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Porsche 718 Spyder review; selling price, function, exterior, interior – Introduction


The 718 spyder with manual transmission is the purest embodiment of the perfect car for the driver.

On a winding, newly paved and relatively remote road in the hills of Sahyadri, I am quietly honoring the internal combustion engine in all its glory. Except that it wasn’t exactly a quiet celebration, but a very noisy one. The screams of the 420hp, naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six engine reverberate against the black mountain rock and reverberate throughout the Ambenali valley. The sound is not the low roar of a damped turbocharged engine, but the spine-tingling climax that peaks at 8,000 rpm. This is natural aspiration at its best. However, it is not only the engine that makes the driving experience special, but also something rare in a sports car these days – a manual transmission.

A manual transmission with a good old H-style shifter is a pretty cool thing in the age of dual-clutch transmissions and paddle shifters. In fact, for purists, there is nothing better than this car – the Porsche 718 Spyder.

Precise, short, well-weighted pedals provide the joy of a manual.

In terms of driving experience, it’s hard to find anything quite as pure and profound as the 718 Spyder. It combines one of the most beloved naturally aspirated engines, a smooth 6-speed manual transmission and a soft top that keeps you in contact with the elements, all wrapped up in a chassis that can be well-balanced. best in the world.

Porsche 718 Spyder: interior and features

To some extent, the Spyder is an escape from today’s bold digital world, in which multiple screens, ADAS and connected technology are what are selling cars. 718 Spyder arrogantly shuns these. The small touchscreen looks outdated, all the dials are analog, and even the soft top operation is manual. There’s no storage space inside the cabin, but the front and rear trunks offer a surprising amount of luggage space. The Spyder has real downsides, but Porsche isn’t meant to please everyone. This is a car that is fun to drive.

The weather in Mahabaleshwar on this first day of December couldn’t be better. The temperature is cool 22 degrees, the mountain air is fresh and because it is out of season, there are few tourists. Thin clouds accentuate the deep blue sky and benevolently filter out the harsh, direct sunlight on a day when we will be driving completely with the hood down. Even so, taking off the cloth hat is quite a difficult task. The only electrical part is the mechanism that hooks and opens the hood to the windshield frame. Everything else is manual work, right from folding the hood down to storing it under the deck lid. It’s also a bit unwieldy and you need to run from side to side to tuck the fabric into place.

The cabin doesn’t have a lot of gadgets and technology, but the driving position is faultless.

It’s easier to put the hood back on, with the exception of the rear fabric strips, which are hard to squeeze into the bodywork. In fact, on the highway, they fell off and hit the engine cover, damaging the paintwork. There’s even more reason to drive the Spyder with the hood down, and it also looks simply stunning this way.

Porsche 718 Spyder: driving and handling

The Spyder is based on the Cayman GT4, so it shares the same powertrain and mechanics as its hardtop sibling; it also shares some points with the 911. The front axle and brakes are shared by the 911 GT3, and the flat-six engine is also taken from its larger cousin.

Compared to GT4, Spyder has more aerodynamic details and looks better. The Spyder has a smaller rear spoiler and a less obvious front splitter than the GT4. This may not give the Spyder the same downforce as the GT4, but makes the nose less vulnerable on Indian roads, but it’s still susceptible to scratches if you’re not careful. Sitting 39mm lower than the standard Boxster (122mm), ground clearance is an issue and the large reducer puts the teeth in tight contact with the undercarriage.

The 718 Spyder shares some points with its bigger brother, the 911.

Arriving at Mahabaleshwar certainly tested the Spyder’s ground clearance, but honestly, it surprised me with the way it tiptoed over broken roads. Sure, the car is pretty solid and on rough roads you can feel the bumps, but the good thing is that they don’t. In fact, for a car with poor quality tires, I was expecting a smooth ride, but was amazed at how well rounded the sharp edges are. Finding great trails suitable for Spyder is far and few, and the roads leading to them can be in terrible shape. So it’s good to know that, if handled carefully, the Spyder can handle roughness and doesn’t need to lie flat to a perfect position.

Ambenali ghat just below Mahabaleshwar is a perfect location and pure country for the 718 Spyder, where other illogical convertibles have a purpose. From the top and with nothing but a few inches of air between your ear and the flat six, the engine sound on full conversation is no different from theater. You can control the engine sound with a manual transmission and make it more melodious by holding longer in each gear and listening to the change of the exhaust sound from a low-pitched growl to a low-pitched growl. high-pitched screams. I just love how the revs increase and decrease with each gear increase and the throttle sound (with auto-flash) with each downshift. It’s an old-world thrill that can’t be experienced in a PDK, where the lightning-fast gearshifts don’t sound and let them last as long as they do in the manual.

Porsche 718 Spyder: performance

On a tight and twisty road, the sense of control you get with this wonderfully naturally aspirated engine and short, precise manual transmission is superb. The Spyder’s 4.0-litre flat-six engine is responsive, responding with millimeter precision to the smallest throttle input in each gear. The problem is that only the first and second gears of this six-speed car can be used to their fullest because the gears are ridiculously high, which is one of the Spyder’s few flaws. This engine makes its magic close to the 8,000rpm limit, which means in second gear you’re overshooting an illegal 130km/h.

Ambenali ghat is pure Spyder country where the illogical convertible has a purpose.

On the Ambenali ghat, I’m limited to first and second gears, and occasionally shift into third gear to see how much torque this motor has. It hits around 3,000rpm, is super fast at 5,000rpm, and is absolutely ballistic when you get to 8,000rpm. Without a doubt, this is a very fast car – reaching 100 km/h from a standstill in 4.4 seconds – and if you rent the high-speed NATRAX track, you will have a unique opportunity to max Spyder in all six gears and hit a top speed of 301kph.

But the beauty of the Spyder is how friendly and accessible it is, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to drive fast. Firstly, it is quite compact compared to other supercars and also has great visibility, giving you confidence to use on any available road. But what stands out is the Spyder’s superb chassis, responsive steering, outstanding braking and ingenuity of all the controls, making you feel completely connected and one with the vehicle. . Turn off the traction control and you’ll revel in how precisely you can balance the car with the accelerator, the predictable Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 295/30ZR-20 rear tyre.

It’s hard to find anything as profoundly similar as the manual 718 Spyder.

Porsche 718 Spyder: Verdict

Spyder needs to commit to enjoying it to the fullest. And that commitment means having the time and inclination to seek out Spyder trails because, honestly, in the city, it’s like a fish out of water. Driving out of Mumbai is painful. The huge speed breaker was stressful for me, and the heavy clutch was a pain in the stop-start rush hour traffic. Don’t even think about this car if you’re going to use it in the city. But if you find the right path, there is simply no other car that offers the focused, precise and accessible character of the Spyder, along with the thrill of a convertible. For the money (Rs 1.77 crore, old showroom), the Spyder is simply the best driver’s car you can buy today. Stage = Stage.

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