On the eve of New York Auto Show Audi unveiled the long awaited drop-top version of the new R8 super car. This wasn’t as exciting as we were hoping for two reasons. First, we had already seen the new Audi R8 Spyder in revealing spyshots, and second, the car’s rather weird looking.

It’s fine at the front where Audi R8 Spyder looks just like the hard-top – not the best looking car in the world, but all right. The problem is with the rear-end of this car where it seems the designers had many ideas and wanted to include all of them. So it looks crammed and busy and frankly terrible. You drive behind this car for more than a mile, you’r going to get sick.

As with the previous model, the 2017 Audi R8 Spyder comes with a soft top which opens and closes in 20 seconds up to a speed of 31mph. The hood features a glass rear window which can be operated individually and acts as a wind deflector when the roof is down. Made from carbon and aluminum around a Space chassis, the R8 Spyder tips the scale at 1,612 kilograms which is on the heavy side, but then it gets an engine balances things up nicely.

The 5.2 liter V10 engine in the new Spyder churns out 540 horsepower and 540 Nm (398.3 lb-ft) of torque, which on the road translates into a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 197mph. The engine also returns 24 mpg which is great for a V10. As always, quattro all-wheel-drive is standard, as is a seven-speed S tronic transmission with driver-selectable dry, wet and snow modes.

One of the best parts of the new Audi R8 is the interior design and build, and the Spyder is no exception. The car features a minimalistic cabin with the minimum numbers of buttons and dials on display, and a 12.3-inch, fully digital Audi virtual cockpit taking over most of the functions. You get MMI navigation plus, Audi Connect, and a healthy dose of leather and carbon fiber for that ultimate German quality feel.