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Porsche 918 Spyder caught on tape at the Nürburgring, bank accounts shiver (video)
Started saving up for your $845,000 purchase next fall yet? Yeah, neither have we. But we're at least considering it once again -- albeit not for very long -- thanks to a sneaky videographer that caught the dapper Porsche 918 Spyder winding around the turns of the Nürburgring in Germany. Packing a V8 with two electric motors, the super car can hit 60MPH in a hair over three seconds and touts a fuel efficiency of 78MPG. Don't worry, though, you have until sometime late next year to get your stacks lined up to park one in your driveway.
Porsche 918 Spyder prototype returns to the road with polished black and white shell
It may not be the first time Porsche's 918 plug-in hybrid has had a chance to flex its 770 horse power for the camera, but when we last saw the pricey insanely expensive speed demon strut its stuff on record, it certainly didn't look like this. The freakish prototype has emerged as a beautiful, high-performance vision of efficiency, blasting its way past 100 kilometers of terrain for every three liters of petrol (78 miles/gallon). The $845,000 machine pairs a combustion engine with electric motors to achieve that consumption rating, and sports a carbon-fiber reinforced-plastic monocoque (self-supporting) shell, rear-axle steering and that unique upward-venting exhausted system that you may have noticed in the shot above. The 918 Spyder is slated for its initial production run beginning in September of 2013, with the first models making their way to US customers late next year. It's time to start saving -- just a few thousand blog posts to go.%Gallery-155513%
Porsche opens 918 Spyder plug-in supercar pre-orders, $845,000 gets you a ticket to ride
It isn't quite as hot as the 918 RSR, but it is at least street legal. Or, will be, anyway. It's the 918 Spyder, one of the hottest hybrids we've ever seen, and Porsche has now opened the doors for those who want to order them. $845,000 gets you a car with a mid-mounted V8 putting down "at least" 500HP. That's paired with two electric motors, one front and one rear, which provide an additional 218 horsepower and AWD handling to boot. Unlike the RSR these motors will be powered by a Li-ion battery pack that will offer 16 miles of purely electric range when charged for about seven hours on a standard 110 outlet. More impressively, this carbon-fiber convertible will get to 60MPH in 3.1 seconds (matching the 911 Turbo S we played with last month) yet deliver 78MPG. That's not quite up to the levels Volvo's promising for its V60 plug-in diesel, but we're thinking this bad boy might be a little more fun to drive. What won't be fun is the wait: the 918 isn't expected to start shipping until the end of 2013. That gives you plenty of time to build your dream garage -- and practice your pronunciation of "Doppelkupplung."
Porsche unveils 918 RSR, the 767hp hybrid
Prius this ain't. Take a gander at Porsche's 918 RSR, which just rolled onto the company's stage at the 2011 North American International Auto Show. It has a 563hp traditional gasoline engine mounted amidships, with a pair of electric motors powering the front wheels that bring the total power up to a whopping 767. The electric motors are not powered by a set of batteries, as in a traditional hybrid, rather they take their power from an inertial flywheel mounted where the passenger seat would be on a road car and spinning at up to 36,000rpm. That's spun up by momentum when the car brakes and, when the driver hits a button, that momentum is converted to give an acceleratory boost. That's the same setup as the 911 GT3 RSR Hybrid, which ran reasonably successfully last year. Its styling is obviously an extension of the 918 Spyder, with a number of cues taken from the incredibly successful Porsche 917 racer of the early '70s (dig the endplates that look like the 917's iconic fins). At this point Porsche hasn't indicated when this car will make its debut on the track, nor in which classes it will run, but one thing's for clear: this isn't for the road. So, we're a bit disappointed we still haven't any firm details on a production, street 918 -- not that we could have afforded it anyway. %Gallery-113625% %Gallery-113626%
Porsche 918 Spyder concept is the most beautiful hybrid we've ever seen
Um, we're sure there's something sensible to be said about this Porsche concept, but we're not altogether capable of coherent expression at present. We want to own one of these so badly, we don't even care if it has an engine. And boy does the 918 Spyder have an engine. A 3.4-liter V8 petrol burner is combined with electric motors to put out 500bhp, while featuring the mind-altering acceleration to go from a standing start to 62mph in just 3.2 seconds. Topping out at 198mph and offering a very respectable 78mpg fuel economy, this is pretty much the stuff dreams are made, which is quite naturally why you shouldn't expect to see it in any purchasable form any time soon. If you do care to see more of it, however, you can do so at the Geneva Motor Show this year or just past the break, the choice is yours. [Thanks, Zach]
