#here’s this thing that goes 0 to 70 mph in literally 3 seconds before it spins you upside down

[pine4pple-b0i]

something i think about often is what kind of modern things i’d like to introduce to the van der linde gang. at the top of my list? rollercoasters

[robertkstone]

2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo First Test

By its very definition, no one wins when you compromise. This is especially true if you’re a discerning car enthusiast looking for a one-size-fits-all approach to your family car. More often than not, the cars that are most practical aren’t particularly fun to drive, but sportier options are neither roomy nor efficient. That equation gets even more complicated once you bring efficiency, fuel costs, and climate change–causing emissions into the equation. Thankfully, it seems some problems are easily solved by throwing money at them—the 2018 Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is the ultimate be-all, end-all family car for the evolved (and let’s get this out of the way early—wealthy) car enthusiast.

Practicality

You’re not going to be able to sell your significant other on a family car if it isn’t practical. Riding on the Volkswagen Group’s MSB platform, the Panamera Sport Turismo shares everything forward of (and beneath) the B-pillar with its non–Sport Turismo sibling. Behind that B-pillar is a revised roofline, ending in a tidy-looking tailgate. The already-roomy rear seat benefits from the extra airiness provided by a larger rear cargo area, and cargo volume in the trunk balloons from 14.3 to 18.3 cubic feet.

The fold-flat back seat is tilted back a bit to improve headroom for taller passengers without ruining the roofline (as was the case with the first-generation Panamera); legroom, although not limolike, is perfectly acceptable for most taller occupants.

Front occupants are well taken care of, too, with comfortable seats, near-SUV levels of visibility, and a large, easy-to-use Porsche Connect infotainment display. Its sole miss—not enough cupholders or storage cubbies for family considerations.

Sportiness

Just like a Jeep has got to live up to the badge on its hood, a Porsche does, too. This family-friendly hybrid station wagon delivers in spades there. Developed using technology and know-how from Porsche’s 918 Spyder hypercar and Le Mans–winning 919 Hybrid, the Panamera Sport Turismo pairs a 330-hp 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 with a 136-hp electric motor wedged between the six-cylinder and Porsche’s latest PDK eight-speed twin-clutch automatic. Its total system output is a not-insignificant 464 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. That’s more power and more torque than the twin-turbo V-8-powered Panamera GTS.

Paired with Porsche’s standard torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, our electrified Panamera station wagon was shockingly (sorry) fast at the track. With its 14.1-kW-hr battery topped off and launch control enabled, the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and on through the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 112.7 mph.

Our 60–0 brake tests revealed the brakes to be softer and more prone to fade than we’ve typically seen from Porsches. Its best stop of 109 feet was followed by increasingly longer stop distances. We suspect the Panamera E-Hybrid’s regenerative brakes trying to scavenge for electricity is the culprit. At any rate, Porsche offers carbon-ceramic brakes on the E-Hybrid, which ought to improve performance considerably.

Despite its 5,016-pound curb weight, this Panamera has no trouble dancing through a corner or two. Aided by the optional rear-axle steering system (at a fairly reasonable—for a Porsche—$1,620), this Sport Turismo lapped our figure-eight course in 24.4 seconds at 0.79 g, and it averaged 0.96 g on the skidpad.

On the road, the Panamera E-Hybrid is, in a word, fascinating. Given the complicated dance going on between the Porsche’s gas engine, electric motor, eight-speed transmission, regenerative brakes, and torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, you’d think the car would be constantly fighting itself. Instead, the systems are all in sync.

The stark differences between each of the Panamera’s four drive modes were probably the most interesting to me. With its battery full, E-Power mode is the default setting. Despite its modest 16 miles of electric range in this mode, this plug-in hybrid does a remarkable job at mimicking the experience of a traditional full-size electric vehicle, like a Tesla Model S. Aided by the PDK, the Panamera’s electric motor makes the most of its 136 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. On electrons the Sport Turismo feels decently quick, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 5-ish seconds. The gas engine only fires up in E-Power if you press the throttle past its kick-down point or once you deplete the battery, when the Panamera will change into Hybrid Auto mode.

