2012 Porsche Panamera 4dr Hb S Hybrid on 2040-cars

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Porsche reveals new Panamera Turbo S ahead of Tokyo debut

For many buyers in the market for a luxury sports sedan, style is as important as performance. But while the Porsche Panamera undoubtedly delivers in the latter category, it falls somewhat short in the former. Porsche went to some lengths (if not quite far enough for some tastes) to improve its four-door model's visual appeal with the facelift revealed earlier this year, but now it's time to up the performance game with the new Panamera Turbo S.
Set to be revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show in just a few weeks from now, the new top-tier Panamera benefits from several key upgrades over the existing Turbo and the pre-facelift Turbo S. For one, its 4.8-liter twin-turbo V8 now produces 570 horsepower (up from 520 in the new Turbo and 550 in the old Turbo S and the latest Cayenne Turbo S) and 553 pound-feet of torque (up from the current Turbo's 516 but the same as the previous model). Despite the power boost, however, Porsche is quoting the same 3.6-second 0-60 time for the new Panamera Turbo S as it did for the previous one - but then that hardly required improvement in the first place. Top speed, however, is up to 192 miles per Autobahn-blurring hour, two mph faster than the previous model.
Other features include carbon-ceramic brakes (hopefully with more durable bolts than sister companies Lamborghini and Bentley have been using) packed inside the wheels from the 911 Turbo and an exclusive shade of greige called Palladium. And for the first time, customers will be able to order this top-spec model in long-wheelbase Executive trim. But don't expect it to come cheap: MSRP (before delivery and options) is quoted at $180,300 for the standard wheelbase and $200,500 for the stretched model. That's two and a half times the price of a base Panamera, and makes the new Panamera Turbo S Executive both the most expensive and most powerful Porsche your can buy this side of a 918 Spyder. Haven't passed out yet? There's more to digest in the press release, so head on down below to take it all in.

Get lost in Evo's sublime 2013 Car of the Year testing

Every year Evo stages its Car of the Year test, bringing the best performance cars in the world to one location for an epic shootout. This year the magazine pitted eight CotY finalists against each other on Route Napoleon in Southern France - Evo claims it's the "best road in the world" - and then proceeded to nitpick the smallest of faults on each car until the winner could be named. You see, this year's lineup of machines was just so good that only one car obviously wasn't CotY material from the get-go. Can you guess which one judging from the list below?
- Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
- Audi R8 V10 Plus

Race Recap: 2013 Petit Le Mans draws curtain on the ALMS [spoilers]

The 16th Petit Le Mans Powered By Mazda, in the final year of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón, was run on Saturday. Even though many of this year's championships had already been decided, the last ALMS race ever would be a 10-hour, 1,000-mile slog around Road Atlanta to get names in the record books and decide a few series trophies.
Since some of you will only get around to your TIVOs (or Fox Sports coverage) today, you should stop reading now if you don't want to know who did what...