Spyker C8 Aileron Test

[MattFarah]

+ YouTube Video

[Loop]

Damn the Aileron is HOT !

Also a great review as always.

[Der Stig]

I like the new one, but the old one just seems so much better, despite the nice and progressive design elements of the new one. I assume the Aileron has a 6-speed option as well? How does the rawness and precision/directness compare to the older one?

Great review, as always! Keep up the good work.

[MattFarah]

I love the rawness about the original Spykers as well, which is where I was left disappointed with the C8. The addition of power steering, brakes, sound insulation, and an automatic transmission really make the Aileron more of a GT car than a sports car, which is what they are going for. They wanted to build something along the same lines of the C8 cars, but that you could drive every day in comfort. So, if you put it in auto and drive it around, it's very similar to the R8 in automatic mode. However, the manual mode is terrible, and I would go with the 6-speed option that's coming next year. The car is beautiful, but much more toned down than the other C8 cars. Nice as it is, I'll take a C8 LM85 any day instead.

[Posmo]

Nice car, ugly doors and useless paddle shifters.

It's still a ncie car though

[Turboman]

Originally Posted by MattFarah

I love the rawness about the original Spykers as well, which is where I was left disappointed with the C8. The addition of power steering, brakes, sound insulation, and an automatic transmission really make the Aileron more of a GT car than a sports car, which is what they are going for. They wanted to build something along the same lines of the C8 cars, but that you could drive every day in comfort. So, if you put it in auto and drive it around, it's very similar to the R8 in automatic mode. However, the manual mode is terrible, and I would go with the 6-speed option that's coming next year. The car is beautiful, but much more toned down than the other C8 cars. Nice as it is, I'll take a C8 LM85 any day instead.

For everyday use they should have add an ABS system, this would also enlarge
the number of possible clients. Even racecars have ABS nowadays. And it's one feature which I don't want to miss in today's cars.
But the car still looks awesome!!!

[deuses]

The approach to this review was as if you were reviewing a $35k 370Z, it didn't feel special at all. I think this review could have been much much better.

Originally Posted by MattFarah

I love the rawness about the original Spykers as well, which is where I was left disappointed with the C8. The addition of power steering, brakes, sound insulation, and an automatic transmission really make the Aileron more of a GT car than a sports car, which is what they are going for. They wanted to build something along the same lines of the C8 cars, but that you could drive every day in comfort. So, if you put it in auto and drive it around, it's very similar to the R8 in automatic mode. However, the manual mode is terrible, and I would go with the 6-speed option that's coming next year. The car is beautiful, but much more toned down than the other C8 cars. Nice as it is, I'll take a C8 LM85 any day instead.

Why weren't these thoughts in the review?

[_HighVoltage_]

Great review, Matt! Just one complaint...what's with that music? It's like it's taken from an early 90's computer game. Better have no background music at all.

[DanielVolz]

Originally Posted by Turboman

For everyday use they should have add an ABS system, this would also enlarge
the number of possible clients. Even racecars have ABS nowadays. And it's one feature which I don't want to miss in today's cars.
But the car still looks awesome!!!

The C8 Aileron actually does have ABS, the threshold at which it engages is extremely high though. Also, for the Aileron, Spyker has also added the Electronic Brake Distribution system (EBD). As Matt had mentioned earlier, it's more of a GT car than a sports car.

Originally Posted by deuses

The approach to this review was as if you were reviewing a $35k 370Z, it didn't feel special at all. I think this review could have been much much better.

Why weren't these thoughts in the review?

First, these cars are extremely rare, so it's unusual for a car show to even get a chance to review one of these, let alone one of the prototypes. As you can imagine, it's not the kind of car the manufacturer will just lend out for any extended period of time.

Secondly, when you only have 2 hours to review, test, and film a car, you use what you can. That being said, I think I speak for the whole Smoking Tire team when I say we wish we would have had more time with these awesome cars.

[prokey]

Nice review. You are lacking a few things I have noticed. You didnt plug the smoking tire up until the end of the review. You need to pimp yourself a bit more to get a larger audience.

You should consider including a short intro to help do that.

[MattFarah]

Originally Posted by deuses

The approach to this review was as if you were reviewing a $35k 370Z, it didn't feel special at all. I think this review could have been much much better.



Why weren't these thoughts in the review?

Because I literally had 45 minutes total with the car, and only one camera. So I did the actual driving review on the fly and in one take. I'm sorry it wasn't up to your standards but with very exclusive cars we take any seat time we can get and try to make it work. The irony is if it was a 370z I was reviewing, Id probably have the car for a whole week so i could nit pick every single thing. Unfortunately, not the case here. But Spyker liked it, so hopefully next time around I can get more seat time to actually collect my thoughts and not review on the fly.

[MattFarah]

Originally Posted by prokey

Nice review. You are lacking a few things I have noticed. You didnt plug the smoking tire up until the end of the review. You need to pimp yourself a bit more to get a larger audience.

You should consider including a short intro to help do that.

I thought I did an intro, no? if I missed it, it was only because we were super rushed and didn't have time to do more than 1 take on either the intro or review. I'm pretty good at doing things on the fly, but I can't always say everything I need to say on take 1

[deuses]

Originally Posted by MattFarah

Because I literally had 45 minutes total with the car, and only one camera. So I did the actual driving review on the fly and in one take. I'm sorry it wasn't up to your standards but with very exclusive cars we take any seat time we can get and try to make it work. The irony is if it was a 370z I was reviewing, Id probably have the car for a whole week so i could nit pick every single thing. Unfortunately, not the case here. But Spyker liked it, so hopefully next time around I can get more seat time to actually collect my thoughts and not review on the fly.

I understand. The way around that problem though is to do some voice over during the editing process, like a certain other car show we all love I noticed you guys don't do that, is there a reason? I think its a perfect way to get thoughts in that you didn't think about during the shoot. It's also a good way to briefly shift the focus on the car instead of you and the car.

I'm trying to be constructive by the way, I love the show and I'd love to see it get picked up by Discovery some day.

[MattFarah]

I don't know why we don't do more voiceover. Part of it is not really having the resources to shoot enough B-roll that a long voiceover would work, and part of it is so that it doesn't seem like we're blatantly ripping off TG's style, which we really try to avoid. We're shooting again for non-bullrun related things in October, so we'll work on it with the next car.

Also tough to get the audio to match later, and it's kind of awkward when we try it.

[FleeceLINER]

Just a note -
Matt, I saw a C-8 yesterday around the 405 near Lake Forest.

That thing makes a craaaaazy noise. (Although, I'm not sure if it was a press car or not.)

[MattFarah]

Could have been, the press cars are blue/tan spyder and silver/red laviolette (glass roof), and the aileron press cars are red/red, silver/red, and white/red. I do know that there are 12 privately owned Spykers in the LA area, including one LM85. Never seen them on the street.

Fucking crazy sounds they make though, gives me chills.

[FleeceLINER]

It was a wine-red non-aileron C-8, so probably a privately-owned one, then?

[MattFarah]

most likely, yes.