Simply Abu Dhabi XI

2 6 1 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I swell up into your field of view, giving you a strong sense of the car's size and position whether you're manoeuvring it through obstacles or aiming it into a high-speed bend. That’s good when you consider that you’re in control of a car that’s worth over £680,000, (the Weissach-pack equipped version closer to £745,000), and you really, really don’t want to bend it too badly. The design of the interior is sensible too, with all of the creature comforts you’d expect in a supercar. It even features a brand- new navi-comms-entertainment system, with the kind swipeable, touch- to-drag, pinch-to-zoom screen you’ll be familiar with from your iPhone. You’ll find that screen invaluable when it comes to reversing the Spyder. Visibility through the rear screen is restricted, to put it mildly, so the rear-view camera relaying pictures back to the dash is essential. Enough of that though, let’s drive. Naturally, the 918 starts with a key but, eerily there’s no sound as you start to move, battery power alone taking the car from standstill. However, use the last bit of the throttle pedal’s travel and, much like kickdown in an automatic car, the V8 bursts into life, placing you in Hybrid mode. It’s a hugely impressive system. Apart from the very obvious – and welcome – noise from the V8, it’s hard to tell what contribution the electric motors are making. You just feel the Spyder moving with the easy muscularity of a car with a big, torquey engine. The steering is immediately impressive too. It’s quick, but not overly so, the rate of response fitting expectations perfectly. There’s abundant grip and an incredible balance, allowing just enough body roll to let you know how hard you can push the front-end, but still providing wonderfully flat cornering. As you’d expect, it’s fast. Porsche claims 0-62mph in 2.8sec, 0-124mph in 7.9sec and 0-186mph in 23sec - but for a car that has the best part of 900bhp and more than 900lb ft of torque it never feels too frightening. In all, it’s a complete joy to drive. Immensely powerful, yet massively forgiving when pushed to the limits. I loved it from the moment I first saw it, something I’d never expected to say about a hybrid car. I’d never really thought about them in supercar terms you see. But then along came this Spyder…