Vroom! These Powerful E-Hybrids From Porsche Will Make You Green With Envy

I test drove three amazing cars from Porsche from their new fleet of E-Hybrids. Let me tell you why these powerful E-Hybrids from Porsche will make you green with envy (and why that’s a good thing!). 

When Porsche comes knocking on your door with a dream road trip where you get to drive a series of their latest releases you answer.

And I answered with a gleeful YES!

I come from a family who is fortunate enough to include a collection of various Porsches as part of our fleet through the years. From a few 911s in the 80s to the 928S4 (my personal favourite) in the 90s to the current boxer which I occasionally borrow from mom when I need a set of hot wheels for a weekend jaunt. Porsche and their exquisite engineering has always been a fixture in our garage and in our lives.

So in the spirit of celebrating their 70th Anniversary, Porsche Canada presented me with an opportunity to test drive all three of their latest E-Hybrid cars. When that came across my desk, I knew I had to jump on the chance. I’m not an automotive journalist, nor do I pretend to be one. But what I do know is what a superbly engineered fast car feels like. So of course when that fast car can now get juiced not only by petrol but also by electricity, I had to see if the magic still held true.

The Three Cars In The Fleet:

2018 Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid

2018 Panamera 4 E-Hybrid

2018 Panamera Sport Turismo

And the trip? Well it was a incredible 4-day road trip from Montreal to Boston (via Montpellier, Vermont); Boston to Philadelphia (via Ramsey, New Jersey) and Philadelphia to Buffalo (via Binghamton, New York State). It was an intimate group of six national journalists, all paired off into three driving teams. The attention to detail was definitely noted which included a well thought out itinerary, pre-programmed directions in our GPS, parking money, toll money, snacks and of course fresh bottles of water (stocked for us twice a day!) for each of us. If you haven’t done so already, you can capture the full flavour (yes pun totally intended) of my trip which I also documented on instagram!

Each morning the hotel valet would pull up the freshly charged and washed cars for each of us drive. Each day we were assigned a different car. And each car came with it’s own fabulous list of amenities.

Lets start with our first car the 2018 Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid

The Features:

*Offers 626 lb/ft. of torque, which means that it can hit 100km/h in 3.4 seconds flat.

*Top speed is 310km.

*Total combined power of 680 horsepower.

*Has a V-8 engine with an electric motor. The motor uses a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery to get power.

*Within 6 hours this car can be fully charged by plug-in or while you’re driving. Charging process also can be done with their customized timer supplied by the Porsche Communication Management (PCM) or the Porsche connect app.

*The car starts in pure electric mode lasting 50km with zero emissions.

*When the battery charge level drops then the gasoline engine takes over and you can actually get the thermic engine to recharge your battery while driving.

*MSRP $209,800 CDN

The Experience: 

This is one sexy car. Once we got over the (incredibly nerve-wracking) fact that we were driving a $200,000 car we were able to relish in its beauty. The red leather interior, and it’s impeccable stitching detail and the impressive design from the headlights to the tail lights left heads turning everywhere. Whether we were at the highway food stop, parked along the scenic streets of Montpellier while lunched at Down Home Kitchen or valet parked the W Hotel in Boston. Heads definitely turned.

Checking the GPS map in the digital Porsche Advanced Cockpit (this name is so spot-on because you truly felt like you were in a cockpit) was easy thanks to the high resolution and the two large screens, one directly in POV of the driver on the main dashboard next to the odometer and one immediately to the right centre of the car.

We found that having the secondary screen was definitely easier on the eye as the driver only needed to quickly glance slightly downwards through the steering wheel as opposed to looking to the right. It’s a small thing which I wouldn’t even have noticed, but it does make a difference. Of course the sound of our GPS navigator’s voice was a solid source of comfort that we were on the right track. The best part (coming from someone who hasn’t driven an electric car before), we weren’t used to the soundless performance. Especially when it was time to turn the car off. So of course we checked the manual to be doubly sure that the car was indeed off. Whew.

