At Exec Digital, we like to review cars that look good. In recent editions, we brought you the Aston Martin DBS and Vantage, the Devon GTX, the 911 Turbo Cabriolet. We revisited the vintage Lamborghini Miura, a car with a face even your mother could love. To continue on this theme, ladies and gentlemen, our latest in a line of lookers, this year's Alfa Romeo 8C Spider. The Italian automaker received 1,200 reservations from buyers after its premiere at the 2008 Geneva motor show. But, as with the 8C Competizione coupe that preceded it, Alfa Romeo will only build 500 copies of the open-top version during the next two years. If ever a shame were crying, it is this one. This particular shame is weeping into its biscotti, cheered only by the rare sight of an 8C Spider weaving through Tuscan hills. Rarer still when considering that 35 of the 500 will be off to America; emigrants with a future stateside but their fortune and status already earned - this one would receive a hero's welcome anywhere. Of course, the official blurb is superfluous, but it boasts that the model is derived from the aforementioned Alfa 8C Competizione, `the Gran Turismo model that has been so successful throughout the world'. The Competizione was indeed one of Modena's finest, available in 2-door coupe or spider, a top speed of 181 mph and 0-62 in 4.2 seconds. The model was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003. The lines of the twin seater were meant to echo the styling of Alfas of the 30's and 40's, and they didn't go far wrong on the `achingly classy' front. 2007 brought the production of a limited series of the 8C Competazione, and unfortunately, as mentioned, the new 8C Spider will be just as limited. You'll need to snap up the Spider quick if the sale of its predecessor is anything to go by - the batch of Competaziones quickly sold out. The 8C marked the Alfa's return to the American market in 2008, after withdrawing in 1995, but the first 8C was delivered to an Italian customer in October 2007. You would do well to make friends with him. Now the background is out of the way, on to the latest model in all its glory. Production of the 8C Spider began in 2009, with Maserati in charge of building the cars. The features? The first thing that hits you is the distinctive fold-away electric roof, fitted with an electro-hydraulic system activated with the simple push of a button on the dashboard. The result, as the website states, is `the last word in style, aerodynamics, practicality and comfort'. It hits 60 in around 4.2 seconds and the top speed is claimed to be around 180 mph, which actually makes it slightly slower than the coupe version. We'll reserve the complaints, however, for when we're screaming along at that speed, eyeballs embedded in cerebral cortex, feeling slightly short changed in regard to the velocity. Up to and including that speed, it's rather joyful as an overall handling experience. That is, it would be if you actually had one. Which you don't. AUDI R8 SPYDER Rummaging around trying to find something that stacks up to the 8C Spider is a difficult task. There is nothing quite in the league of something so exclusively good that is rare. Step forward this year's Audi R8, which has the air of exclusive excellence - but you can actually get hold of one. Performance-wise it stacks up well with the Alfa, going 0-62 in 4.6 seconds, 0-124 in 14.9 seconds and has a higher top speed than the Spider at 187 mph. Price-wise, the standard car costs £80,000 with another £5,000 for the semi-automatic gearbox, and in this sector, unless you are lucky or violent enough to have secured yourself a Spider, this is the one to choose.