Exploring Nova Scotia's German roots in the Porsche Panamera Hybrid

Exploring Nova Scotia's German roots in a 4-seat express

Matthew Guy

Jul 02, 2021 • September 2, 2021 • 5 minute read • Join the conversation

While it’s highly unlikely any member of Britain’s royal family ever needs to dig into their pockets for spare change, a private money machine stands on the lower level of Buckingham Palace, placed there courtesy of Coutts bank. One hopes the Queen gets a chuckle seeing legal tender bearing pictures of her own face being dispensed from this most royal of ATMs.

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The Porsche brand is something of a money machine all on its own, worming its way into just about every automotive niche — welcome, Cayenne Coupe — and offering a myriad of variants on most of its models (there are 21 flavours of the Panamera alone). This is to say nothing of the exorbitant options list on all these cars, menus which include the likes of $2,855 for ‘personalized air vents’ on the interior of a 911 Turbo S Cabriolet.

Think the Queen has at least that much stashed away in her basement ATM? Yeah, we think so, too.

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Most of the buying public — both 1 percenters and commoners, alike — have long since gravitated to SUVs. This, despite the pleas of those in the know, that sedans and their wagon counterparts often provide equal utility while bearing a much more stable centre of gravity. Some — including this particular Panamera — even come with all-wheel drive, long the de facto reason for many to declare a high-riding SUV worthy of their monthly payments.

The Panamera represents something of a niche — a deviation, a pocket of surprise — in an environment crowded with other options. The same can be said for parts unknown on Nova Scotia’s north shore. Many come-from-aways are unaware of the area’s rich German heritage, to the point where this Panamera would feel quite at home during the region’s annual (well, annual except for COVID) boisterous Oktoberfest soirée.

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A surprising quirk of geography gives a small sliver of this area the perfect conditions in which to grow grapes for winemaking. In fact, the area is on the same 45° latitude as Bordeaux. The vintners at Jost Vineyard in Malagash are in charge of the region’s longest-operating and largest winery, a gorgeous piece of property onto which Hans Wilhelm Jost moved his family from the Rhine region of Germany about forty years ago, officially starting the winery about a decade later. These days, Jost Vineyards features a property and boutique service to rival anything your author has seen with his own jaundiced eyes in California’s famous Napa Valley.

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Sounds like a proper place in which to take a hybrid-powered Porsche capable of cracking off sub 4-second launch times and bearing a price tag that requires smelling salts. With an end to COVID-related lockdown restrictions in sight, we climbed aboard this $157,580 (as-tested) executive express and pointed its bulbous Carrera White nose toward the north shore of Nova Scotia to explore its German roots.

For 2021, Porsche has treated the Panamera to a raft of performance upgrades, along with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cosmetic freshening. The 4S E-Hybrid you see on these digital pages is a new addition to its range of plug-in vehicles, complete with a new drive system packing a twin-turbo 2.9L V6 engine and 134 horsepower electric motor. The whole works is good for 552 ponies and is, in my mind, the de facto replacement in terms of thrust for the old Turbo model and its 550-horse 4.0L V8. Lifting the hood to show off this powerplant will impress no once since, in a time-honored Porsche tradition, everything is hidden by an exquisitely crafted cover that looks like Batman’s chestplate. The hybrid battery is good for nearly 50km of electric-only driving, by the way.

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Acceleration is eyeball-flattening, with the electric motor filling in whatever miniscule amount of turbo lag is produced by the gasoline-powered engine. Able to sprint from rest to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds, launching the thing on a closed course is simple as planting your feet hard on both pedals and releasing the brake once a blue banner appears in the Panamera’s digital gauge display. This is not recommended when there is a case of Jost Gaspereau Red in the trunk. Fortunately, Porsche seems to put more engineering and craftsmanship into a single Panamera cargo tie-down than was present in entire 1980’s domestic hatchbacks.

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Like the German DNA in this part of the province, Porsche DNA runs deep in the Panamera. Just because it has four doors and can whisk a quartet of executives to lunch doesn’t mean it can’t dance the lambada. This example was equipped with the Porsche’s new rear-axle steering, part of an option package costing nearly as much as an entire Chevy Spark LS. During low-speeds, the system steers its rear wheels in the opposite direction to that of the front wheels, providing a virtual effect of shortening the wheelbase and shrinking Panamera’s turning circle by nearly 60cm; suddenly, parking in your downtown condo lot becomes noticeably easier to manage.

On the flip side, high-speed manoeuvres cause the system to steer its rear wheels in the same direction as that of the front wheels. This creates the opposite effect, simulating a virtual extension of the wheelbase to increase driving stability. The whole trick is seamless, making the 2,200kg sedan feel about 500kg lighter during spirited driving sessions. This makes Panamera’s interior a dandy place in which to spend time, with the likes of 4-zone climate control ($1,500), soft-close doors ($840), and a 2+1 rear seat configuration ($1,150) creating the type of atmosphere in which one wants to spend plenty of time. Infotainment and heads-up display ($1,690) are master classes in resolution and response time.

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You’ll notice we tossed in a litany of numbers in that last paragraph, and that’s to point out that Porsche charges for everything . If you’re the type to fume at paying extra for another cup of dipping sauce, the Porsche configurator is not for you. This is our main gripe about the Panamera, since features like a full leather interior and simple rear USB interfaces should be standard at this price but aren’t.

While taking photos at Jost for this story, one of its owners dropped by to chat about cars and show off some of their own wheels. We talked about how the region’s uniquely German heritage gave rise to the place and continues to do so, with the winery’s original owner now tackling the task of attracting well-heeled tourists to the area with an upscale RV park set to open next year.

Money machine, indeed.