The Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid Can't Beat Physics

porsche panamera turbo e hybrid
The Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid Can't Beat PhysicsPorsche

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So you can’t beat physics, right? That’s why they're the laws of physics. They're not the guidelines of physics, or the trials of physics. It’s settled. But can you bend physics? Can you tie it? Can you work around it? Porsche, more so than any other manufacturer right now, seems to think so. And after spending a day on the Circuit de Monteblanco outside of Sevilla, Spain playing with its new Active Ride system, I’m inclined to agree.

Fully active suspension is not a completely new concept. One could write several thousand words on its history, mostly around its use in racing, its ridiculous technological advantages, and its subsequent ban from F1 in 1994. Or you could write about that amazing BOSE (yes the stereo people) prototype “PID” active suspension fitted to a Lexus LS400 that “bunny hopped” speed bumps in a not-quite-viral video from way back in 2009.

Mercedes uses “E-Active Body Control” in certain SUVs today, namely the GLS600 Maybach, which, in addition to giving a very smooth ride, has a mode that will bounce the car, ostensibly to get it un-stuck from sand or snow, but mainly used to bounce the truck through cities to show off on social media. (No stone-throwing here, I did it in the press car, too).

porsche panamera turbo e hybrid
Matt Farah

But so far no production car has achieved the breadth of talent that Porsche has achieved with Active Ride. It allows a 5192-lb car (DIN) to ride beautifully, to handle like something 1000 pounds more svelte, and to bring some new tricks to the party as well.

At each corner is a two-valve active shock absorber and a single chamber air spring. Each shock is connected to its own electrically powered hydraulic pump. This pump creates a “volume flow” in each damper, which can be regulated for compression and rebound independently, 13 times a second. There are no swaybars at all, because the system doesn’t need them. And though Porsche Air Suspension (now standard on all Panameras) uses two-chamber air springs, Active Ride only needs one thanks to the hydraulic stuff.

Active Ride’s brain is fed by an enormous number of sensors, from individual wheel speed to lateral loading, throttle and brake pressure, steering input, ambient and road temperatures, the weight of passengers and cargo, and on and on. It’s doing math constantly to figure out not only what the driver wants the car to do, but what the road looks like, without the use of cameras or external sensors that could get blocked by dirt or snow.

porsche panamera turbo ehybrid
Matt Farah

The result is a suspension that can control each wheel fully independently, isolating the cabin as much as possible from imperfections in the tarmac, while simultaneously delivering brilliant handling dynamics and extremely stable cornering.