Porsche 918 Spyder Review

The 918 Spyder was first shown as a concept at Geneva in March 2010, and Porsche's supervisory board approved it that July after 2,000 people registered interest. Exactly 918 were built at Zuffenhausen between September 2013 and June 2015, priced at 781,000 euros in Europe and $845,000 in the United States, where sales began in June 2014 as 2015 models and 297 were ordered, more than in any other country. It was Porsche's case for hybrid power in a hypercar, made in the same years as the McLaren P1 and the LaFerrari.

The engine is a 4.6 liter naturally aspirated V8 developed from the RS Spyder Le Mans prototype, making 608 PS at 8,700 rpm by itself. A 115 kW electric motor works with it on the rear axle, a 95 kW motor drives the front wheels and decouples when it is not needed, and the combined output is 887 PS and 1,280 Nm through a seven-speed PDK. Porsche quoted 2.6 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and 345 km/h; Car and Driver measured 2.2 seconds to 60 mph.

In September 2013 a car with the Weissach package lapped the Nordschleife in 6 minutes 57 seconds, the first production road car under seven minutes. The other half of the story is the 6.8 kWh battery, which gives an EPA-rated 12 miles of silent electric running, and five driving modes that run from pure electric to a Hot Lap setting for the track.

It is arguably the most usable hypercar of its generation, with all-wheel drive, a finished cabin and a plug-in charger, but ownership is not simple. It has been recalled several times, including for front lower control arms that could crack at the ball joint and, in 2018, for control arm shafts at risk of stress corrosion cracking. Servicing is expensive, and the high-voltage battery is the long-term unknown. Values have risen far past list: RM Sotheby's sold a 12-mile Weissach car for a record $3.93 million in December 2023, and Broad Arrow sold one for $2,975,000 at Amelia Island in March 2026.

The 918 does what the Carrera GT did and adds all-wheel drive, electric torque and a silent mode, giving up some of the older car's rawness and adding weight. It will never be cheap to keep, but no Porsche before it combined this much speed with this much ease of use, and its Nordschleife lap made the case for hybrid performance cars before most of the industry had one.