Filed under: LA Auto Show, Convertible, Performance, Europe, Spyker, Luxury
Where to even start? Oh right – that interior! With the possible exception of a couple of British-ish cars (BMW-owned Rolls-Royce Phantom, Volkswagen-owned Bentley Mulsanne, Tata-owned Jaguar XJ), no interior even comes close. And frankly, being honest, those luxo-barges just pale in comparison to the blinged out old-world splendor of a Spyker cockpit. And the C8 Aileron Spyder ups that already pricey ante. And get this – all C8s are now built in Coventry, England, shaving about $9,000 off the asking price, which is somewhere south north of $200,000 depending on baubles options.
Normally, photographing cars at auto shows feels like a strange, exotic form of torture, at least for us writerly types. The bright lights, the bumrush, the awkward positions (you try crawling on your hands and knees between a posing CEO’s knees to get a shot of a wheel) – it’s not fun. But when photographing this car, we were overcome with a rush of (let’s just say) endorphins. We could imagine ourselves winding up the California coast, fondling that leather-wrapped aluminum gear shifter for hundreds of breezy, dreamy miles. And get this – it’s an automatic… and we don’t care!
For you number junkies who choose to hastily look past the incredible innards, the C8 drop top is powered by a 4.2-liter Audi V8 good for 400 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque. That medium-amount of gumption is routed to the rear-wheels via a 6-speed slushbox. Top speed is 187 mph and 0-60 happens in 4.5 seconds. Spyker claims that the car’s strength is in the frame (stouter than a Ferrari F430, so they say) and therefor chopping off the roof has limited negative structural impact. Want more tech details? See our post from Monterey.
Let’s get back to that interior. If you’re into fancy cars (hi mom!) you’ve no doubt heard of special leather coming from “free range” cows raised without barbwire so as to ensure the leather is flawless. Well get this, the leather in the Aileron Spyder comes from a Dutch tannery that works with free range cold weather cows. Why cold weather? No mosquito bites. No, really. And you can get that interior in any of fourteen colors, most of which are (hopefully) equally eye-searing. Finally, anyone else as in love with the tonneau cover-mounted quilted leather briefcase as we are?
LA 2009: Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder proves the devil is in the details originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Despite what its execs may be claiming lately, MySpace is still a social network and a large one at that. It has been bleeding users for the past year or so but the ones that are still around should be glad to hear that the social network has just launched a new mobile version of the site dedicated to iPhone, Android and Palm OS smartphones. The mobile site comes with all the usual sections you’d expect, like the profile and the friend updates stream, but also, interestingly, with a built-in IM chat client. 
Is selective empathy better than no empathy at all?
