The loveable trio over at Top Gear are used to getting their senses shattered anytime they get behind the wheel of a powerful supercar. Recently, Jeremy Clarkson got his fill of the McLaren P1 and he was gushing so much you would’ve thought his digestive system was doing things it should only be doing in a bathroom. Clarkson may have gotten his socks blown off by the P1, but co-host Richard Hammond wasn’t about to be overshadowed when he got behind the wheel of a Porsche 918 Spyder at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to have his own kind of fun with the Porsche->ke1 hybrid->ke147 supercar.->ke177

As you can expect, Hammond was equally snake-bitten by the sheer power and speed of the 918 Spyder. He didn’t quite have Clarkson’s contorted faces down pat, but he did spend plenty of time squealing in that high-pitched voice of his to make you wonder if he himself may have done something inside his trousers.

Hammond did have enough time gathering his wits together to talk shop about the 918, marvelling at the technology->ke1701 that seems to ooze out of the hybrid supercar at every mind-bending turn around the Yas Marina circuit. The Top Gear host gushed about the 918 Spyder’s hybrid engine that works together to produce an ungodly 887 horsepower and 940 pound-feet of torque, doing so while boasting a fuel economy rating of 67 miles per gallon, head and shoulders better than the Toyota Prius.

But Hammond didn’t just stop at the topic of power and performance. He also talked about what the P1 lacked relative to the 918, namely the amount of time and attention Porsche engineers used to bring luxury->ke505 and creature comforts to the 918 Spyder. Its roof, for one, can be taken out, allowing a driver to enjoy some open-top cruising. The interior of the 918 also has a treasure-trove of on-board amusements, including a glove box, something the P1 notoriously lacks.

Hammond ultimately nailed it on the head when he differentiated the two. Whereas the P1 is really more of a hardcore spitfire with evil intentions on the track, the 918 Spyder is a little more refined, capable of alternating personalities at a turn of a knob.

Either way, you can’t go wrong with the two hybrid supercars. It ultimately boils down to what your preference is.

Porsche 918 Spyder