Spyker C8 Spyder: it's Dutch for "supercar"

OK, forget all you know of Holland, the tulips and wooden clogs and windmills, and replace it with this Audi-powered supercar. The £143,000 Spyker C8 Spyder borrows the S8's 4.2 liter 400-hp V8 and puts it to good use at the rear of a splendidly-finished and unique-looking frame (unique in a good way). A better power to weight ratio than a Modena or GT3 helps the C8 Spyder hustle to 60 in about 4.5 seconds, but the gearbox isn't really suited for such a powerful machine; first and second gear are very short short, and the overall tight stack yields 4000 rpms for a 100 mph sixth-gear cruise, not that anyone should ever drive that fast, anyway. The steering is positive and well-connected but doesn't provide the same feedback as the aforementioned Ferrari or Porsche. The grand six-potters up front and four potters out back do a fine job of settling the Spyker down, which unfortunately needs to happen quite often as the car feels uncomfortably light at higher speeds, with a bit of disconcerting nose lift. A fine first effort, but Spyker still has a long way to go to really put Holland on the supercar map. So I guess you can disregard what I said about the Dutch stuff earlier. Don't forget any of it, for now.