Review: 2016 Audi R8 Spyder

You know how it is with supercars. They’re super, but then you go and chop the roof off them and what you get is… well, anything from floppy upwards.

Audi has tried to avoid this with the new R8 Spyder. This is, the company says, 50% stiffer than the old model – which is fine, but that means it’s 40% less stiff than its Coupe sibling.

Forget about that for a moment, though. Like the Coupe, the Spyder has Audi’s magnificent 5.2-litre V10 engine. None of that turbocharging nonsense here, just revs, revs and more revs – by the time it’s putting out its maximum figure of 533bhp, it’ll be howling away at 7800rpm. And there’s nothing whatsoever not to love about that.

The result is a 3.6-second 0-62 time, which is pretty tasty. Better still, it only takes another 8.2 seconds for the next 62mph to come up.

Being free of turbos, the R8 has what may sound like a low torque output of 398lb ft. Don’t be fooled, though – this all comes in with perfect predictability, responding to the throttle with linear smoothness as the revs rise. It makes for the friendliest, most usable of ways to put a huge smile on your face.

Of course, you can enjoy all this with the roof down. All the better to hear that glorious exhaust note, all banshee wail and crackling overrun. And you don’t have to suffer for your fun, because with the roof down and the windows up there’s practically no buffeting at all.