Porsche Panamera Saloon or a GT coupe with four doors and seats?

The Porsche Panamera is a hard car to pigeonhole, Is is a luxury saloon? Is it a GT coupe that just happens to have four doors?

As a Luxury or sports saloon it doesn't entirely work for me. The interior whilst fantastically laid out is not accomodating enough to tempt plutocrats out of there S Classes or Seven series. It is also far more expensive (and bigger) than the sports saloons such as the Jaguar XFR and the class defining BMW M5. It's only real rival as a four door is the Maserati Quattroporte, which while it has been around for a few years is still probably the best looking four door ever made and has the pedigree and performance to give the non Turbo Panamera's a run for its money.

I would imagine however the Porsche will be a better ownership proposition than the Maserati, servicing is likely to be cheaper (the Ferrari parts in the Maserati don't come cheap) and logically one would assume it will be more reliable than the highly strung Italian.

From Porsche and WAC

As a coupe with two extra doors the car works a lot more for me. I suspect it will mainly by brought by successful owner manager business types, (people who often brought 928s incidentally). They will appreciate the extra practicality of the four doors and seats over say the Jaguar XKR or Maserati Gran Turismo, but want to drive a car with more status and gravitas than the aforementioned sports saloons. Judging by the reviews I have read I would also imagine the Porsche will be considerably quicker than any of the other rivals I have mentioned.

From Porsche and WAC

I personally quite like the styling, while not exactly pretty it is imposing and looks mean and moody especially in dark colours. Perhaps not exactly what Porsche had in mind in the promo video above but I reckon the opening scenes the four men getting into the car look more like they are heading to a bank job than a business meeting. Unusually I have to say the aftermarket tuners have actually come up with styling revisions which actually improve the looks I particularly like the 9ff interpretation which improves on the Porsches own frontal styling.

http://9ff.de/en/products/details.php?n2id=48

Would I buy one. I think the answer is probably yes, it is the continent crushing GT car that I like with an added dose of practicality, and I suspect being a Porsche it will be thoroughly dependable. The less obvious choice is which one to go for. The Turbo has the performance but is hugely expensive, so I would probably go for the (currently entry level) 2S.