You snooze, you lose. The last Porsche 918 Spyder has been built; that’s it above, getting a final rubdown. The planned 918-unit production run is completed, and the company claims that all are spoken for, with about 300 ending up in the United States. You can watch the assembly process here, and here are 15 things we learned when we toured the production facility last fall.
-The 918 originally appeared as a concept in 2010 at the Geneva auto show, and was given the green light later that year. Production of Porsche’s hybrid supercar commenced on September 18 (9/18), 2013. At the time, the mega Porsche was not a sellout, unlike hypercars such as the McLaren P1 and the LaFerrari. Porsche buyers were said to be leery of the 918’s hybrid powertrain and its price tag crowding $1 million ($847,975 before options in the U.S.).
-But the car evidently overcame those early objections, possibly due to its mind-warping performance. The 918 laid down a 6:57 lap time at the Nürburgring (on street tires), which Porsche claims is still unbeaten among production cars. That was accomplished by a 918 equipped with the Weissach package—which shaved about 100 pounds from the curb weight but added 10 percent to the price.
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For our part, we found the 918 to be the quickest car we’ve ever tested to 60 mph—yes, even beating a Bugatti Veyron—reaching that speed in 2.2 seconds. It also posted a 0-to-100-mph time of 4.9 seconds, and blasted through the quarter-mile in 9.8. “Every time you floor it, you get a preview of your first (or next) facelift,” we said after our first drive. “The pull is relentless.”
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- The Porsche 918 Spyder Is the Quickest We’ve Ever Tested: 0-60 in 2.2 Seconds!
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- Porsche 918 Spyder First Drive Review
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- Porsche 918 Spyder News, Reviews, Photos, and Instrumented Test Results
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The car married a 605-hp 4.6-liter flat-crank V-8 (which revs to 9150 rpm) with two electric motors, bringing the total output to 887 horsepower and 944 lb-ft. That represented a pretty big step up from the previous Porsche supercar, the 2004-2006 Carrera GT, which got 605 horsepower from its naturally aspirated, mid-mounted V-10. The Carrera GT was itself a quantum leap over the first Porsche supercar, the 444-hp 959 of the late 1980s.
-All of which leads one to wonder: How will they top the 918?
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from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1GWe7wA
via Agya
