48 • The Sunday Times Magazine
A blast of fresh air to
beat lockdown blues
Nick Rufford
Driving
I
t’s February and it’s lockdown.
Time to huddle into a solid-
roofed car so you’re protected
from the weather.
Hang on, though. In the right car,
winter driving with the roof down
is a great way to get a burst of fresh
air and daylight. Put the windows
up and they work with the wind
deflector to protect you and your
passenger from being buffeted,
even at motorway speeds, while
toasty heated seats and a blast of
hot air from the vents keep you
warm. Let’s face it, there’s little
prospect of a skiing trip to blow
away the lockdown blues, so top-
down driving is the next-best cure.The Rufford Review: Porsche 718 Spyder
Any convertible will do the job,
but show this Porsche a clear road
and it will give you the equivalent
of a shot of adrenaline straight to
the heart. If you haven’t heard of
the 718 Spyder, it’s the car
previously known as the Boxster.
Perhaps stung by jibes about the
Boxster being a poor relation to
the brawnier Porsche 911, the car
maker’s German bosses decided to
change the name and give it more
pep and clout. The former weakling
has been put through Stuttgart’s
answer to a Charles Atlas course
so it no longer gets sand kicked in
its face by its bigger sibling.
From standstill to 62mph the
718 Spyder is as quick as the 911
Carrera cabriolet. Better still, it has
the same stripped-down feel as
911s of old, before emissions
regulations sucked some of the
fun out of their engines. There are
no turbochargers and no lag, just
the wail of a naturally aspirated
4-litre flat six. You’ll want to drive
with the top down just so you canhear the engine and watch the
countryside whizz past.
Through an empty, twisty
section of B-road near the M25,
with throttle, brakes and gears
working in unison, the Spyder
pulled like a happy hound. Even by
the standard of rear-wheel-drive
sports cars it’s rare to feel one so
raring to go.
According to Porsche’s blurb
its roadholding abilities are thanks
in part to a front splitter and rear
diffuser, which, by aerodynamic
magic, cause it to hug the road
tighter the faster you go. Without
taking it for a spin on the
Nürburgring it’s honestly hard
to tell whether its grippiness
comes from that downforce, or
from the tyres (Michelin Pilot
Sport Cup 2, if you need to know),
or the bits of the chassis
borrowed from Porsche’s motor
sport cars. The 718 certainly
pinballs between bends in a way
that makes everything else this
side of an Audi R8 seem tame.CONTACT US
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times.co.uk or Driving,
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