The Porsche Panamera goes station wagon in Geneva

By Miles Downard

In a world where SUVs are king, the once heralded master of practicality, the station wagon, has lost favour. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Porsche has introduced this, the Panamera Sport Turismo.

It is in essence a normal Panamera with a bigger boot stuck on the back, as with all station wagons of course. The Sport Turismo is exactly the same size as its saloon sister, at 5,049 mm long, 1,428 mm high and 1,937 mm wide. That’s a fair chunk of metal but perhaps explains why the wagon only offers 20 litres in additional boot space over the saloon, with 520 in total. Fold the seats flat and that increases dramatically to 1,390 litres. Good for carrying the dogs, or a fridge, although something tells me Panamera owners haven’t been yearning for such ability.

Inside is the same polished finish as you’d find in the saloon; that means a physical rev counter with 7-inch LCD instrument screens either side, a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, touch-sensitive zones for the climate and adaptive driving controls grouped onto the transmission tunnel. Wood is splashed liberally around the cabin too. It’s a terribly nice place to be (provided you don’t opt for the purple/brown and cream combination pictured above, of course).

The Sport Turismo broke cover in Geneva, so don’t expect it here in SA anytime soon. Fortunately if you’re one of the sane people left who don’t think an SUV is the only type of vehicle one can drive on our proudly South African roads it does give you time to save some pennies while we wait.

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