Quick back story: I'm an automotive journalist by trade, and I happen to have the Panamera Turbo S from Porsche N.A.'s press fleet in for a loan at the moment. Okay, you're up to speed.

Anyway, a co-worker and I took the car out for a spin last night, and found something very odd was happening. Every time we floored the throttle, the climate control would suddenly kick on, flip to the lowest temperature setting ("LO") and begin blasting the fan full power.

Every. Single. Time.

Didn't matter if we were in normal, Sport or Sport Plus, or if the transmission was in manual mode or automatic. Neither my co-worker nor I had ever seen anything like it, and we've driven a hell of a lot of cars—Porsches or otherwise—between us. It doesn't seem to be an engine cooling-related condition, as it was blowing cold air, not hot.

So two questions: 1) Has anyone else every experienced this? And 2) Does anyone have an explanation?

 

Seems like if anything, it ought to turn the AC off when you mash the throttle to avoid putting any extra load on the engine. That's just bizarre. Call up a Porsche press fleet representative or take it to a dealer I guess.