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You are > Home > Panamera Gran Turismo makes world debut
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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Panamera Gran Turismo makes world debut
By Tom Mooney
Porsche will be presenting the new Panamera to the public for the first time at Auto Shanghai 2009 in China from 20 28 April. The unique, four-door Gran Turismo will be making its world debut at a press conference on 19 April prior to entering the market in late summer.
The four-door Panamera combines a wide range of features seemingly contradictory at first sight, yet offering a unique synthesis quite unparalleled in the premium segment. The Panamera offers the sporting and dynamic characteristics expected from a Porsche combined with a very high standard of driving comfort.
Despite its extra-low and sleek coupé silhouette, in turn, the Panamera offers more than ample space and roominess inside for four passengers and space for a substantial amount of luggage. And last but not least, the Panamera proudly boasts power units offering a high standard of fuel efficiency despite the car’s outstanding performance.
All power units featured in the Panamera are V-configuration with either six or eight cylinders, each with Direct Fuel Injection, and covering a power range from 300 500 bhp. This makes each engine quite superior in its power and torque, combined with superior fuel economy and exhaust emissions reduced to a minimum.
The Panamera will make its debut with a normally-aspirated V8 and a V8 boosted by twin-turbocharger technology.
Depending on the model, power is transmitted by a six-speed manual gearbox or the Porsche seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) (Double-Clutch Gearbox). PDK is available as an option on all models within the range not fitted with PDK as standard. This gives the Panamera both particularly sporting driving characteristics and enhanced comfort on the road.
As a further option, the Panamera Gran Turismo will be available with the Sports Chrono Package giving the car even more sporting and dynamic engine and gearshift characteristics, and enhancing the dynamic performance of the Panamera to an even higher level.
The V6 and V8 normally-aspirated versions of the Panamera come as standard with rear-wheel drive. The top model in the range, with its turbocharged power unit, in turn, features PTM (Porsche Traction Management) with extra-lightweight, active all-wheel drive. PTM is also available on the other models as an option.
In addition to the regular steel suspension featuring variable dampers for a sporting but comfortable driving experience, the Panamera is also available with the option of a brand-new, adaptive air suspension offering additional air volume. This ensures a particularly wide range of suspension characteristics; an even higher standard of motoring comfort on the one hand and extremely sporting driving dynamics on the other.
For example, in the Sport Plus Mode, the air suspension lowers the entire car even further towards the road, giving the Panamera a higher standard of aerodynamic efficiency and improving its centre of gravity, enhancing driving safety and reducing fuel consumption. As a further option, the Panamera is available with PDCC Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, an innovative feature which actively compensates body roll in bends and at the same time improves the car’s responsiveness and smoothness on bumpy roads when driving in a straight line.
AA warning
With the recent cold snap the AA is warning motorists that car batteries are failing in large numbers. 42%* of all Rescue callouts in the last week have been battery related, and weak or older batteries are being found out.
Batteries last for four or five years and only work at 40 per cent of their power in cold weather. The extra loads of heating, rear screen demisters, lights on in both the mornings and the evenings all take their heavy toll; hence the battery is more likely to let you down.
To improve your chances of starting, all the electrics should be switched off. If the car is struggling then use the starter motor in five second bursts but give the battery thirty seconds to recover each time. Even when the car can be started, older batteries may need to be replaced or the car will break down again.
“It’s relatively simple for the AA to fix,” adds Faughnan. “The petrol will jump start the car and will diagnose any other problems with the car’s electrics. We can also fit a new battery if you need one. But it is still a major inconvenience when the car lets you down, and as we all return to work and school this week it is happening to a lot of people.”
*From 1st to 6th January the AA has attended 3,015 cars in Ireland. 1,258 had battery faults.
LED Headlights
The order book has opened for the V10 engined Audi R8 this month and with it the German car manufacturer demonstrated another element of its pioneering Vorsprung durch Technik technology.
The range-topping R8 is the first car in the world to be equipped with all-LED (light emitting diode) headlamps. For the first time the high intensity diodes have been used for low beam and high beam settings, as well as for daytime running lights and indicators, intensifying the sports car’s visual drama.
The LED headlamp of the Audi R8 is the first representative of a completely new generation of headlamps using only light emitting diodes which in itself reduces CO2 emissions. An interior light package including LED footwell lighting, light and rain sensors and LED engine compartment lighting also comes as standard on the 196mph “supercar”.
Audi was the first car manufacturer to recognize the potential of revolutionary LED lighting technology and then incorporate it during development of its vehicles and can now boast a technological edge putting it “light” years ahead of the competition.
Today’s xenon and LED headlights are four times more energy efficient than halogen headlights. And by 2018, LED technology should be about eight times more efficient than halogen light. In addition, LEDs excel due to their practically indefinite service life and react up to ten times more quickly than traditional incandescent bulbs. LEDs can also reduce a vehicle’s fuel consumption.
When daytime running lights become mandatory in the European Union in May 2011, Audi models with on-board LED technology will be ahead of the competition.
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