When it comes to the cutting edge of automotive engineering, few brands push the boundaries quite like Porsche. But even by Stuttgart’s lofty standards, new 2024 Panamera’s new Porsche Active Ride suspension system feels ripped straight from Hogwarts’ darkest tomes of vehicular witchcraft and wizardry.
Making its global debut on the latest Panamera, this optional high-tech damping setup is a true game-changer for ride quality—and it’s all controllable through your smartphone. At its core is a set of hydraulic shocks powered by an electrically-driven pump that can individually adjust rebound and compression forces a staggering 13 times per second.
Rather than using traditional anti-roll bars, the active dampers are able to firm up on one side of the car enough to virtually eliminate body roll during cornering. It’s spooky stuff watching the sedan remain utterly flat through turns with nary a lean in sight.
But the real party trick? Porsche’s so-called “acceleration and braking comfort” functions that physically counter the forces of physics during hard launches and aggressive braking. Mash the go-pedal, and the Active Ride suspension lowers the car’s nose to push the weight rearward, mitigating squat and subsequent dive. Nail the binders, and the inverse happens, with the front end rising up to offset weight transfer and prevent a harsh nosedive.
It runs so counter to every neuron in your brain that the levitating, magic carpet-like sensations defy belief. Seriously, Porsche might have unlocked anti-gravity technology here without even realizing it.
Of course, the system is far more intelligent than simple dampening adjustments. With the flip of a few smartphone settings, owners can adjust the Active Ride suspension on a granular level, raising the entire sedan by over two inches for easier entry or slamming it down in a cornering-ready crouch at a moment’s notice.
The engineering wizardry doesn’t come cheap, mind you. Porsche Active Ride is an option reserved exclusively for Panamera plug-in hybrid models, taking full advantage of the sedan’s new 400V electrical architecture to supply sufficient juice for all those crazy damping calculations and adjustments.
But for luxury buyers willing to pony up the premium, the payoff is unprecedented control over the way their prized Porsche sedan communicates with the road. Just make sure to pack your wand before prodding this particular pot of suspension witchcraft—incantations not included.
Related: 2024 Porsche Panamera Pioneers Hydraulic Active Ride Suspension – Does it Compromise Fun?