The result is nothing less that the spark of a new generation of the highest performing vehicles the world has ever seen." The blank sheet of paper 918 designers started with produced innovations in every direction and convention was left by the wayside. It is visually stunning in all regards and distinctly Porsche even though it looks like no other Porsche ever. The 918 Spyder already set a production car lap record at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and shattered the production car record at the Nürburgring by 14 seconds. Nearly 900 combined horsepower from its 4.6-liter naturally-aspirated flat crank V8 and hybrid electrical system and built almost completely of carbon fiber make it a technological marvel. The 918 Spyder is the starting point of a new era of performance and has raised the bar of what can be expected of a car, even a hypercar. It is the culmination of years of research and technical prowess from the first company that ever sported a prancing horse on its badge. It’s a step into the future and, right now, quite possibly the most complete hypercar there has ever been." Forget everything you have ever thought about hybrids before you consider the 918 Spyder. It’s astonishing, so much more than just the hypercar you can drive everyday or proof that hybrid systems have life AP (After Prius). And if the weather’s kind, you can take the roof panels out and pop them under the bonnet.īut it’s not compromise that’s been at work here, it’s mastery. The 918 Spyder has such huge capability in so many areas: it really will average 30mpg, it’s knife-edge sharp on a track, able to scare the living wotsits out of you, it dazzles passers-by, dawdles through town silently and howls through the countryside. It’s a more tightly briefed car, more controlled and, arguably, more far-reaching in its abilities. This approachability, this usability could mean the 918 Spyder comes across as less special than the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari, and true, it doesn’t have their machismo, doesn’t deliver the same viscerality and intimidation as the McLaren, nor the incredible driving experience of the Ferrari. Meet the all-wheel-drive, all-weather hypercar.
In the latter two, the engine is always on. Inside a mode dial on the steering wheel allows you to select four different drive modes – Electric, Hybrid, Sport and Race. Like the V8, the aluminium double wishbone suspension is similar to the RS Spyder racer, adaptive dampers are standard and overall the 918 has very little in common with any other Porsche road car. Above 165mph that motor shuts off, making the car rear-drive only. The rear electric motor is mounted between engine and seven-speed twin clutch gearbox, while at the front, drive is purely electric. On the NEDC test cycle it emits just 70/g/km of CO2 and claims 81mpg. Made almost exclusively of titanium and aluminium and weighing just 135kg, Frank-Steffen Walliser, the man who masterminded the 918 project, has described it as, “the best engine we have ever done”. The V8 is derived from the RS Spyder Le Mans car, pushes out 600bhp and gives the 918 a 0-62mph time of 2.6secs, 0-124mph in 7.2secs and a top speed of 214mph. Bring the engine into play and that figure is more than chopped in half.
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