Okay, so you can’t buy a Porsche Mission E yet (not till probably the of end of 2019, anyway). But in the meantime, the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo (say that three times) might be a pretty good stop-gap.

The new Panamera flagship is one of those kitchen-sink jobs (hence the very l-o-n-g name) and its job is to coax new buyers over the hybrid line. Let me break that name down for you.

The Turbo S bit indicates the new car is at the top of the Panamera food chain in a performance sense. The E-Hybrid tag says the new model is at the top of the plug-in brigade. And the Turismo part tells you that this is based on the vaguely wagon-esque version of the Panamera.

The twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 contributes 404 of its own kilowatts, and is then teamed up with a 100kW electric motor. Working together, the end result maxxes out at 500kW. Torque wise, the V8 makes 770Nm anywhere from 1960rpm to 4500rpm, while the motor is good for 400Nm from a nominal 100rpm. Together, the net total has been pegged at 850Nm, but it’s all enough for a claimed 3.4 seconds 0-100km/h time.

It’s a plug-in hybrid system that uses a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery which Porsche reckons can be fully recharged in 2.4 hours with the optional charging kit.

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Inside, the car is being touted as a four-plus-one, which means there are four bucket seats with a fifth, occasional seat between the rear buckets. The buckets are big and lovely, while the fifth chair is going to be the subject of some furious rock, paper, scissors action in the driveway.

We’re finally kind of getting the hang of switching a car on and having nothing happen. That’s especially true of the Panamera Hybrid which defaults to full-electric mode each time (or so it seemed). Switch to Sport-Plus and the thing is on maximum attack, and Sport ensures that the V8 is always running.

The Hybrid mode is the interesting one, though, at which point the car will shut off its petrol engine when coasting, using momentum to recharge the batteries. Get back into the throttle and the V8 comes to life again and away you go.

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As a way of negating turbo-lag, it really does seem like a bit of brilliance, and the calibration is good enough that you need to watch the various bar-graphs on the dashboard to work out what’s happening. Beyond that, the Panamera feels like a Panamera. As in, it’s a big bugger and it never really shrinks around you like some other big, wide cars can. The air suspension still struggles a fraction with small amplitude, high frequency stutters in the bitumen and it feels heavy. Which, of course, at north of 2300kg, it most definitely is.

2018 PORSCHE PANAMERA TURBO S E-HYBRID SPORT TURISMO SPECS: Engine: 3996cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo Power: 500kW @ 6000rpm Torque: 850Nm @ 1400rpm Weight: 2325kg 0-100km/h: 3.4sec (claimed) Price: $466,400

Like: Stonking straight-line speed; practical Dislike: It weighs how much? It costs how much? Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars