Porsche has announced that it will bring its new Panamera sedan to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance for its official North American debut. We already drove it in Germany, but it's always nice to see it on American roads before making a final judgment on its looks, importance, silliness, etc.
If there's one aspect of the upcoming 2010 Porsche Panamera that we can't help admire, however, it's the optional manual transmission. Or at least, optional if you live in Europe. In the U.S., the big sedan will come with Porsche PDK dual-clutch transmission only.
Strangely enough, when you build a Panamera S on Porsche's U.S. Web site, the interior shot shows a three-pedal arrangement. Probably just something that was overlooked as Porsche transferred assets from its European sites, but just looking at it makes us wish that Porsche would reconsider its North American availability. After all, this is the company famous for having literally hundreds of options on each of its cars. Why not this one?
clarkma5 says:
12:44 PM, 07/ 8/09
Not the first time that porsche's car configurator in the US has shown a 6-speed manual in a car not available with one...for ages, you could clearly see a manual in the interior of the facelifted Cayenne S. That was when it first came out, but there's still no manual Cayenne S in the US, so don't hold your breath on the Panamera.
teekay13 says:
01:03 PM, 07/ 8/09
A four-door, front-engined sedan without a stick. What's "Porsche" about this car?
carfreak8394 says:
01:06 AM, 07/ 9/09
"Not the first time that porsche's car configurator in the US has shown a 6-speed manual in a car not available with one...for ages, you could clearly see a manual in the interior of the facelifted Cayenne S. That was when it first came out, but there's still no manual Cayenne S in the US, so don't hold your breath on the Panamera."
Maybe it was a carry-over picture from the photo used for the base Cayenne, which, as far as I know, is available with a manual transmission.
hondacura4 says:
08:57 PM, 07/ 9/09
I'm one of the few who actually like this car. It has a mysterious presence about it.
As for the manual, I wouldnt hold your breath as the people who actually purchase this car would probably prefer the automatic anyway. Of course the simple availability of the manual would be awesome as the true Porsche enthusiast could park his GT3RS and drive the wife to the venue in the Panamera Turbo manual, at least thats what I'd do.