It took Porsche years to develop a worthy successor to the vaunted Carrera GT supercar, but at last, the 918 is here—and it’s a plug-in hybrid! With a combined 887 hp and 944 lb-ft of torque from its mid-mounted V-8 and electric motors—one at each axle—the 918 delivers Bugatti-like acceleration, tenacious handling, and a 211-mph top end. And of course, it’s every bit as exotic-looking as any near-million-dollar supercar should be, with a low-slung, targa body, and ultra-futuristic cabin.
Funnyman Louis C.K. does a widely known bit summed up by a phrase uttered early in the performance: “Everything is amazing and nobody’s happy.” (Go ahead and Google it now, but promise you’ll come back to us. Beware the YouTube wormhole!) He’s talking about personal technology, but the perspective applies to today’s car industry, too. Take a moment to count your blessings as a car enthusiast in today’s world, and you’ll quickly realize you’re going to need a longer moment.
We have Miatas and Brz/FR-Ss, GtIs and Focus Sts, 300-hp V-6 Mustangs(and 400-hp V-8s), 495-hp Jaguar roadsters, 11-second Mercedes-Benz station wagons, and a handful of exotics (and sometimes even near-exotics) in the 10s. There are also 200-mph sedans, beautiful things, Weirdthings—in short, there’s no shortage of something for everyone. This, plus forums to talk about these things, eBay and Bring a Trailer to buy them, and a mind-blowing generation of video games that let us realistically experience the dreams we can’t afford. Yet the mood in the automotive sphere tends to be a little dreary. We yearn for the good old days or, more often, fear the bad ones to come. Diesels and hybrids and EVs are the future, and they’re going to ruin it all.
Except they won’t, so you can put away your sad trombone. On top of all that other great stuff comes a curious new phenomenon: The million-dollar, 900-hp hybrid hypercar. Want even more evidence that things are going well? In the past decade, several companies have quit making minivans, yet now three different automakers build these insane hybrids. We’ve yet to drive the Ferrari LaFerrari or McLaren P1, but we just clambered out of Porsche’s 918 Spyder, and it turns out that hybrids can be pretty awesome.
But if the 918’s engine shares little with the racing car’s mill, it also shares little with those of any lesser Porsches. For starters, it breathes in reverse. Air enters from the outside of the heads and is exhausted in the valley of the vee. Then, rather than wind their way to the back of the car, the spent gases simply exit skyward from a pair of gaping cannons mounted immediately aft of the occupants’ heads. There’s not room for much muffling before this happens, which is fine by us—not to mention a boon to driver alertness. The block and the heads are aluminum, the connecting rods are titanium, and the exhaust system is Inconel, a lightweight and super-expensive nickel-based alloy. Keeping the internals light and the crank flat means the V-8 can rev to 9150 rpm, a speed at which it emits a scream of such intense, pure rage that we felt obliged to apologize. (The V-8 continued screaming nonetheless.)
The V-8 makes 608 horsepower, three more than in Porsche’s previous limited-edition flagship, the Carrera GT. But the 918 then adds roughly the output of another old flagship, the 930 Turbo, via two electric motors. One wedges in between the V-8 and seven-speed PDK transmission; the other sits aft of the front cargo hold.
It’s a good thing the seats back up to a bulkhead, because under full throttle, the 918 feels as though it might rip them clean out of the floorboards. Every time you floor it, you get a preview of your first (or next) face lift. The pull is relentless. With two different types of electric motors spinning at two different speeds, a gas V-8, and Porsche’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox all operating in concert, this is among the most sophisticated powertrains on the road. But occupants feel no transition of power flow between motors and engine. To the end user, it simply feels incredibly fast and unbelievably seamless.
If Porsche were actually concerned with keeping the seats moored, it would have had to hem in its lightweight buckets on all sides, because this car generates stupefying g forces in all directions. What’s truly amazing, though, is how approachable this car’s supernatural powers are. We lapped Spain’s 2.5-mile Circuit de Valencia behind a 911 Turbo S—no slouch itself, logging a 7:27 on the Nürburgring—piloted by Porsche’s own test driver. While the 911 savant in the Turbo S manhandled his mount around the track, wringing every millisecond from his lap time, we flounced along behind, a little bored by the lack of effort required to stay on his bumper.
All-wheel drive is a major factor in the 918’s stability, but the motor on the 918’s front axle hits its 16,000-rpm redline and disengages at 165 mph, so keep that in mind before executing any rapid directional changes at ludicrous speeds. A center of gravity right around the wheel bearings contributes to the 918’s having all the roll and dive of a parking block. The steering is of course electrically assisted, but we almost don’t believe that this helm, so heavy and direct and alive, could be. Rear-wheel steering helps the 3750-pound (or 3650 with the weight-shaving and über-expensive Weissach package) 918 turn in as immediately at low speeds as would a much smaller car, while it lends the stabilizing sensation of a longer wheelbase above 50 mph.
And when you want it all to stop, the 918’s brakes are some of the strongest we’ve experienced in a production car. The brake pedal here is ever so slightly squishier than the benchmark pedals in other Porsche sports cars but still better than about everything else on the market. And, yes, the brakes incorporate energy recuperation—up to 0.5 g of braking, at which point the honking, 15.4-inch carbon-ceramic rotors finally get bit by the Acid Green calipers. But as with the powertrain, any trade-off is imperceptible to the driver. To the sole of your foot, the pedal just feels firm and progressive.
