[link=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/porsche-718-spyder/ar-BB12p6st?ocid=spartanntp]https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/porsche-718-spyder/ar-BB12p6st?ocid=spartanntp[/link]
The 718 Spyder is not a limited-run car, although anybody placing an order today at the list price of £73,405 should be prepared for a wait, because [link=https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-reviews/porsche]Porsche’s[/link] GT-car manufacturing potential is only a fraction of what it is for the mainline models, with a large portion of manufacturing resources dedicated to the assembly of racing cars.
If you cannot bear any delay, delivery mileage cars are nudging £100,000 at official Porsche dealerships, although [link=https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/porsche/boxster-spyder-2015-2016]the previous Boxster Spyder[/link] can be had for considerably less and, in a great many ways, is none the lesser of the two cars.
a motor that needs 5000rpm wound into its crankshaft to hit full stride – and then goes on all the way to 8000rpm.
The upshot is that without at least a shortened final drive ratio to help it through the lower reaches, this is an engine that needs an awful lot of winding up before it makes the 718 feel really fast. Moreover, the car needs to be well beyond 80mph even in third gear to be within what you might call its ‘truly feisty’ operating range. With two more gears to go, it revs beyond 140mph in fourth.
Suffice it to say, the motor does feel a bit flat at normal road speeds in its upper ratios. It doesn’t make the Spyder quite as fast, both against the clock and in give-and-take motoring, as it probably should. And nor does it give you enough opportunities to close in on that 8000rpm redline, frankly. The performance numbers we recorded on this car are bang on Porsche’s claims and more than respectable; but with the gearing it deserves, this could have – and probably should have – been a sub-4.0sec 0-60mph sports car.