With just 30,000 miles on the clock, this 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS brings you all-day comfort and a big V8 for a third of the price of a 2019 model

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Porsche’s GTS badge normally denotes a sweet spot in the range, with plenty of power, equipment and driver-pleasing entertainment value. The 911 GTS is a cracker, for example. The Panamera GTS occupied a similar relative position to its peers; above the ‘S’ but below the Turbo. It was fitted with a 4.8-litre naturally-aspirated V8 that it hung onto when other Porsches were dropping to blown V6s. The Cayenne GTS lost two cylinders, 1200cc and gained two turbos in 2014 but the Panamera GTS’s V8 status endures even into a brand new generation.

It was an odd little duck on the Porsche farm. Over two tonnes, over five metres long and seemingly a bit of a lazy oaf at heart, but the old V8 in the GTS was happier when it was being thrashed. Hard. For the 2013 model year it had 434 horses, almost as many as the cheekily detuned 2019 car’s 4.0-litre Panamera Turbo-sourced unit, but all the way up at 6700rpm. And it wanted you to chase them. It handled, too. For all its weight it didn’t try to hide it with light steering; a common strategy that only ever makes things worse. It had meat to the turn-in and let you dial into the excellent chassis with hands, feet and backside all together. Air suspension, advanced infotainment and superb seats made it a proper driver’s GT, as happy sitting at 140mph on the Autobahn for three hours straight as it was scything through the Tuscany countryside.

It wasn’t cheap, at around £93,000 plus options when new, but depreciation has hit it like a cannonball. Just five years later a good few examples have dropped below £40,000, and it’s not like they’ve lived terribly hard lives. Our pick from the classifieds is this metallic Agate Grey example. Sure, it’s a bit bloated and naturally, it makes its 20-inch wheels look tiny, but the amount of car you get for your money is astronomical. Bought in early 2013 and sitting on a ‘62’ number plate, it’s a rogue’s den of fantastic trinkets.

The tailgate is powered, there are parking sensors at both ends, it has Bluetooth, sat-nav, adaptive cornering Xenon headlights, electric and heated memory seats in grey leather and, of course, Porsche Active Suspension Management and the Sport Chrono Plus package. There’s fantastic news underneath in the shape (and sound) of the sports exhaust, and the owner doesn’t seem to be the type to have abused it – he or she has fitted front- and rear-racing dash-cams with a proper hard-wiring setup. The last owner has had it from 10 months old, says the ad from trade seller P Rose Uxbridge. Long ownership is usually a positive sign. Its service history comes all from Porsche main dealers and it even has a tracker.