Porsche Panamera Tuning

"Cheers for reading my Porsche Panamera tuning guide."

When Porsche released a proper 4 door sports car people went mad! Some didn't like the extra doors and Porsche betraying their sports car heritage, others loved the fact they could now own a practical thoroughbred Porsche, which was suitable for the family.

It was very well received and although heavy with a front mounted engine it performs really well.

The Panamera is a good project car to execute. If you do your planning then you can create an awesome Panamera but don't be fooled there are lots of performance mods out there that will simply not suit it read our unbiased guides first.

Tuning tips and articles

Panamera Engine Tuning.

These are the upgrades are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to go before you start.

Getting the correct grade of motorsport mods for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motor sport mods just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your Panamera

  1. Forced induction upgrades - A New Turbo is the most dramatic method to improve intake air supply, this means you are able to burn more fuel and make more power. Typically one of the most challenging mods but provides the best gains.
  2. Panamera Suspension Upgrades - Upgrading your suspension greatly enhances your Panamera road holding and cornering. Coilovers and Bushings are the usual go to mods
  3. Tunes - A tune/remap gives the biggest gains for the money, replacement ECUs, and inline Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
  4. Lighter flywheels - a lower mass flywheel will enhance the engines free revving nature. In some cases flywheel lightening is not suitable for all Panamera engines.
  5. Intake Upgrades and Sports Exhausts - Be aware on their own these mods will NOT ADD TORQUE on most cars, but they will enable you to enhance power after other modifications by removing the restriction.
  6. Brake Mods - Improve your Panamera's stopping power needs to be near the top of your Mods list.
  7. Flowing and porting the engine head - for larger gains, you will get better flow and make a more efficient engine if you do this to support your other mods.
  8. Fast road Camshafts are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be fitted by someone who knows what they are doing and tracking one down may be hard but there is usually a local firm to regrind a stock cam for you.

Panamera Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Sports exhaust, Suspension upgrade (drop 29mm - 41 mm.), Alloy wheels, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Power/Sport clutch, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Your aim when modding your car should be a nice flat torque band. You don't want all the torque to be at the top end unless you are creating a competition car.

In this article we shall give a little insight into the world to the best mods for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance mod.A fast road cam usually works out as one of the best NASP power modifications you can do mechanically to your engine.

The intake & exhaust valve timings play a big role in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car awkward to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU to fully realise your gains.

When pushing up the power you will need to ramp up to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Using high octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Porsche project after fitting other kits. To get sufficient fuel you may need to improve the injectors on your engine.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Panamera's uprated injectors.

 

Panamera Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many Panamera owners uprate the handling of their cars with fast road suspension kits as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

We found that most Panamera factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe out for cornering or toe in for stability, , and a tiny bit of negative camber will dramatically benefit your cornering and handling.

Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 29mm - 41 mm. and fit motorsport grade stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Top end power should be your overall aim with a nice fat wide peak torque band.

Enjoy your Panamera to the max with our hot modification guides - do the right mods in the right order.

First generation (970 Chassis G1)

  • 3.6 litre V6 300 PS (296 hp) @6,200 295 lbf⋅ft) @3,750–4,250
  • 3.6 litre V6 300 PS 296 hp) @6,200  (295 lbf⋅ft) @3,750–4,250
  • 3.0 litre V6 Turbodiesel 250 PS (247 hp) @3,800  (406 lbf⋅ft) @1,750–2,750
  • 4.8 litre V8 400 PS (395 hp) @6,500  (369 lbf⋅ft) @3,500–5,000
  • 4.8 litre V8 400 PS (395 hp) @6,500 (369 lbf⋅ft) @3,500–5,000
  • 4.8 litre V8 430 PS (424 hp) @6,700  (384 lbf⋅ft) @3,500–5,000
  • 3.0 litre V6 Supercharged 380 PS (375 hp) @5,500 (428 lbf⋅ft) @3,000–5,250
  • 4.8 litre V8 Twin Turbo 500 PS (493 hp) @6,000 (516 lbf⋅ft) @2,250–4,500
  • 4.8 litre V8 Twin Turbo 550 PS (542 hp) @6,000  (553 lbf⋅ft) @2,250–4,500

From 2013 there was a facelift with revised engines and styling tweaks.

