Porsche Panamera vs Porsche Cayenne Coupe

Sports cars like the 911 and Boxster/Cayman are the foundation of Porsche’s image, and the Macan and Cayenne SUVs are the brand’s bestsellers. That leaves the Panamera somewhere in the middle. The four-door Porsche offers more practicality than the brand’s sports cars, and thus serves a larger market, but it’s a step closer to them than the high-riding Porsche SUVs.

The current Panamera (971 in Porsche code) represents the model’s second generation. For the 2021 model year, it gets a number of updates. Highlights include, powertrain and suspension upgrades, new tires, a reshuffled model lineup, and subtle styling changes.

As before, the 2021 Porsche Panamera is offered in a number of configurations. Buyers can choose from V6, V8, and plug-in hybrid powertrains, rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD), and standard sedan, longer-wheelbase Executive sedan, and Sport Turismo wagon body styles. We count 24 Panamera variants for the United States market, in fact, including new-for-2021 Panamera Turbo S and Panamera 4S E-Hybrid models.

Our test car was a Panamera GTS sedan, one of the more driver-focused options positioned at the upper end of the standard (non-Executive) Panamera sedan range. We spent a week with it to determine if it was truly the Porsche of luxury sedans.