TECHART Panamera GrandGT

Now that the Porsche Panamera has been around for a while and now that I’ve seen a few running around town, I have to admit that I like how the car looks. It isn’t that ugly and it has real road presence, which is something lacking in most computer aided car designs these days which all look similar. However there are those that still cannot get the ‘Porsche Look’ – which nowadays seems to be very much like a toad, all low and hunched.

Of course you can then try getting one of those performance tuners to give it a go and make it into something more palatable for most normal individuals. Or they may end up making things even more grotesque. Mansory comes to mind if you want grotesque and TECHART for something more subtle.

The Techart Panamera GrandGT is an impressive tuner special. It is based on the Porsche Panamera Turbo and could have been derived from the Techart Concept One Panamera (pictured above) shown recently at the Geneva Motor Show last March, 2010. However most of the parts can be fitted to most versions of the Panamera.

Let’s start with the exterior of the car. The Panamera GrandGT gets a meaner bumper/splitter up front. Larger intakes help the intercooler and radiator suck more cool air and the ducts direct air towards the brakes, assisting in the cooling of the huge ventilated discs. The carbon fiber bonnet/hood has more vents on them, drawing out all the heat generated by the Panamera’s engine. The front also gets those trendy LED Daytime Running Lights that everyone seems to want on their rides these days.

Side skirts as well as wider fenders add to the width of the Panamera. 21mm on each side in front and 42mm on each rear side. A much, much wider track requiring Techart specific wheel and tire combo in either 21inches or 22 inches in diameter. Utterly massive, although I do have some reservations about Techart totally altering the handling dynamics of the Panamera with the extremely wide track.

The rear gets a roof spoiler, a large boot spoiler and a rear bumper/diffuser setup. The usual quadruple oval tailpipes are integrated into the bodykit and hide a trick Techart sports system that adds some horses to the car as well as a cabin controlled bypass valve for added noise when the driver feels like becoming a kid again. Oh, it also gets a GrandGT badge on the boot in a very Porsche-like font. Small touches like this make Techart one of the better tuning houses in my opinion.

The GrandGT engine gets a Techart engine cover made from carbon fiber. This is all flash and no dash as it's all purely for looks. Only essential if you want to pop the hood and show off to the boys at the country club (or at some car park with some beer drinking buddies). According to Techart, the flashy engine cover portrays power even whilst standing still. Yeah, right. It would be saying that if I wore a T-shirt with an 'S' on my chest I would be faster than a speeding bullet...

Anyway, for some extra horsepower Techart provides a power upgrade kit called the Techtronic TA070/T1. This basically means that they will upgrade the ECU and increase turbo boost in the 4.8liter V8. This tweak gets the Panamera Turbo horses up from 500bhp to around 580bhp and torque up from 700Nm to a tree pulling 830Nm. The Techart power upgrade is backed by a two-year limited warranty. Techart also grants an additional warranty on damages at engine or gearbox if caused by the power upgrade kit.

The interior gets the usual custom interior leather treatment and an audio-video system upgrade. This part of the GrandGT tuning program is very customer oriented and up to their taste. Heck, if you wanted a garish purple and yellow interior, I suppose Techart could make it happen. It's what customization is all about. Good taste is set aside sometimes.

The car will premiere at the Auto Zurich Car Show on the 11^th of November and at the car tuner’s galore, the Essen Motor Show on the 27^th of November.

So do the mods make the Panamera more of a car and less like a toad? I don’t really know. But what I do know is that I like the GrandGT tuning program. It enhances the car’s animal-like looks even futher. That gaping mouth and framed headlights make it look even more like the semi-aquatic animal its looks are derived from. Or even fish-like. Call me a toad loving person, I don’t care. I like the Panamera. And I like this Techart version too. There’s no question about that.