  • 3.6 litre 3605cc  V6 310 PS  306 bhp @6,200 295 lbf⋅ft @3,750
  • 3.6 litre 3605cc  V6 310 PS 306 bhp @6,200 295 lbf⋅ft @3,750
  • 3.0 litre 2967 cc V6 Turbodiesel 300 PS 296 bhp @3,800-4,400 479 lbf⋅ft @1,750–2,750
  • 3.0 litre 2997 cc V6 Twin turbo 420 PS 414 bhp @6,000 384 lbf⋅ft @1,750–5,000
  • 3.0 litre 2997 cc V6 Twin turbo 420 PS 414 bhp @6,000 384 lbf⋅ft @1,750–5,000
  • 3.0 litre 2995cc V6 Supercharged 333 PS 328 bhp @5,500 435 lbf⋅ft @1,250–4,000
  • 4.8 litre 4806cc  V8 434 PS 428 bhp @6,700 520 Nm 384 lbf⋅ft @3,500
  • 4.8 litre 4806cc V8 Twin turbo 520 PS 513 bhp @6,000 516 lbf⋅ft @2,250–4,500
  • 4.8 litre 4806cc V8 Twin turbo 570 PS 562 bhp @6,000 553 lbf⋅ft @2,250–4,500
  • 4.8 litre 4806cc V8 Twin turbo 570 PS 562 bhp @6,000 590 lbf⋅ft @2,250–4,500

Revisions from 2017 (971 chassis G2)

  • 2016- Turbocharged V6, 2995 cc, petrol 330 PS 243 kW; 325 bhp at 5400-6400 rpm 450 Nm 332 lbft at 1340-4900 rpm
  • 2016- Twin-turbocharged V6, 2894 cc, petrol with electric motor
    BHP
    Combustion Engine: 330 PS 243 kW; 325 bhp at 5250-6500 rpm
    Electric Motor: 136 PS 100 kW; 134 bhp at 2800 rpm
    Max Output: 462 PS 340 kW; 456 bhp at 6000 rpm
    Torque
    Combustion Engine: 332 lbft at 1750-5000 rpm
    Electric Motor: 295 lbft at < 2300 rpm
    Max Output:  516 lbft at 1100-4500 rpm
  • 2016- Twin-turbocharged V6, 2894 cc, petrol 440 PS 324 kW; 434 bhp at 5650-6600 rpm 406 lbft at 1750-5500 rpm
  • 2019- Twin-turbocharged V8, 3996 cc, petrol 460 PS 338 kW; 454 bhp at 5750-6000 rpm  457 lbft at 1960-4500 rpm
  • 2016- Twin-turbocharged V8, 3996 cc, petrol 550 PS 405 kW; 542 bhp at 5750-6000 rpm 568 lbft at 1960-4500 rpm
  • 2017- Twin-turbocharged V8, 3996 cc, petrol with electric motor
    BHP
    Combustion Engine: 550 PS 405 kW; 542 bhp at 5750-6000 rpm
    Electric Motor: 136 PS 100 kW; 134 bhp at 2800 rpm
    Max Output: 680 PS 500 kW; 671 bhp at 6000 rpm
    Torque
    Combustion Engine: 568 lbft at 1960-4500 rpm
    Electric Motor: 295 lbft at < 2300 rpm
    Max Output:  627 lbft at 1400-5500 rpm

Panamera Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Contrary to popular belief there is generally very little power gain obtained by fitting an induction kit, they only help and are recommended after you boost the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

Derestricting the air flow into the engine is a primary goal of tuning so get a better flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and often rob you of power on most cars.

Do not go with the largest exhaust you can get this will reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Getting a professionally gas flowed head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. When you tune up your Panamera you will usally see that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. The best mods we would do for your Panamera are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.

Turbo engines are just asking to be flashed. You will see large power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and large modifications for your money.

We've also come across some owners toying with twincharged conversions and making some impressively high power hikes.

The most significant power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. Turbos are often harder to add than a supercharger. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it harder to map.

It is easier to map a supercharger because the boost is correlating to engine speed on a linear curve. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Panamera Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloy wheels include reducing your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tires) for your car, a good directional tread pattern tire can really enhance your cars handling. Large Panamera alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.

For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 18 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Panamera options in more detail with our Panamera owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Porsche tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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