It's been two years since Porsche unleashed its grand tourer on the world, and in that time, the model has established itself as a sales winner. In fact, through May of this year, the Panamera line has established itself as the second-best selling vehicle in the Porsche stable behind the high-riding Cayenne, beating out the prolific 911 brood. Through the first five months of this year, the five-door has edged its two-door forefather by 206 units. Those figures would seem to oppose all of the critics who derided the Panamera as ugly when it debuted.

It's true that it's almost impossible to capture the Panamera's presence with a camera. Viewing the sheetmetal through the tinge of a computer screen or the murky filter of a dealer brochure simply doesn't match meeting it in the flesh. It's easy to underestimate the sheer size of the Panamera until you're staring at your own reflection in the glossy paint. At 195.7 inches long, the Porsche is less than an inch shorter from stem to stern than the equivalent BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, but it's 1.2 inches wider and a whopping 5.6-inches shorter from tarmac to roof.



The result is a bruiser that seems impossibly long, low and wide. In a world where every other vehicle can't seem to help but cash in on the tall-riding crossover craze,