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"Spot the odd one out: 214 mph, 0-62 mph in 2.6 seconds, and 75 mpg. Like it or not, hybrids are taking over, even in the world of supercars, where the new&amp;amp;nbsp;918 Spyder is the first in a string of million-dollar-plus exotics to arrive from three of the biggest names in motorsport: Porsche, McLaren, and Ferrari.  Manufacturers admit that adding an element of electric power is the only way to meet the increasingly draconian eco targets being foisted upon them without&amp;amp;nbsp;emasculating performance levels to the point where you&amp;#039;re left with a styling/speed mismatch not seen since the &amp;#039;78 Mustang II King Cobra.  But electric power isn&amp;#039;t just a sop to greens. The $845,000 918&amp;#039;s twin electric motors, one at each axle, add 282 hp to the efforts of a traditional&amp;amp;nbsp;4.6-liter V8, whose 600 hp is already more powerful than a Ferrari 458&amp;#039;s. Porsche started the project three years ago with only two targets: 75 mpg and the&amp;amp;nbsp;production car record at the N\u00FCrburgring Nordschleife. Fast-forward to 2013, and the 918 has met the first target and obliterated the second with a&amp;amp;nbsp;6-minute, 57 second &amp;#039;Ring time.  While Ferrari felt a pure electric mode wasn&amp;#039;t on-brand for LaFerrari, and the P1 manages less than 10 miles in EV mode, the 918 can do more than 18 miles,&amp;amp;nbsp;hit 62 mph in 6 seconds, and top 94 mph without needing to wake the V8 from its slumber. Porsche decided not to develop any kind of artificial soundtrack,&amp;amp;nbsp;but the whine of the motors actually sounds pretty cool. The car defaults to E-power electric mode when you twist the key, but pushing the throttle past an&amp;amp;nbsp;obvious detent or rotating a Ferrari manettino-style steering wheel control to select one of the other four modes will summon petrol power. With the twin&amp;amp;nbsp;tailpipes exiting from the top of the engine right behind your head, boy, will you know about it. The V8 can trace its roots to the motor in the 918 racing&amp;amp;nbsp;car, revs to over 9100 rpm, and is linked to Porsche&amp;#039;s super-quick PDK dual-clutch&amp;amp;nbsp;transmission. While the gas engine drives only the rear wheels, the&amp;amp;nbsp;electric units operate on both axles. The front pushes through a single-speed gearbox that disconnects entirely at speeds above 165 mph.  Hybrid mode is all about maximum efficiency, though Sport and Race are the modes you&amp;#039;re more likely to want to spend time exploring. For ultimate&amp;amp;nbsp;performance, spin the dial around to Race, then press the red button in the middle to engage the Hot Lap function. With Hot Lap selected, passing that same&amp;amp;nbsp;detent in the throttle position that brought in the petrol engine in E-power mode now activates a Boost function, where the batteries throw everything&amp;amp;nbsp;they&amp;#039;ve got into the equation until their power is depleted. Shown no mercy, the 918 will sprint to 100 mph in 7.2 seconds, to 186 mph in just under 20&amp;amp;nbsp;seconds, and tops out more than 211 mph. That&amp;#039;s not quite Veyron performance, but it&amp;#039;s close, and the 918 is way more fun to throw around. You&amp;#039;ve probably heard us griping about Porsche&amp;#039;s electric steering on the latest 911, but the 918 shows us Porsche can make it work. We&amp;#039;re promised 911s will benefit from the same know-how in short order. The other surprise is how easy it is to forget that this thing is carrying 700 pounds of hybrid ballast. Like the latest 911 Turbo and GT3, the 918 employs four-wheel steering and works brilliantly, boosting agility at lower speeds and promoting stability when you&amp;#039;re pushing through triple-digit speed curves. Traction is epic, but this is no inert hunk of carbon. With a total of 944 lb-ft (depending on the selected gear), there&amp;#039;s ample grunt to tease the 325-section rubber out of line if you&amp;#039;re feeling brave.&amp;amp;nbsp; Speaking of bravery, if you fancy a crack at going sub seven around the &amp;#039;Ring with your own 918, you had better remember to option it with the Weissach package. For around $84,000, the Weissach pack chops 88 lbs from the kerb weight by fitting forged alloy wheels, swapping heavy leather trim for Alcantara, and adding a pair of wings mounted low down on the rear quarter panels just near the rear wheels. Going Weissach also unlocks the option of spending a further $16K on your choice of vinyl wraps, each inspired by a historic Porsche racing livery. Still got money to burn? How about a $63K paint job or $20K worth of fitted luggage?&amp;amp;nbsp; And what of the 75 mpg Porsche claims the 918 achieved on the European test cycle? This assumes starting with a full charge of free electricity, so it isn&amp;#039;t realistic except for short journeys. But the smart bit is that the Porsche&amp;#039;s petrol engine can fully recharge the battery from flat in less than 20 minutes while the car is moving, or you can charge it from the wall in 3.8 hours with a standard socket (as little as 25 minutes if you splash out on the DC charger\u2014a stiff $27K option). Porsche says real world long-distance touring consumption averages around 26 mpg. You&amp;#039;d have to tow your Veyron behind a Prius in order to match it. Inside, the 918 gives us a glimpse of what we might expect from the next wave of Porsche sports cars, namely a center stack that isn&amp;#039;t stocked with more buttons than a haberdashery shop. Most functions having been moved to a touchscreen that&amp;#039;s smart-looking but hard to read in sunlight. For one-third of the 918&amp;#039;s price, you could have Ferrari&amp;#039;s brilliant 458 Speciale\u2014almost as much fun on track, albeit accompanied by less urban civility. The 458 doesn&amp;#039;t have an EV mode, but does anyone care? Who wants to drive a supercar that makes no noise in town, even if it works well? It&amp;#039;d be like watching a scary movie without the creepy music. And besides, people rich enough to drop $1 million on a fun car don&amp;#039;t sweat over whether a supercar gets 12 or 20 mpg. But hybrid power is coming to our sports cars regardless, and we, like the teams making them, have no option but to embrace it. The 918 shows us that we have absolutely nothing to fear. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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