Ride ($7,150) and rear-axle steering ($1,350), this Panamera also came with Torque Vectoring Plus ($1,490), which is basically Porsche speak for an electronic limited-slip differential. The Montego Blue Metallic exterior (awesome color, by the way) and Black/Kalahari Grey interior cost $2,980 and $4,330, respectively. Four-zone climate control ($1,320), front ventilated seats ($840), power rear sunblinds ($1,330), and the 14-speaker Bose Surround Sound system ($1,600) round out the extras. All told, it's far from an unreasonable spec for a Panamera, though I could do without the sun shades, and would rather invest in different wheels and maybe caramel or red leather for the interior, rather than the light gray. Adam Ismail
If you want a fast, luxurious sedan that isn't a Porsche, Germany's got you. There's the brand-new BMW M5, which finally comes in the form of a wagon for those who missed out on the long-roof Panamera. It starts at $122,775, or $125,275 for the M5 Touring. Without ticking any boxes, that's significantly cheaper than the Panamera I tested, and more powerful with a combined 717 hp; however, it's also 400 to 500 pounds heavier. These days, Mercedes will offer you the much cheaper AMG E53 ($89,150)—which will also soon be wagon-ified—or the GT 4-Door, which carves a profile more similar to the Panamera's, for a price of entry more similar to the Panamera's ($102,250). Meanwhile, the Audi RS7 Performance ($130,490) is a cheaper way to get the 4.0-liter V8 that's in the peppier Panameras, and it sounds like the upcoming RS6 Avant will get to keep its V8 as well.
All these cars feel a little different, and perhaps offer more raw power for less, but none really compete with the Panamera's sense of agility, nor its common-sense cabin. I'm not sure any of them are nicer to look at, either.
The Panamera 4S E-Hybrid is rated to return 21 mpg on its gas engine alone, or 54 mpge using both gas and electric. With the battery fully charged, I was able to travel for about 40 miles on solely electric power. I can't plug in cars where I live, so I relied on the E-Charge setting to top up the battery on a long drive, at the expense of fuel economy. While the Panamera can be used that way, it's obviously not ideal; you want to plug in whenever you have the chance, for the powertrain to operate at peak efficiency and for the lowest energy cost. Strangely, the Panamera 4S E-Hybrid isn't available for comparison on the EPA's website. Fueleconomy.gov
The 4S E-Hybrid and its V6 unsurprisingly compare very favorably to the V8-powered M5, which is also a plug-in hybrid. The six-cylinder E53 is a slightly more economical choice on paper.
It's difficult to say that the Panamera is the finest value among six-figure luxury sedans, because it's more expensive than most of them, and what is wonderful about it can't exactly be quantified. There's no number you can really put on Active Ride's uncanny serenity on terrible roads, or the utility that rear-wheel steering affords you, or the litheness of the chassis. And the things you can ascribe figures to—a 3.5-second dash from 0-60 mph, for example—are impressive and appreciated, but you can find them elsewhere in 2025, and they don't reflect the total experience of driving this car.
That's all contained in context. When you put the emotions and the numbers together, what you get is still one of the most well-rounded cars out there, mastering luxury and driving engagement in equal measure, buoyed by an efficient, responsive powertrain and a ride you won't find anywhere else. Porsche's other offerings may be better commodities or more deeply stir the hearts of enthusiasts, but the Panamera continues to be Stuttgart's best-kept secret. 2025 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid Specs Base Price (as tested) $133,350 ($150,985) Powertrain 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 | 8-speed dual-clutch automatic | all-wheel drive Horsepower 536 @ 5,350-6,800 rpm Torque 553 lb-ft @ 1,000-5,000 rpm Seating Capacity 4 Cargo Volume 15.1 cubic feet with seats up | 44.6 cubic feet with seats folded Curb Weight 5,068 pounds 0-60 mph 3.5 seconds Top Speed 180 mph EPA Fuel Economy 54 mpge | 21 mpg (gas only) Score 9/10
The Panamera 4S E-Hybrid matches sublime handling and rapid performance with incomparable comfort, if you shell out the money for Porsche Active Ride. It is as much of a sports car as a luxury sedan could be. Adam Ismail