Hybrid Auto seems to be the best of both worlds between full-electric E-Power and performance-optimized Sport and Sport Plus modes. In Hybrid Auto, the Panamera still prioritizes efficient electric driving, but it’ll quickly fire up its V-6 when power is needed or to charge the battery. You can also manually fire up the engine to either save the battery’s state of charge or to charge the battery using the gas engine. Again, the most remarkable thing here is how unremarkable it all is. Save for the tach swinging up and down as the gas engine unobtrusively turns on and off, the drive experience is pure Porsche.

That’s especially true in Sport and Sport Plus modes. The most amazing thing to me is how linear this car accelerates considering all the variables in the powertrain—you get a punch in the gut from the electric motor and all-wheel-drive system off the line, and then the Porsche’s V-6 picks up as the motor begins to lose steam. The result is a car that pulls strongly up near its 6,800-rpm redline before the transmission slingshots you into the next highest gear.

As we saw at the track, the long-roof Panamera hybrid is happy to dance, too. Like the last Panamera, the Sport Turismo drives far smaller than it is on twisty roads, thanks in part to its optional rear-wheel steering system. It’s easy to overdrive the car at first because of how quickly it turns in, but once you’re used to the car, it settles into a corner beautifully. If we’re nitpicking (and to be clear, I am), the Panamera’s sole weakness is that its steering feel borders on gummy in fast, back-to-back bends.

Efficiency

And now we come to the reason why the Panamera E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is the ultimate family car for the moneyed among us—simply put, no other vehicle (save for maybe a Tesla Model S P100D) is as fast, fun to drive, practical, and efficient as the electrified Panamera wagon.

The 16 miles of range the EPA rates the Panamera E-Hybrid’s battery at is accurate, and provided you have access to a Level 2 charger, it only takes about three hours for the Porsche’s battery to charge back up. Even with its small 14.1-kW-hr battery (and while only charging every other day), I managed to drive 122 miles on the battery pack and electric motor alone, according to the Panamera’s trip computer. Driven as a hybrid with the battery pack depleted, I averaged a hair over 23 mpg, 1 mpg better than the Sport Turismo’s 22-mpg EPA combined rating.

At 22 mpg, the Panamera E-Hybrid Sport Turismo ain’t exactly a Prius—but that’s just the point. No vehicle in its peer class, including heavyweights like the Mercedes-AMG CLS 53 4Matic or BMW 740e xDrive, so capably balances performance with efficiency. Yeah, at $118,150 it’s expensive, but considering it’s a capable sports car, family hauler, and relative efficiency, shouldn’t it be?

Ultimately the importance of cars like the Panamera E-Hybrid goes beyond how fast and efficient it is—performance hybrids like this Porsche help change the public perception of electrified vehicles. As the world slowly shifts to battery electric vehicles, cars like the Panamera Sport Turismo E-Hybrid will act as the stepping stone by showing the world that you really can have your cake—and eat it, too.

2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo BASE PRICE $105,050 PRICE AS TESTED $118,150 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door wagon ENGINE 2.9L/330-hp/331-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6 plus 136-hp/295-lb-ft electric motor; 464 hp/516 lb-ft combined TRANSMISSION 8-speed twin-clutch auto CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 5,016 lb (48/52%) WHEELBASE 116.1 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 198.8 x 76.3 x 56.0 in TEST DATA ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 1.2 sec 0-40 1.9 0-50 2.8 0-60 3.7 0-70 4.9 0-80 6.3 0-90 7.8 0-100 9.7 0-100-0 13.9 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 2.0 QUARTER MILE 12.3 sec @ 112.7 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 109 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.96 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 24.4 sec @ 0.79 g (avg) TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH 1,200 rpm EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 20/25/22 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 169/135 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.88 lb/mile

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[robertkstone]

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk First Test Review: Power Mad

There’s a line from Moby-Dick, “In a whaler wonders soon wane.” Cetaceans are awesome creatures, magnificent mammalian consequences of evolution. Awesome, in the older, proper sense of the word. And in a life spent in their pursuit, so filled was it with wonder, the whaler soon grew immune to unsubduable excitement. As much as I try and not let myself get numb to the routine of driving fantastic dream machinery, it happens.

