The New Super - Porsche 918 Spyder (Part 2)

It’s comforting that 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. Never have our jowls been so flattened by acceleration. As the V-8 shrieks past 7000 rpm, conversing requires that you shout loudly enough to damage your vocal cords. The sound doesn’t just enter your ears, it fills the cabin with a tangible pressure. At its 9150-rpm redline, the engine emits a pandemonium of such intense, pure rage that it would layer nicely over the growling vocals and blast beats of Nordic death metal.

The engine makes 608 horsepower, three more than the Carrera GT’s 5.7-liter V-10

With two electric motors spinning at two different speeds, plus that gasoline Gorgon of a V-8 and Porsche’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, this is among the most sophisticated powertrains on the road. But to the end user, it just feels like a ceaseless, frantic grab for more speed. Not since the launch of eBay Motors have we been so happy with computers.

If the seat moorings were really a concern, Porsche would have had to hem in the car’s lightweight buckets on all sides, because this car generates stupefying g-forces in four directions. What’s truly the stuff of legend isn’t the numbers, but how approachable a car with this sort of super-natural capability can be. It feels as though the tires are barbed, putting its fantastic output down without losing composure. Four-wheel drive is, of course, a major factor in the 918’s traction. But the motor on the 918’s front axle hits its 16,000-rpm redline and decouples at 165mph, so it’s no help at the most critical rates. A center of gravity near axle height contributes to a body with the roll and dive of a parking curb. The steering is electrically assisted, but we almost don’t believe it, as this helm is so heavy and direct and alive. Rear-wheel steering helps the 3750-pound 918 turn in at lower speeds as immediately as a Mini Cooper and lends the stabilizing sensation of a longer wheelbase above 50 mph.

A top the sweeping center console is an iPad-style touch screen that will surely trickle down to workaday Porsches when the 918’s run is through

And when you just want it all to stop, some of the strongest brakes we’ve ever experienced in a production car are at your disposal. The 918’s pedal is slightly squishier than in other Porsche specials but still better than just about everything else on the market. This in spite of the fact that there’s a changeover from regenerative to friction braking somewhere in there. The electric driveline charges the battery up to 0.5 g of braking and hands things off to the massive carbon-ceramic discs after that. All the driver feels is the reassurance of a firm, progressive pedal.

At that most fabled of supercar proving grounds, Germany’s Nürburgring Nord-schleife, automakers have been nibbling their way down from lap times of seven minutes 30 seconds in one-, two-, and three-second bites for a decade now. But in September, the 918 bested the next-best lap by more than 10 seconds, becoming the first production car to break the seven-minute barrier. Its drivers say they were told to exercise caution and insist that they could do better than the 6:57 they stamped into the record books. In Valencia, we lapped behind a 911 Turbo S – itself capable of a 7:27 at the ’Ring – piloted by Porsche’s own test driver. While he manhandled his mount around the track, hopscotching through turns to wring every millisecond he could from it, we comparative “Walter Mittys” flounced along behind, a little bored by the lack of effort required to tailgate him.

When the 918’s 608-hp V-8 fires up, it opens with a deafening bark from behind your ear

The 918 does not, as one might have expected given the price and performance, feel worlds different from vastly less-expensive exotics such as the Ferrari 458. But it is effortlessly faster than a mere supercar, and remarkably approachable for what it is. Ferrari and McLaren both now offer similar outrageously powerful hybrid supercars in the LaFerrari and the P1, and both are likely to be even faster than the 918 because of their lighter weights and higher outputs. (Both also cost about a half-million bucks more and are already sold out.) But the 918’s genius isn’t in its ability to circle a fabled racetrack in less than seven minutes. Its genius lies in how easy it makes it seem to do so. In that way, this $848,000 hybrid makes perfect sense atop the Porsche lineup. The current Boxster/Cayman and 911, too, make it easier than ever for anyone to go much faster than prudence and the highway patrol allow. Like those cars, the 918 foregoes the whip-crack temperamentality that terrifies and imperils beginners, but preserves the sensations and subtleties that keep an experienced driver engaged. And should the driver’s mind start to wan-der, all it takes is one sharp, glorious startup bark from that V-8 to grab his attention.

The 918’s pedal is slightly squishier than in other Porsche specials but still better than just about everything else on the market