The 2017 Audi R8 Spyder is a screaming beauty

The optional bucket seats are a little hard over long distances.

You can get round corners at silly, silly speeds.

The instrument binnacle gets Audi's 'Virtual Cockpit'. All your ICE, etc is controlled in there.

Looks good with the roof off, huh?

Thar she blows. The new R8 Spyder's a heck of a looker.

Its nose is particularly striking - more so than its predecessor's.

Where the engine would be exposed on the coupé, there's a cover for the hood and cooling vents on the Spyder.

It's a shame they're not tailpipes (how cool would that be?!), but they look pretty sweet.

The second generation R8 is all about angles.

And noise, of course. With the roof down you get to hear its V10 at full tilt.

Though with the roof up you can lower its glass rear window and hear its shouts in the rain.

Which is pretty awesome on a windy, rainy motorway.

Though the rule tends to be: Roof down unless the storm has a name.

for a comparatively 'young' supercar, the R8 name is pretty highly regarded.

The Spyder comes with a 5.2-liter 540hp V10. For now.

Safe money's on a 'Plus' version coming out sooner rather than later.

It's not a car to waste on motorways. Take it out and let it breathe to get the best out of it.

It'll hit 62 in 3.6 seconds, only 0.1 seconds slower than the Coupé.

If you've got enough space you'll tickle 197mph as well.

But the built in speakers do mean you can hear your tunes with the roof off.

The roof takes just 20 seconds to deploy.

So if it starts raining you'll only get a bit wet.

You can use the roof at speeds up to 31mph.

You can choose from a number of drive modes in the R8 Spyder.

Comfort, Individual, Auto, Dynamic, and Performance (with a few sub modes of its own).

Comfort makes the R8 a relaxing thing to drive. The gearbox is smooth, engine quiet, and ride supple (ish - it's still a supercar).

Dynamic ups the angry, making the car bark and feel harder edged.

Performance makes it an animal though. Your stability control is lowered, everything gets rather aggressive. It's brilliant fun.

So it's something of a Jekyll and Hyde car. A huge cliché, I know, but it kinda works here.

There's no much space for stuff in there though.

But this is a supercar, and if you had one of these you'd likely end up pretty naked at your destination. If not, you're probably doing 'supercar' wrong. Sort yourself out.

'V10'. Yup. It's goooooood.

Do you think it looks better than the old one?

The Spyder is all about style, and people will stare at you and judge you while you're driving it. Make sure you want to be seen!

Moody, huh?

Audi's gone to town making the R8 handle well.

And somehow you know the car can just take it. It's most bizarre.

The optional ceramic brakes are well worth it too.

Because... they're really, really good.

As a package, the R8 Spyder is pretty awesome.

The roof mechanism looks delightfully balletic.

It adds some extra drama to the car.

See that rear window? You can raise and lower it with the roof up or down. Want a wind deflector? Lift it up! What to hear the car in the rain? Drop it!

The purest experience is, obviously, roof down at all times.

Though it still looks good with the lid on.

The automatic gearbox is marvel. So quick, so smooth.

The 'wheel comes with many buttons to play with. All of them do wonderful, wonderful things.

Like make the tailpipes louder, for example.

Or change the drive mode.

Or just turn the car on and off.

Well done, Audi. You've made a stonker.