Chris Harris Drives The Porsche 918 Spyder

Our favorite auto journo finally gets behind the wheel of one of the most anticipated supercars to come out of europe in the past few decades, and we couldn't be more excited. As Chris notes in his video description the 918 he tested was not a finished car, and he virtually had no time, but when Porsche asks "if you want a quick spin in a development 918" you get on the plane.

At the event attended by Chris and numerous other journos, Porsche revealed that they increased the output of the 918 Spyder, maybe to better match the LaFerrari and McLaren P1, but you'll never be able to confirm that. Seems like the release of this car after its rivals from Italy and the UK couldn't have been any more perfectly timed, or shall we say strategic.

The 918's peak output is now a whopping 887 horsepower with 940 lb-ft of torque. Porsche says this is enough to post a neck-snapping 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds, fly by 188 mph in 23 seconds, and pin the needle at just over 213 mph. Mind-blowing numbers, but as Chris notes at the conclusion of the video, "In a market place dominated by ultimates, the 918 for all its mind-boggling risks being the slowest hybrid-hyper-car in its class, and I think thats a big problem for Porsche."

With Ferrari's sumptuous looking La Ferrari and McLaren's designed-by-air P1 production ready and shown to the world already, has Porsche done enough to rain on hyper car party? Let's see what Chris has to say in the video below.

 

Chris Harris with more questions than answers about this hypercar. He is not really convinced. For C. Harris the KERS systems on the P1 and LaFerrari does seem to be a better solution.

"Do buyers of this type of car do so to publically express their eco-credentials, or do they just want the biggest set of numbers and a driving experience that makes your eyes bleed? They certainly want beauty, and the 918 is very pretty indeed." [Chris Harris]

 

I know I agree with Chris in wishing we could get this car with all it's lightweight awesomeness less all the hybrid tech! I know a few members who would agree as well!

 

I love how Chris is critical of this car while I bet all the other journalists who attended will have nothing but praise. The hybrid/electric experiment some supercars are going through right now is pretty stupid, IMO. Keep those technologies in Panameras and such, not in your million dollar hypercars. I can't believe he asked if there would be 918 buyers for this car, lmao, that was the ultimate burn and the truest expression of how he feels about Porsche and their 918.

 

zzzzzz. I hate the fact that cars are now becoming spaceships devoid of any "life". ugh

 

Yuhuh

 

Hi,

Like when fuel injection took the soul out of the engine?

Embrace it!

Cheers,
Nik

 

Sadly necessary given impending CAFE standards, though I certainly have no interest in being the beta tester on any of this stuff. Hopefully the 960 is this car less the hybrid baggage.

Nice to see CH is still willing to call it like it is.

 

Some interesting observations: They have a hard number on the 0-62 mph. Ferrari and McLaren are still using under 3 seconds. There is a bit of denial in the tone of the engineers voice when asked about the "new/actual" numbers. 7:14 to under 7 minutes in the ring can't come form final tabulations. That of all of the figures seems a bit revisionist. All of the La Ferraris are spoken for and 2/3 of the P1's. Add them together and Porsche will still make 200 more 918's. That seems like a massive number. There were really no competitors for the CGT at the time. Ferrari was between hyper cars and the cost difference from the flag-ship car was not as extreme. My 12C is just shy of a million dollars less than a P1. That is a massive leap. When the CGT was released, it was about 300K more than a GT2 on barely faster. It will be very interesting to see what if ay is the difference in performance the 918 will have over then new Turbos and GT2. May be it's brand allegiance, but I think this car is a miss. Chris is right the batteries are a nuisance. I drove an old Tesla that handled like a shipping truck with a full load. If Porsche would have dropped the batteries, added 2 turbos and delivered this car without all of that weight, McLaren and Ferrari would have S#!t their pants. That car would blow away all.

 

I think the point Porsche and all these other car companies are trying to say is......there are too many 458's, mp4-fax machines driving fools out there.....


















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