The Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo from 2018 has been handed the baton to win the luxury car category in carsales’ Best Used Cars for 2024, proudly presented by Bingle.
This is the second year in a row that Porsche’s rival to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series has taken out the top spot, but the 2018 model is somewhat different from the Panamera that won last year.
The Panamera from 2018 – the year in review here – is the second-generation 971-series that replaced the previous winner on the 970-type platform. Furthermore, the 2018 Panamera that won this year is a wagon! That’s right, the flagship Panamera Sport Turismo.
While the Panamera looks imposing, it’s significantly shorter in the wheelbase than the S-Class sedan from the same year, as well as the 7 Series and Audi A8. This is one luxury car designed for the well-heeled DIY drivers – those who appreciate that ‘life is a journey, not a destination’.
Unlike the earlier model, the second-generation Panamera is a car that can be admired from outside as well as from behind the wheel. The flagship model for 2018 is a plug-in hybrid fitted with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, which combined with an electric motor to propel the Panamera Turbo S e-Hybrid Sport Turismo to 100km/h from a standing start in 3.4 seconds.
RedBook arrived at a score of 39.2 points for the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, with the judges’ scores of 40.0 bringing the total to 79.2 out of 100 points.
In 2018, the plug-in Panamera Sport Turismo was priced at $470,500. According to RedBook, its value as a used car in 2024 is still $303,650.
Our European correspondent Michael Taylor drove the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo in late 2017 and while he was more upbeat about this Panamera than its predecessor – particularly for its looks – he stressed this is not a car to save the world from climate change.
“The Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is the high-tech four-door flagship for Porsche, with bags of speed, ferocious acceleration and space everywhere inside. The fuel-economy claims also match that outlandishness, and it’s well worth sniggering at the 3.0L/100km NEDC figure rather than planning your fuel stops around it,” he said at the time.
If you really, truly wanted a Panamera that would reduce the amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere in a meaningful away, you would purchase the V6 hybrid Panamera instead, as Taylor noted. But that wouldn’t be half as much fun…
Here’s what one of our judges thinks of the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo in 2024:
Second generation Panamera finally has the looks to match the dynamics, and the flagship offers plug-in power
Some readers will question whether the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is a ridgy-didge luxury car. But no-one said that a luxury car had to be a limousine rather than a grand tourer.
It’s hard to be completely rational about the Panamera, given its performance and its pose value, making it a deserving winner in the luxury car category of carsales’ Best Used Car Awards for 2024, proudly presented by Bingle.
Honourable mentions:
2018 Lexus LS 500h Sports Luxury
The Lexus 500h Sports Luxury scored 39.0 points from RedBook and 40.0 points from the judges for a total of 79.0.
RedBook value: $92,800
V8 variants were dropped, but turbo V6 offered tons of torque in a luxury package that was pretty handy in corners too
2018 Mercedes-Benz Maybach S650
The Mercedes-Benz Maybach S650 scored 30.4 points from RedBook and 46.0 points from the judges for a total of 76.4.
RedBook value: $219,300
The S-Class is an evergreen player in the world of big, teutonic limousines
What makes a car eligible for carsales Best Used Cars awards?
• Less than six years old
• Standard side-curtain airbags
• Standard Bluetooth
• Standard electronic stability control (mandated for Nov 2013)
• Standard reversing camera for SUVs
How did RedBook weight the categories for scoring?
• 10 per cent for resale
• 10 per cent for ANCAP rating
• 20 per cent for cost of ownership
• Five per cent for service intervals
• Five per cent for number of days for vehicle to sell
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