There's something deeply seductive about
the 650S, though. The dihedral doors need a good tug to raise, but as they
sweep up and away from the car to expose the slim MonoCelI carbon fibre
structure beneath, the sense of anticipation spikes. It's easiest to sit on the
sill and reverse into the optional fixed-back carbon fibre seats, before
swinging your legs into the footwell and reaching out for the elegant carbon fibre-spoked
Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel. The seats are gorgeous, as well they might be
for $8,575, and the reclined driving position is perfection. The view through
the windscreen is unmatched, like the world is being poured into the cabin, and
the brake pedal is directly ahead of your left leg to suit left-foot brakers
(in a McLaren it’d be wrong not to at least try). It’s pure class.
Sports
exhaust system on the Porsche 911 GT3 is activated using the button on the
centre console
That word keeps bubbling up to describe the
light, clean, sweetly responsive steering, or the instant sense of absolute
rigidity and all the benefits created by the carbon tub in terms of suspension
tuning, even in this Spider version. It’s a silky, effortless introduction to the
650S. But just how different does it feel to the 12C? Well, many of the
sensations remain the same but there’s definitely a new edge. The ride is still
very good indeed, but with spring rates up 22 per cent at the front and 37 per
cent at the rear there’s certainly a greater connection with what’s going on
down at surface level. Even so, the suppleness doesn’t seem to suffer at all
when you dial the Handling mode from Normal to Sport, and there’s instantly
more urgency to the way the 650S responds to inputs. For fun road driving I
think Handling mode in Sport and Powertrain in Track is about right…I still
wish you could get the more lenient stability control setting without switching
the Handling to Track, though. It’s too stiff for most roads in this full-on
setting but it’s tempting to use it just because it brings so much more
adjustability to the experience.
Central
stalk inspired by LaFerrari supercar. The key button is marked simply ‘Launch’.
Apollo rockets had something similar
One thing never lacking in the 12C was pure
speed, either of the straight-line variety or in terms of covering ground.
Incredibly, the 650S elevates both to the next level. From about 3,500rpm –
when the 3.8-litre engine’s twin turbos really start to work – to 8,500rpm it is
obscenely, eye-wideningly, face-deformingly rapid. It’s a big step up from the
GT3. More shocking still is how much of the speed generated you can carry into
corners and how much of the torque you can deploy cleanly on the way out. Here
the big win over the 12C is the front-end grip. You can really lean on the car
before there’s any understeer at all and the 650S seems better able to tolerate
turning and braking hard, too. There’s no limited-slip differential but that is
merely a fact rather than something that impinges on the driving experience –
there’s so much traction and you never feel just one wheel spinning up.
Central
display screenon the 650S is upright format. Makes sense if you orient the nav
travel up
This 650S is on normal P Zero rubber, not
the Corsas that you can choose (at no cost) to have fitted and I suspect
they’re the right choice, offering masses of security but–hallelujah–some sense
that you as the driver can play the 650S’s balance your own way. It’s not been
transformed into a wildly expressive machine that dances to the throttle’s
every whim, but just the ability to turn in hard, get on the gas and then
balance the car with the torque brings a new dimension to the experience. The
stability control is also clearly more expertly judged to give a sense of
control without the fear of wicked reprisal.