So imagine my surprise when, leaving Motor Trend HQ one afternoon, I floored the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and found myself laughing like a fool for 30 seconds straight. Mind you, I only floored the big, red Jeep for about three seconds, but that was enough to make me giggle and guffaw for 10 times as long. I wasn’t in Sport mode or Track mode, and I wasn’t using launch control.

As Jimi Hendrix would term it, I am experienced. Experienced with both powerful and crazy. The AMG 6×6 jumps to mind, as does the Lamborghini Urus, the Lamborghini LM002, the BMW X6 M, and even a good old Unimog. I’ve also driven a number of cars with 700-plus horsepower; heck, I had a Dodge Charger Hellcat for a year. Until recently, however, I’d never driven an SUV with 700-plus horsepower.

Well, live long enough, and you’ll see everything. Including the new Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, the family SUV with a 707-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 under the hood. Crazy? By design. It’s refreshing, both personally and professionally, to get whomped over the head by something as utterly ridiculous as the Trackhawk. But is it any good?

I had been in the Trackhawk’s driver’s seat for maybe a minute and just buried my right foot. To brag a little, I’ve hit 171 mph on the front straight of Big Willow in a Porsche 918 and hit 193 mph on the Bonneville salt in an AMG GT S. I’m used to big machines doing big things. But none of them tickled my funny bone like this $100,960 Jeep. I haven’t laughed about a car like that since … I don’t remember.

What’s it feel like? Well, some of the giggles come from how it launches the opposite of a Hellcat. Perhaps not what you’d expect because the two vehicles sport the same engines, same power, and nearly the same torque (645 versus 650 lb-ft). The thing is, although the Hellcat is both a Pirelli shareholder’s best friend and a smoke machine, the Trackhawk—by virtue of all-wheel drive—puts all that screaming supercharged fury down to the pavement. The big Jeep also lurches back on its haunches in a fun but startling way. For a brief moment, it feels as if the Trackhawk’s beak is pointed at the sun. The adaptive Bilsteins are actually fairly stiff (and would be stiffer still if I’d been in Track mode), but with 70 percent of the power hitting the rear wheels, thanks to a fixed torque split, this Jeep is going to lean back when launching.

How does this thing handle? Another reminiscence if I may. Since I’ve driven the Porsche 918, I inevitably get asked how it is to drive. “Fast,” I say. “It’s just fast.” Meaning, I know that I drove four laps around the big track at Willow Springs, but I literally remember nothing about the 889-hp hybrid hypercar, save for how fast it is. Nada. Same is true for the Trackhawk, only in terms of initial acceleration. I know I took some corners in it, but the bulk of my memory comes from that first launch. It’s just so brutally quick that I know I drove the Jeep aggressively on a curvy road, but I just can’t get past the fury of leaving from a dead stop. Speaking of which …

The Trackhawk hit 60 mph in 3.3 seconds in our testing, beating Jeep’s claimed time of 3.5 seconds. The quickest we’ve ever hit 60 mph in Hellcat testing is 3.7 seconds, for both the Challenger and the Charger (both were eight-speed autos—we’ve never tested a manual). For SUVs, the quickest to 60 mph we tested before the Trackhawk were Tesla Model X (3.2 seconds), the Bentley Bentayga (3.5 seconds), the BMW X6 M (3.7 seconds) and the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe 4Matic (3.9). Lamborghini is claiming 3.7 seconds to 60 mph for the 650-hp Urus, though I think we’ll see 3.4. Discounting the instant-on torque of the Tesla, so far, so good for the Trackhawk.

But right now is as good a time as any to mention one little caveat: We weighed the Trackhawk, and the results aren’t pretty—5,448 pounds. That’s a lot of SUV. That AMG, for instance—which coincidently shares the same underpinnings as the Trackhawk, the last remnants of DaimlerChrysler—weighs nearly 100 pounds less (5,359 pounds). The X6 M comes in at a relatively trim 5,187 pounds. All of which makes the Trackhawk’s acceleration that much more crazy.

