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Every so many years, Porsche launches a supercar that serves as a technological gene pool from which future products will draw. Today, the all-new Porsche 918 Spyder has debuted as the latest Stuttgart supercar that'll earn a place in the history books.
Big Numbers
When you walk up to its swooping carbon-fibre reinforced body stuffed with racing seats and batteries and heaps of really next-level tech bolted beneath, the machine's vital numbers pop into your head and cause nervous pangs in your stomach: 887 horsepower; no less than $845,000 USD; the better part of a thousand lb-ft of torque (a thousand). And that's the sort of “right now” torque generated in part by a pair of electric motors, so there's lots of it, everywhere, all the time. Quarter-mile pass? Look for 10 seconds or less. Top speed? Well beyond 200 miles per hour.
Performance wise, this 918 Spyder would rip up a 911 Turbo S and leave it looking like Tyrannosaurus used it as a chew toy. It also costs as much as four of them (Turbos not T-Rexes).
High Tech Power -- and heaps of it
Even accelerating in E-Power mode solely on stored electricity out of pit lane onto Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, the 918 Spyder leaps forward with alarming urgency at any touch of the throttle. In the same way a sports car shows off the sound of its engine, the 918 Spyder proudly floods the cabin full of noises from the electric propulsion system in the form of clicks and whining and whirring away as electricity is generated, stored, and dispensed to all four wheels at the driver's command. It's the sort of high-tech aural symphony you'd expect to hear in the engine room of the USS Enterprise -- especially during regenerative braking. This isn't one of those ghostly quiet hybrids.
There's a drive-mode dial on the steering wheel, similar to the picture-mode dial you'll find on a digital SLR camera. Race Hybrid mode comes online with a two-click twist, firing up the 4.6L V8 the instant the dial sets into its detent. It's abrupt and nearly startling as the gasoline side of the 918's propulsion system barks loudly to life before settling into a quivering, uptight idle as it waits for further throttle application.
Horrifying acceleration
Full throttle application generates a horrifying reaction. With on-demand all-RPM electric torque boosting the high-strung thrust of the 9,100 RPM V8, acceleration is truly instant, and violent in intensity. There's no building up to a power peak: the 918 Spyder just leaps forward with immediate ferocity. That's accompanied by a jagged growl-turned-wail from the combustion engine, which sends spent fuel out of a foot-long exhaust system with tailpipes that exit the top of the engine cover, just behind the driver.
If you'd like to hear it, and watch me experience it for the first time, first-hand, here you go:
Braking capabilities from the ceramic rotors and their monstrous fluorescent green calipers is absolutely crushing, and the pedal communicates that with decent feedback and little of the spongy, inconsistent feel typical of brake systems in conventional hybrids. You can hear the braking too, via the collection of noises generated as the hybrid componentry converts some of the braking force -- all of it in less urgent stops -- back into electricity stored in the mid-mounted battery for future blasts of acceleration that would coax sequential F-Bombs out of even your church-going grandmother.
An easy-to-drive rocket car
Things happen brutally fast in the 918 Spyder, and it demands your absolute attention. Horrifying acceleration aside, this is a super-Porsche that's super-flattering to drive. Though the numbers, pricing and especially acceleration and cornering Gs are among the most intimidating you'll find in something with four wheels and a warranty, the driving experience isn't.
The steering ratio and effort and feel are not unlike a Boxster or Cayman: direct, smooth, quick, and tidy without being hyperactive or nervous. Gentle and smooth inputs are rewarded, meaning less stress on the driver. Handling limits are too high for anyone other than veteran racing drivers to fully exploit, though as mid-engine Porsches tend to be, the 918 Spyder feels like a forgiving, flattering, and supportive partner with a feeling that each system is carefully calibrated against all of the others.
That's part of the Porsche mid-engine magic. Whether it's a Cayman, Boxster or this new 918 Spyder, the underlying sensation is one of expert calibration of its driving dynamics towards performance that's easy to tap into for drivers of virtually any skill level.
After a few hot laps, stepping back out over the wide carbon-fibre door sills for the first, and likely, last time, I felt strangely fine. I'd imagined a fight, a struggle, numerous startling moments and exhaustion, and instead found an experience that backs drivers up with an overall sense that they're not fighting with the car, but that they're working in sync. So, this big-dollar, big-power supercar should prove surprisingly easy to access, performance-wise, for the 918 lucky folks who will get to own one.
