Porsche goes all sedan on us

Looking to expand its grasp on people with way too much money Porsche is introducing a 4 door model to thier lineup. Named the Porsche Panamera the car is, well, um, ok….I’ll just say it, funny looking.

The Porsche people say they designed it from the inside out. Frankly you can tell they are not lying. Up front it doesnt look all that wierd.

From the front 3/4 it’s actually pretty nice looking, very Porsche. The car has a powerfull and agressive look about it. Its low and its wide which should provide for great handling.

It really isn’t until you look at it from say the side or the rear that its true weirdness comes to light. It kind of has a fat ass. They say the extra junk in the trunk provides for a ton of storage and room for its pasengers.

Edmunds says a man over 6 foot tall will fit very comfortably with lots of leg room and plenty of headroom too. The car of course comes with everything you would expect from Porsche.

They built it lightweight, for a giant sedan. Other than the frame which is steel, most of the car is aluminum. Because of all those tin cans the rear-wheel-drive Panamera S weighs 3,968 pounds according to Porsche. So it’s no lightweight but the Panamera is much lighter than the 4,387-pound Maserati Quattroporte or the 4,663-pound Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG.

It has a built in air suspension that can be adjusted for comfort or sport. You know tuners will be hacking this thing to slam the car.

What about power? The non turbo has a honking 32-valve, DOHC 4,806cc V8 engine making 393 horsepower at 6,500 rpm with 369 pound-feet of torque from 3,500 rpm to 5,000 rpm. If you opt for the turbo you get two snailsthat pump up the output to 493 hp.

What about cost? According to Edmunds the 2010 Porsche Panamera will start at $89,800 for the S model, rising to $93,800 for the 4S and $132,600 for the Turbo. The prices of the various options will be set sometime before the car’s official introduction on October 17. But the 2009 Cayenne Turbo lists carbon-ceramic brakes at $8,840 and the PDCC active stabilizer bars at $3,510.

If they had made the car better looking the back seats would have been useless. Why make a 4 door porsche if nobody can sit in the back? What do you think, is the room worth the look? I’m thinking no. I would rather have cramped passengers and a better looking car. Hell I will be up front in the drivers seat, who cares about the back, right?