2026 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid: Borderline Witchcraft

One $7,790 option changes the Panamera for the better and the worse

written by Nick Yekikian
edited by Kirk Bell
5/25/2026
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What it is: The Panamera is Porsche's only gas-powered sedan, and it hides an amazing piece of suspension tech.
Why it matters: Active Ride, as Porsche calls it, is a major evolution of the way we think about car suspension and what it can do.
Edmunds says: The only problem is we don't think it's actually what the Panamera needs.

The Porsche Panamera has always been a niche product from the clever gang over in Zuffenhausen, Germany. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series or Audi A8 never really felt like 1:1 comparisons, but it was as close as the other German marques could get. They were all about the same size and kind of did the same things. But now, in its third generation, the Panamera has become a very different animal.

Porsche made the (correct) decision to lean into the Panamera's atypical position for its redesign in 2024. Instead of going to bat against Mercedes and BMW and chase sales volume, Porsche is now using its only sedan as a test bed for things that might trickle up to other high-end VW Group products in the future.

The linchpin of this new test bed is what Porsche calls Active Ride, which is only available on E-Hybrid models because it needs the electrical architecture and the juice from the 25.9-kWh battery pack. A relatively pricey $7,790 option that is probably the most interesting and sophisticated evolution in suspension technology in a long, long time. It transforms the way the Panamera handles and, well, rides, but it also has one undeniable drawback.

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Suspension tech that needs its own Ted Talk

Here's how it works. Gone are a huge chunk of traditional suspension bits — Panameras equipped with Active Ride have no anti-roll bars, no traditional air suspension, and no typical springs or dampers. Instead, each wheel gets what is basically its own hydraulic pump and a static low-rate air spring, and each axle has a centralized brain to calculate and control damping forces (thousands of times per second, by the way).

Damping forces are literally calculated — the car no longer just deals with the road surface, it reacts to it in real time. Each corner gets exactly the amount of support or damping force it needs to keep the car's body from moving (at all) in one direction or another and to maintain the best possible tire contact patch. Plus, since the wheels are not connected by anti-roll bars anymore, each wheel is truly independent of the others. It's actually even more complicated, but I digress.

The result is a car that actively opposes roll or tucks itself into a corner, depending on what you've asked it to do. When put into its Sport or Sport+ mode, Active Ride keeps the car almost impossibly level. Whether under hard acceleration or heavy braking, the little brain at each axle reads what forces are being applied to the car and counters them so perfectly you get no sense of pitch or dive. Take a close look at the gallery below. In these photos, the Panamera is cornering hard, I assure you, but notice something? The body is still perfectly level. That's about as good a way to describe just what this system can do as any.

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Why is all of this so futuristic, you might ask? Because it does all of that without sacrificing an ounce of ride comfort — in fact, it might be even more supple as a result. Active Ride does such a good job of dialing out road imperfections, you'd swear you were driving on glass pretty much anywhere. I purposely chose roads near my home with tragic stretches of pavement. The Panamera just laughed it all off. I noticed something that resembled bump steer — a bump in the road that causes the steering to dart in a direction not specified by the driver — once in eight days.

This 5,000-pound sedan hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds thanks to the way Porsche combines e-power and the gas engine during a launch. Keep in mind, this isn't a V8-powered GTS or a Turbo, it's the relatively sedate 4S model. Even so, it blitzed the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds at 116.4 mph. A run-of-the-mill S-Class won't even get close, and neither will the current Audi A8 or any version of the BMW 7 Series.

It also stopped from 60 in 114 feet — other big sedans have done better, but the Panamera we tested was wearing relatively unremarkable Continental Sport Contact 7 tires. Something stickier would have assuredly led to a better stop. It also managed to pull 1.04 g of grip on our 200-foot skidpad, largely thanks to Active Ride helping the Panamera maintain consistent mechanical grip. For context, the Mercedes S 63 AMG — you know, that 791-horsepower über sedan — managed just 1.0 g.

The steering is better than that of most sports cars — it's communcative, weigthed just right, and the small-ish wheel makes the front end feel direct and immediate. Plus, overall grip is so high you can't reach it on normal roads. The way the Panamera gives you control is not just impressive; it's on a level that other automakers either don't appreciate the importance of or are simply unwilling to pursue. Even the new BMW M5 is lacking in that department compared to this thing.


	Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid
Engine	3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 + electric motor
Transmission	eight-speed automatic
Battery size	25.9 kWh
Driveline	all-wheel drive
Weight	5,049 pounds
Horsepower	536 hp
Torque	553 lb-ft
0-60 mph	3.5 seconds
1/4 mile @ mph	11.7 seconds @ 116.4 mph
60-0 mph braking	114 feet
Lateral acceleration	1.04 g
Tires	Continental Sport Contact 7
Starting price	$141,450
Price as tested	$183,360

The truth follows "but"

But even though Active Ride is one of the most interesting and advanced developments for modern cars, and the Panamera 4S' performance figures are nothing short of standout, there's a drawback. The Panamera now rides so well, deals with whatever you throw at it with such aplomb, and grips so resolutely that it's lost a big chunk of character.

The Panamera, in most any guise, had always been one of the most connected sport sedans on the planet. Those little nuances, the way a car squirms or jumps or wiggles as you move across a road, the sensation of body roll as you enter a corner that ends up being a key piece of feedback when it comes to knowing where a car's limits are, the sensation of the front heaving as you sail toward the horizon — these are the little bits that give cars personality. They have been a Panamera hallmark, and Active Ride dials them out.

With just this one option box ticked, the Panamera goes from giving to just doing. Sure, it does everything so well that you sit there astounded. But once the thick layer of polish Active Ride provides wears off, you're stuck wanting just a little imperfection for once. This does not change how impressive Porsche's achievement is, by the way.

I'm just not sure Active Ride is ideally used in a Porsche. In a Bentley — whose cars share underpinnings with, you guessed it, the Panamera — this would be a truly ideal setup thanks to all the isolation, support and ability to cope with 2.5 tons (or more). But in a true sport sedan like the Panamera, it ends up hindering the overall experience. That's why I hope this tech makes its way up the ladder to other parts of the VW Group. It is truly sensational in what it can do; it just still needs to find the right home.

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by Nick Yekikian

Nick Yekikian has worked in the automotive industry since 2019. He has written close to a thousand car-related articles and tested and reviewed more than 200 vehicles over the course of his career. Nick is the Senior News Editor at Edmunds and has also contributed to MotorTrend, Automobile Magazine and Super Street. When Nick isn't zipping around town in his latest used-car find, he's probably making digital art in Photoshop or playing disc golf with friends.

edited by Kirk Bell

Cars have been an important part of his life since Kirk learned to identify them by their headlights as a toddler. He grew up helping pit crew for his dad’s highly unsuccessful drag racing escapades, and he turned his knowledge of the car culture into a career when he became an editor at Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine starting in college. Kirk has been writing about full-scale cars for more than 20 years and was named to the North American Car and Truck of the Year jury in 2014. He was most recently senior editor at Motor Authority, where he specialized in luxury and performance cars. Kirk also authored and edited several car books, including the award-winning Hot Rod & Custom Chronicle and NASCAR Chronicle when was managing editor at Consumer Guide Automotive. Kirk enjoys nothing more than a track day, but he’s also a Wisconsin sport fan and he enjoys spirited drives in his 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S.

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