2021 Porsche Panamera vs 2023 Audi RS3

What's the difference?

It’s a good thing the Porsche Panamera doesn’t feel emotions. Otherwise it might be feeling like the forgotten member of the Porsche family.

While the 911 remains the evergreen hero, the Cayenne and Macan the popular sales darlings and the new Taycan the exciting newcomer, the Panamera simply plays its part. 

It fills an important but small role for the brand, giving Porsche an executive sedan (and wagon) to compete against the big players from the other German brands - Audi A7 Sportback, BMW 8-Series Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLS. 

However, while it may have been overshadowed of late, that doesn’t mean Porsche has forgotten about it. For 2021 the Panamera has been given a mid-life update, after this current generation launched back in 2017. 

The changes are subtle in isolation but add up to some big improvements across the range, most notably extra power has seen the previous range-topper, the Panamera Turbo, become the Turbo S. 

There’s also a new hybrid model and tweaks to the air suspension and related systems to improve the handling (but more on that later).

After teasing us with the S3, all-wheel-drive version of its A3 sedan and hatch (Sportback in Audi-speak), Audi has finally given us the full-fat, RS3 variant of the same car. Any time you see an `R’ and an `S’ on the badge of an Audi, you know it’s the full nine yards in terms of all-wheel-drive grip and engine performance. And the RS3 is no different.

The power is enormous, the grip prodigious and the attitude is way tougher than any other A3 variant. It’s also well equipped, safe and nicely put together. But is that extra `R’ worth the added price of admission? And is this more Audi A-Series than you really need?

The other question is, given that the S3 is such a resolved package with its own shot of high-performance, do the numbers stack up for the RS3 version? How much is too much?