When it came to speed, for some reason our team (Meghan and I) were always the first one to arrive at our destination. Were we driving fast? Sure, let’s go with that.  Mainly because unlike your traditional Porsche where you could feel the intensity of the engine that increased with your speed, in this case it was so smooth that you couldn’t tell how fast you were going. So in addition to watching the GPS map, we also had our eye on the odometer to ensure we weren’t going crazy fast. But when we did we counted  it as part of you know — research.

The second car was the 2018 Panamera 4 E-Hybrid

The Features: 

*Another model of the new Panamera line comes in this gorgeous four door hybrid model which clocks 100km/h in 4.6 seconds flat.

*Delivers an instantaneous system torque of 516 lb/ft. It is on a hybrid strategy (based on the 918 Spyder).

*Total combined horsepower of 462.

*Top speed is 278km.

*The electric motor alone delivers 295 lb/ft. of torque.

*In this model electric and gas motors are both available to the driver from the start. The electric motor uses a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery to get power.

*It can be fully charged on a 220v outlet in just under 6 hours.

*The charging process also can be done through the Porsche Communication Management (PCM) or the Porsche connect app.

*The car starts in pure electric mode lasting 50km with zero emissions.

*MSRP $113,400 CDN

The Experience:

First off, the exterior colour of this car was so beautiful. Everyone noticed how unique it was. It wasn’t white but had a sort of chalk type of hue. That alone stole my heart. The road trip from Boston to Philadelphia (with a much needed slice of some serious Italian cuisine at the New York Pizza & Pasta in Ramsey, New Jersey) gave us another chance to fully relish in the amenities that this car had.

One thing that I didn’t notice (but realized all of the cars had this) was the blind spot indicator light which was positioned on top of each side mirror. My personal habit of physically turning around to check my blind spot was a hard habit to break and realized that I can also achieve that by just focusing on the blind spot light flickering. Which really was more effective as the design of the car didn’t really give you a perfect blind spot check space for you to do it physically. Again another example of the attention to detail that Porsche is historically known for.

All the seats were beautifully designed for comfort. With a similar dashboard features we also had the fabulous array of Serious XM radio stations (also found in all cars) to choose from so we were in our groove. Our nervousness about driving such an expensive car easily subsided and we were able to really be in the moment and appreciate such automotive beauty.

After driving the first car, we did notice that torque level in this one was a touch less but still hitting 100km/h in a matter of 4.6 seconds flat still reminded us that we were driving an incredible machine. And boy was it incredible.

The third car was 2018 4 E-Hybrid Panamera Sport Turismo

Key Features:

*Similar features as the other Panameras

*Boasting 462 combined  horsepower and available in either with two rear seats or super cool 4+1 seating concept it’s the perfect weekender road trip car.

*Twin-turbocharged V6 Engine with electric motor.

*Delivers a total combined  power of 516 lb/ft. of torque.

*The electric motor alone delivers 136 lb/ft. of torque.

*Continuing their use of all the lovely amenities that the Panamera line offers including the digital Porsche Advanced Cockpit and the Porsche Traction Management (PTM) an all-wheel drive system with electronically-controlled multi-plate clutch.

*MSRP $118,600 CDN

The Experience

This is your perfect weekend car with plenty of storage room, lots of comfy legroom and of course its gorgeous exterior and interior design. This car was a great way to cap off the road trip as we drove from Philadelphia to Buffalo (with a fantastic taco stop at Garage Taco Bar in Binghamton New York).  And it was a great way to close the trip.

Featuring similar bells and whistles in the digital Porsche Advanced Cockpit including the user friendly and (most importantly) driver friendly screens for GPS monitoring as well as very comfortable seat design. Why am I bringing the seat design up (yet, again)? This is why: I can never fall asleep while travelling in a car, but when it was my turn to chill, I slept like a baby. The seat design fit my body perfectly and cradled my neck and head just so that I was able to seriously have a great nap without all the jerky neck action. I never thought sleep was possible. Now I know that was possible and that to me was an awesome revelation.

So if you are jonesing for a perfect autumn road trip, definitely try the route that I traversed. And if you feel the need for some earth-loving speed the new E-Hybrids from Porsche definitely delivers both in style and substance in spades.

Main Image Photo Credit: Hina P. Ansari