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It’s been every week now since I drove the 2024 Porsche 718 Spyder RS within the rolling hills of the Swabian Alps in Germany. Usually I don’t get this a lot time to mirror on a day of driving a brand new automotive earlier than writing about it, however I’m glad that on this case, I did. See, the 718 Spyder RS is a comparatively easy automotive, but it surely generates some advanced emotions in me, not the least of which is remorse as a result of this would be the final mid-engine inside combustion car to return from Zuffenhausen. With that weight on its shoulders, the Spyder RS must make an announcement. However does it succeed?
To begin, the best option to describe the 718 Spyder RS is because the roofless sibling of the Cayman GT4 RS. They share a drivetrain – the 911 GT3’s 4.0-liter 9,000-rpm 500-hp flat-six and that automotive’s seven-speed PDK dual-clutch gearbox, solely – they usually share some physique panels, too, plus an inside (minus the roof, obvs). The place they differ is of their supposed objective and the tuning that Porsche GT czar Andy Preuninger has given them to attain that objective.
The place the Cayman GT4 RS is a hardcore track-rat’s dream, with unflinching suspension and an enormous adjustable wing out again, the 718 Spyder RS is supposed as a automotive for the highway and for driving engagement. It’s a softer, extra snug automotive (although given the standard of German roads, it’s arduous to say by how a lot that’s noticeable) with much less aero because of a shorter entrance lip and the change to a ducktail spoiler with Gurney flap (or wicker invoice in case you’re a Corvette engineer studying this).
For those who’re considering that it’s bizarre {that a} Porsche product with an enormous fats RS on the finish of its mannequin identify being arrange for quick, enjoyable highway driving is bizarre, you’re not fallacious. When in comparison with one thing like the totally bananas 911 GT3 RS, it virtually doesn’t make since that Porsche didn’t name it one thing else. Nonetheless, I’ll verify to you now that this automotive continues to be razor sharp and impossibly fast down a curvy highway – probably faster and sharper than you might be as a driver, if we’re being sincere. Fortunately, it’s nonetheless a reasonably forgiving automotive, and Porsche’s digital security programs are among the many greatest within the enterprise, so that you’re not prone to want your brown pants in case you take the automotive out for an actual rip.
The suspension setup is mechanically virtually equivalent to what you’d discover on the GT4 RS, simply with considerably diminished spring charges. It’s nonetheless heim-jointed and ultra-adjustable, and whilst you’d usually really feel and listen to all of the vibrations, clunks, creaks and rattles {that a} hard-mounted suspension brings with it, on this automotive, you don’t, and that brings me to the following smartest thing concerning the Spyder RS: the intakes.
For those who’ve learn something concerning the GT4 RS, then you definitely’ve probably heard folks wax on concerning the automotive’s epic, all-consuming consumption noise. With that air-hungry GT3 motor spinning at 9,000 rpm, these aspect window-mounted air scoops make for one hell of a racket, and within the Spyder, that racket is even wilder as a result of the intakes are open and mounted just about proper by your head.
In the course of the press drive, my co-driver used a cellphone app to measure the amount of that consumption honk underneath full throttle. He noticed a excessive of 106 dB. After all, a cellphone app isn’t that correct, however even when it’s off by 5 decibels, that’s nonetheless loud sufficient to trigger everlasting listening to injury after half-hour. That is the primary time I’ve wished a pair of earplugs in a inventory highway automotive and whereas that’s undoubtedly gnarly, it’s additionally fairly fucking rock-and-roll in case you ask me.
All the pieces else concerning the automotive and the way it drives is kind of implausible, however that shouldn’t come as a shock. The 718 platform is now fairly outdated and intensely well-sorted. The drivetrain is a identified amount and among the best ever created, although I do lament the dearth of a guide transmission possibility. The rationale it doesn’t have one is two-fold. First, the six-speed from the 911 wouldn’t match (the axles are within the fallacious place) and redeveloping it to work with a mid-engine platform simply wasn’t cost-effective. Secondly, Porsche maintains that RS fashions needs to be dual-clutch solely because it’s quicker.
The 718 Spyder’s different trick is its comparatively gentle (at the very least by right now’s requirements) curb weight of three,109 lbs (in European trim). That makes the automotive a whopping 88 kilos lighter than the PDK Boxster Spyder and 11 kilos lighter even than the Cayman GT4 RS. That delta will increase in case you buck up for the Weissach bundle which provides a bunch of carbon fiber bits and a titanium exhaust and you may spend much more ($15,650, to be particular) on magnesium wheels, which drop a complete of twenty-two lbs of unsprung and rotating mass.
The opposite large change from the 718 Boxster and Boxster Spyder is the transfer to a totally guide roof. The one energy part is you popping the rear clamshell to entry the roof and most of its fixings. As guide roofs go, this one feels somewhat bit too DIY, but it surely’s not unmanageable, it provides two extra methods to expertise the automotive and it seems to be dope when its up. It’s a single layer of material, and the arduous elements are principally carbon fiber, so it’s depraved gentle. How gentle? Strive 40 kilos, all in, and you may simply go away most of that 40 lbs at residence in case you’re satisfied it gained’t rain. Bonus!
Right here’s a cellphone video of me attempting to place it up after having completed it for follow a couple of occasions. I apologize for the wind noise and for being a spaz, but it surely was actually windy.
The halfway place with the primary a part of the highest up, however no wind deflector/rear window could be my favourite option to drive the automotive. It acts like a solar sail and provides up loads of climate safety however doesn’t curb any of that giggle-inducing and ear-splitting consumption sound. One main annoyance with the highest is that if it’s put in, you may not open the rear clamshell. It’s a must to unbuckle the 2 rear tensioning flaps (manually, on either side of the automotive) earlier than you may entry the rear trunk. Is it a dealbreaker? No. Does it type of suck? Yeah, however that’s why you have got an enormous entrance trunk to make use of, proper?
So, we’ve thus far established that the 2024 Porsche 718 Spyder RS is a depraved quick and tremendous agile mid-engine sports activities automotive that’s manner much less handy to have and use than a daily ol’ 718 Boxster. We’ve established too that this isn’t the automotive for you in case you’re attempting to exit and chase lap occasions. Lastly, we’ve established that this automotive will in all probability wreck your listening to completely however that it’s value it. With all that, does the 718 Spyder RS make a large enough assertion to justify its lofty $162,350 beginning value (together with a $1,650 vacation spot cost)?
Hell sure, it does. It feels just like the GT division’s love letter to the outgoing mid-engine chassis, and it additionally looks like Andy and his crew letting free somewhat bit and making the type of automotive that they’d need to drive somewhat than one which’s out to set Nurburgring lap occasions. It’s particular, and for thus many causes, it’s a simple automotive to like. I can’t wait to spend extra time in it on my residence roads, the place my spouse and I can share a pair of earplugs (left for me, proper for her) and let that stunning flat-six yowl its guts out.
The 2024 718 Spyder RS is ready to hit the US market in early 2024, however the always-absurdly-granular Porsche configurator is reside now, so present me your preferrred spec. Right here’s how I’d have mine:
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