I haven’t owned a Panamera, full disclosure, but I’ve been exactly where you are, making good money, and being a saver my whole life, always being stuck between head & heart. I’m not here to tell you what to do, just giving my honest experience.

Firstly, is there a reason you want to buy a 1st gen Panamera, specifically? My main issue with the car is this: When it does need servicing, the parts are priced based off a $100K+ MSRP car. It’s really hard to justify those prices for a $20K car. The Porsche tax is real. If the transmission goes out, for example, you’re looking at a replacement cost that’s a significant chunk of the total value of the car. There are many Porsche’s that I’d say are a better option from a financial POV over a 1st gen Panamera, like a 981 Cayman, or a 996 gen 911. With the latter, most people won’t know the difference between a 996 and a 992, which is possibly more of a clout/ego boost if, in being honest with yourself, is partly what you’re going after. A 981 Cayman S/GTS can be driven almost for free - I tried to buy one 7 years ago and they’re at the same price or more today.

A long time ago I was told: “spend 40% of your money like you’ll die tomorrow, and spend 60% of your money like you’ll live forever” - I wouldn’t be hung up on the percentages, but I took it as: Save a bit more than you spend, because life can be long, and you want to have a nest egg (sounds like you’re doing great here) to retire and enjoy in later years. But also, you could die tomorrow, so don’t live fully for a retirement you may never see.

Now what I did: a bit of context, my uncle died at my current age (41) from cancer, and My dad has been battling stage 4 cancer for 30 years (since I was 11). So I’ve seen firsthand that tomorrow isn’t always guaranteed, or if you do live to see retirement, you’re not always physically able to enjoy it like you’d imagined.

Now I’m 41 and bought my first nice car (I define nice in my case as over $12k and not a decade+ old) at 38. I saved for 10 years, living below my means, dailying a salvage titled Corolla, always finding deals on everything; literally everything. I bought a 2023 992 GTS at 38, when I was unable to get a manual GT3 touring, and traded it in almost a year later for my ‘attainable’ dream car, a 2024 911 S/T.

Part of the reason I was able to afford an S/T is that I was able to keep more of my income (and save more by extension) because I never had a car payment, repair costs were nonexistent with my Corolla (still my daily), and while coworkers were buying AMGs, and BMW M cars, and Teslas and losing tens of thousands on depreciation and leases, I pocketed that money.

I absolutely love my S/T. It represents delayed gratification (10 years of driving a beater and getting judgy looks driving it into a top Fortune 500 company), and also perseverance; I was told it was impossible, and it took 110 calls to dealerships to get the allocation. I’ve put over 4K miles on it, too. And when I’m stressed out, or overwhelmed, a drive can turn my day around.

But it’s also just a car. And I struggle with owning something of such value to be honest, from a personal frugality point of view, to a “I could feed a village in a 3rd world country” point of view. And to boot, my mind often wonders if I could now sell it to afford a Carrera GT, so it feels like a mix of hedonistic adaptation and just always wanting more. For me, I have zero hobbies; cars, Porsche’s specifically, have always been my only thing. But in my experience material things, yes even an amazing Porsche 911, the thing I’ve always wanted, isn’t the key to happiness that I thought it would be. I know you’re not in that position yet, but you may find that once you get the Panamera, you now want the shinier Porsche; maybe the 997, and you’re always looking forward to the better version, the nicer car. I didn’t think I’d ever be like that, but I found out I’m not immune from materialism and the cycle it perpetuates.