If you'd like to be one of them, make tracks to your local Porsche dealer with the $200,000 deposit ASAP, because at the time of writing, much of the scheduled production has already been spoken for.
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Big Numbers
When you walk up to its swooping carbon-fibre reinforced body stuffed with racing seats and batteries and heaps of really next-level tech bolted beneath, the machine's vital numbers pop into your head and cause nervous pangs in your stomach: 887 horsepower; no less than $845,000 USD; the better part of a thousand lb-ft of torque (a thousand). And that's the sort of “right now” torque generated in part by a pair of electric motors, so there's lots of it, everywhere, all the time. Quarter-mile pass? Look for 10 seconds or less. Top speed? Well beyond 200 miles per hour.
Performance wise, this 918 Spyder would rip up a 911 Turbo S and leave it looking like Tyrannosaurus used it as a chew toy. It also costs as much as four of them (Turbos not T-Rexes).
High Tech Power -- and heaps of it
Even accelerating in E-Power mode solely on stored electricity out of pit lane onto Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, the 918 Spyder leaps forward with alarming urgency at any touch of the throttle. In the same way a sports car shows off the sound of its engine, the 918 Spyder proudly floods the cabin full of noises from the electric propulsion system in the form of clicks and whining and whirring away as electricity is generated, stored, and dispensed to all four wheels at the driver's command. It's the sort of high-tech aural symphony you'd expect to hear in the engine room of the USS Enterprise -- especially during regenerative braking. This isn't one of those ghostly quiet hybrids.
There's a drive-mode dial on the steering wheel, similar to the picture-mode dial you'll find on a digital SLR camera. Race Hybrid mode comes online with a two-click twist, firing up the 4.6L V8 the instant the dial sets into its detent. It's abrupt and nearly startling as the gasoline side of the 918's propulsion system barks loudly to life before settling into a quivering, uptight idle as it waits for further throttle application.
Horrifying acceleration
Full throttle application generates a horrifying reaction. With on-demand all-RPM electric torque boosting the high-strung thrust of the 9,100 RPM V8, acceleration is truly instant, and violent in intensity. There's no building up to a power peak: the 918 Spyder just leaps forward with immediate ferocity. That's accompanied by a jagged growl-turned-wail from the combustion engine, which sends spent fuel out of a foot-long exhaust system with tailpipes that exit the top of the engine cover, just behind the driver.
If you'd like to hear it, and watch me experience it for the first time, first-hand, here you go:
Braking capabilities from the ceramic rotors and their monstrous fluorescent green calipers is absolutely crushing, and the pedal communicates that with decent feedback and little of the spongy, inconsistent feel typical of brake systems in conventional hybrids. You can hear the braking too, via the collection of noises generated as the hybrid componentry converts some of the braking force -- all of it in less urgent stops -- back into electricity stored in the mid-mounted battery for future blasts of acceleration that would coax sequential F-Bombs out of even your church-going grandmother.
An easy-to-drive rocket car
Things happen brutally fast in the 918 Spyder, and it demands your absolute attention. Horrifying acceleration aside, this is a super-Porsche that's super-flattering to drive. Though the numbers, pricing and especially acceleration and cornering Gs are among the most intimidating you'll find in something with four wheels and a warranty, the driving experience isn't.
The steering ratio and effort and feel are not unlike a Boxster or Cayman: direct, smooth, quick, and tidy without being hyperactive or nervous. Gentle and smooth inputs are rewarded, meaning less stress on the driver. Handling limits are too high for anyone other than veteran racing drivers to fully exploit, though as mid-engine Porsches tend to be, the 918 Spyder feels like a forgiving, flattering, and supportive partner with a feeling that each system is carefully calibrated against all of the others.
That's part of the Porsche mid-engine magic. Whether it's a Cayman, Boxster or this new 918 Spyder, the underlying sensation is one of expert calibration of its driving dynamics towards performance that's easy to tap into for drivers of virtually any skill level.
After a few hot laps, stepping back out over the wide carbon-fibre door sills for the first, and likely, last time, I felt strangely fine. I'd imagined a fight, a struggle, numerous startling moments and exhaustion, and instead found an experience that backs drivers up with an overall sense that they're not fighting with the car, but that they're working in sync. So, this big-dollar, big-power supercar should prove surprisingly easy to access, performance-wise, for the 918 lucky folks who will get to own one.
If you'd like to be one of them, make tracks to your local Porsche dealer with the $200,000 deposit ASAP, because at the time of writing, much of the scheduled production has already been spoken for.