To continue that conversation, in the quarter-mile test, the Trackhawk runs 11.7 seconds at 116.2 mph. Did you ever think we’d see the day when a production SUV runs the quarter in the 11s? That’s just crazy! Or should I say ludicrous, as the Model X when in Ludicrous mode also runs an 11.7-second quarter mile. However, the Trackhawk’s trap speed is 0.2 mph higher than the Model X’s, so Jeep beats Tesla in a drag race. What a world. Speaking of 11s, the 600-horsepower Bentayga runs 11.9 seconds at 117.1 mph. Some other fast SUVs for you to consider: the X6 M, but that slowpoke took 12.1 seconds at 114.3 mph. The quickest we’ve ever seen a four-door Hellcat run is 11.8 seconds at 124.3 mph. Meaning the Jeep is quicker, but the extra 900 pounds of lard and AWD hardware slows it down in terms of velocity, hence the 8-mph gap at the end of 1,320 feet. The quickest two-door Hellcat ties the Trackhawk at 11.7 seconds, but its trap is higher still at 125.4 mph.  The Challenger Hellcat just happens to weigh 999 pounds less than the Trackhawk. (That’s 666 if you invert—coincidence or conspiracy?) Just to further impress upon you how quick this Jeep is, the Corvette Grand Sport hits 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and runs the quarter mile in 12.2 at 116.1 mph. Moreover, the 650-hp Camaro ZL1 with the 10-speed auto hits 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and runs the quarter mile in 11.5 seconds at 125.0. This Jeep is straight-line legit.

The Trackhawk’s stopping power is neither great nor terrible—108 feet from 60 mph , not supercar distances but impressive given its ample heft. The figure eight is another story. The time itself is solid: 24.7 seconds, which happens to tie the single Challenger Hellcat. We’ve tested three different Charger Hellcats and have seen 24.4, 24.5, and 24.6 seconds. Meaning this big Jeep can hustle. The experience, however, is more of a mixed bag. “I just about put my foot through the floor on the first lap because the stopping power wasn’t what I was expecting from the Brembos and P Zeros,” road test editor Chris Walton said. “Granted, it’s a heavy mutha, and it goes across the middle of the course at 79 mph, but I really had to back up the brake zone by about three Jeep lengths to make the corner of the skidpad.

“Once there, it turns in rather slowly, offers only a little hint of the front tires’ punishment, and eventually settles into terminal understeer,” he continued. “The exit, however, is where the ‘Wheeeeee’ happens. You can literally stand on the loud pedal and do a four-wheel drift until it’s pointing straight. Then it simply goes like stink. Finally, all-wheel drive to make use of all that Hellcat horsepower and torque that can’t be fully utilized in either the Challenger or Charger.”

I completely agree with Chris on that last point. I got bored of having to change tires on our long-term Hellcat. Simply put, the 707-hp barcalounger couldn’t put its prodigious power to the ground. This supercharged super Jeep sure can.

Before the Trackhawk, if you would have told me that one day there will be a $100,000-plus Jeep, I would have assumed it would have been some sort of luxurious, reborn Grand Wagoneer—complete with the off-road chops the fabled brand is known for. I never would have seen a dragstrip bruiser in the cards. Yet here we are. I’m sure we can all agree that there’s no need for a vehicle like this. But boy, are we all happy Jeep gave it the green light. I got no problem with crazy, as long as it’s the good kind of crazy. You know, the kind that makes a supercar saturated car scribe giggle like a todder. Ain’t no wonder waning here.

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk Supercharged BASE PRICE $86,995 PRICE AS TESTED $100,960 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV ENGINE 6.2L/707-hp/645-lb-ft supercharged OHV 16-valve V-8 TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 5,448 lb (56/44%) WHEELBASE 114.7 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 189.8 x 76.5 x 67.9 in 0-60 MPH 3.3 sec QUARTER MILE 11.7 sec @ 116.2 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 108 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.90 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 24.7 sec @ 0.79 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 11/17/13 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 306/198 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 1.48 lb/mile

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