Used Porsche 918 Spyder 2013-2015 review

The electrified portion of the car’s propulsion system, meanwhile, consists of one permanently excited electric motor per axle, producing a maximum 282bhp and 431lb ft of torque between them. While the rear motor-generator drives through the same PDK transmission as the combustion engine, the front motor drives via a single speed and is deliberately under-geared to run out of revs and decouple at 165mph. But not before it has contributed to the crankshaft-equivalent of 944lb ft of peak torque, as well as 874bhp at 8500rpm. Top speed is 214mph. EU-tested CO2 emissions are 70g/km.

The 918, then, probably has more power than a 2015 Honda-engined F1 car, and yet it emits less CO2 than a Honda Insight economy saloon.

Also offered is the Weissach Pack. Adding 10 per cent to the price of a £780k hypercar for a weight-saving options package made up primarily of deletions from the car’s standard equipment looks, on the face of it, like profiteering. But Porsche has learned from the criticism that it received about the Cayman R and will allow you to pick and choose the bits you want to keep and to remove from your 918 if you do commit to the Weissach Pack.

And there aren’t only deletions but also glorious substitutions to consider. Ceramic wheel bearings save only 700g over steel ones but you’ll want them once you know they’re on offer. Magnesium alloy wheels are the biggest individual weight saving on the list (14.9kg). Among the smallest are carbonfibre shift paddles (200g) and leather loop interior door openers (200g).

But it’s the sense that Porsche has left no stone unturned in saving mass — 41kg in all — that really convinces. How many other supercars have a carbonfibre-reinforced plastic bonnet stay, after all? And how many other supercar makers would tell you that it’s worth 500g in place of the normal one?

On a circuit, meanwhile, the 918 is astonishing, displaying the same kind of all-day-long indefatigability of a 911 GT3 but at a pace beyond a lot of racing cars. There’s extraordinary traction, terrific grip and a willingness to change direction on the throttle. The brakes are sensational, too. In the dry, it stops from 70mph in just 37.8m. That’s 3.1m shorter than a P1 takes. Terrific pedal feel is offered and there's precious little dive from the body. Bleeding them off on the way towards the apex feels entirely natural and quells any initial understeer. So far, so Porsche.

What happens next isn’t like any other production Porsche although, in some ways, there’s a blend of Carrera 4 S traction, Cayman adjustability and Porsche Macan weight — all thrown in with some GT3-style motorsport feel and, at 1.21g, an astonishing grip level.

Mid-bend, where a P1 would respond to a big prod of throttle by lighting up its rear tyres and pushing sideways, the 918’s line barely tightens as the front motor does its work, and it exits the corner at an extraordinary lick. Indeed, the 918 Spyder lapped our dry circuit 1.1sec quicker than a P1.

The 918 isn’t just about raw pace, though. Apply fast steering inputs on turn-in and the rear unsticks quite readily. And even though it has four-wheel drive, there’s so much engine power that powerslides are, from then onwards, very much on the agenda.