Porsche Panamera

it weren't so darned wide, this would be a staggering overtaker. Let's not forget, luxury is something that Porsche can do. It may only have sports cars and an ignomious SUV in its back catalogue, but these days they're all finished to a standard that makes high-end limos look a bit shoddy in places (eg the Quattroporte). And so for the Panamera, Porsche has upped the ante. The result is impressive, feeling as strong as an S-Class. However, if we had a complaint it's that some of the materials and textures make the interior feel a bit chintzy, a bit too executive. When you fling it along a difficult empty road it's amazing. The body hunkers down and never floats or rolls, and the grip just keeps coming. The steering is accurate too. The suspension (at least on the Turbo, other versions vary) has self-levelling variable air springs, adaptive dampers and adaptive anti-roll bars. This means it can work no matter how many people are on board, and can be supple on the straights but firm on bends. The Panamera is specifically a four-seater rather than an occasional five, with the rear seats hunkered down low like the fronts, with your passengers' backsides well below the line of the transmission tunnel. This means there's actually a lot of space back there; above, in front and to the side. But it also means whoever's in the back is properly secure when you start going for it. The facility of a hatch, combined with the fact that those rear seats fold to a capacity of 1,250 litres, also means the Panamera is vastly more practical than your average luxury saloon. Not that anyone will use it for a tip-run.