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Spyker Foregoes Airplanes and Builds a SuperCar Instead
Phillip Royle discovers some exotic "pure passion" from a car company you probably never heard of
Kevin Krefting  |  Posted January 09, 2005  
Spyker C8 Spyder

Spyker's tag line should read: The Car You've Probably Never Heard Of. Instead, the company chose the words "Pure Passion" to don the cover of its brochure. Then again, Spyker's Dutch, so why should you have heard of it? Well, maybe because the company has been around since 1898 (I'll ignore its 75-year hiatus ending in 2000), but more importantly, its latest car, the C8, seems to have the supercar equation right. Nearly.

The first glaring problem with the little two-seater is that it simply costs too much; roughly $290,000 for the base C8 Spyder (roadster) and C8 Lavoilette (coupe) and even more for the C8 Spyder T turbo incarnation. Then again, supercars do come at a premium. Some may go so far as to argue that a car can't be a supercar unless it's obscenely overpriced, but with the C8 costing nearly $300,000 by the time you actually take delivery, Spyker makes Ferrari look like a discount car dealer.

And the car's design is arguably ugly, to boot.

Those points aside, the Spyker C8 Spyder and C8 Lavoilette are everything a schoolboy dreams of. Tipping the scales at a scant 2,800 lbs. and being powered by a mid-mounted, 4.2-liter V8 putting out 400hp (450hp in the C8 Lavoilette), Spyker definitely proved it knew the key components of a world-class sports car. The way the dampers mount mimics that of a Formula 1 racer, the car is liberally coated in shiny metal and exotic leather, and with only 50 slated for production in 2006, you're never going to have the embarrassment of coming upon someone else driving a C8 – and in the supercar world, rarity is akin to godliness.

It's a shame the C8's going to be so rare, though, as performer or not, rare cars hardly ever see the light of day. Spyker claims 0-60 times in the 4.5-second range with the two-seater's top speed nearing the 190mph mark if the road is long enough. Six-piston calipers are responsible for slowing the car before the driver wads it into the back of the Lamborghini he's just chased down. It'd be a blast to climb inside the Liberachi-esque cockpit, power through the 6-speed manual tranny with its exposed linkage, and experience mind melding acceleration, but something bothers me about the complete package: the C8's exterior and interior design simply isn't enough to command that price. Sure, it's a unique car with several very attractive styling cues, but it hardly has the class or pedigree of an Aston Martin DB9 or the ridiculously exotic styling that a Pagani Zonda offers.

Some of the car's styling flaws are forgivable, though. Take, for instance, the company's logo. It appears to be a wheel and tire with an airplane propeller bolted to the middle – and that's because it is. During World War I, Spyker made its money by producing airplanes, and it's because of this fact that I'm willing to let the company's questionable logo slide. The polished air scoops, four-spoke, metal-centered steering wheel, propeller style wheels, and Aardman Animation front grille are a little less pardonable. Maybe I'd welcome these features more if I were a Monte Carlo-residing, scarf-wearing, eccentric multi-millionaire wanting the most expensive Toyota MR2 on steroids I could find so I could impress everyone at yet another fundraiser for the three-eyed squid. As it is, I'm not.

A fairly unique feature of Spyker is that you can actually watch your car be built via a Web cam. Also, each car comes with a Web page specifically for your car on which you'll find your C8's build records, and when you have maintenance performed the page will be updated with that information, too. Whether or not the lucky few will forego their usual Italian supercars in exchange for a little dot-com flashery is up for debate. After all, when you need to get your Ferrari serviced, there is a chance that you're within a reasonable distance of a dealership. Last I checked, there were only 11 Spyker dealers in the U.S. and an additional 10 in the rest of the world, counting the company's headquarters in the Netherlands. Since the engine is lifted from an Audi, there is a possibility that certain mechanical parts could be picked up at a local dealership, but if anything else fails you may find yourself shipping the car quite a distance. And that's assuming the Spyker dealership has the parts in stock – something that probably won't be the case.

Does all this add up to a $300,000 value? Unless you're living The Great Gatzby lifestyle, the answer is most assuredly no. If I were, for that amount of money I'd be forced to wonder if I should plop down the cash for the more powerful Spyker C8 Lavoilette or be extravagant the old fashioned way and place an order for six Corvettes instead.

If Spyker wanted to hand one over for a thorough, comprehensive, behind-the-wheel thrashing, I'm inclined to believe my opinion about the body would change. In the past, I've found that with the right chassis, motor, and weight distribution, a massive styling faux pas can easily lose its nauseating effects and become endearing instead – you usually know by the time you've reached second gear. I'm guessing this is one of those kinds of cars.

Phillip Royle is the Associate Editor of SportsCar magazine.
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