Highly R8ed
After years of ambivalence, will a week with the Audi R8 make resident motoring nut James Fossdyke fall in love?
It was Mahatma Gandhi who once said confessions made him feel stronger, and I really hope heโs right, because Iโm about to deliver a whopper. Here goesโฆ I, James Fossdyke, motoring writer and self-confessed petrol-head, have never liked the Audi R8โฆ
Itโs an unpopular opinion, I know, but Audiโs supercar has never been on my wish list. Itโs not that the R8 has ever been bad โ far from it โ but itโs never felt as special as a car with a six-figure asking price should. You donโt spend that money on speed or power; you spend it on something that makes you feel excited and alive and unique. The Audi has never done that for me, and itโs not the only one. I felt the same way about the McLaren 570S and the previous-generation Bentley Bentayga.
As a result, Iโd more or less forgotten the R8 existed until Audi emailed to tell me the car was being updated. The email spoke of a new, more aggressive front end and more power, as well as a reduction in weight. It all sounded good, but I didnโt really perk up until I read the words โmore visceral driving experienceโ. There, in black and white, was a promise that the R8 could become the thing Iโd always wanted it to be.
A few months (and a global pandemic) later, with a comically loud bark from the enormous exhaust pipes, the R8 pulled up outside my house. To give it the best chance of tugging at my heartstrings, Iโd plumped for the top-of-the-range V10 Quattro Performance. A Spyder, no less, with the folding fabric roof.
From pictures alone, itโs easy to see that mid-life updates have undoubtedly made the R8 more striking. But pictures donโt really do justice to the wide, shouty and angry grille, or the way that theme continues through the chiselled flanks and the wide rear vent. Sadly, the folding roof means small children canโt peer into the engine bay, which is behind the seats, but you do get two absolutely huge exhaust outlets.
From those massive tubes emits an unholy cacophony. At the heart of this car is a furious 5.2-litre V10 petrol engine thatโs essentially shared with the Lamborghini Huracan. Itโs an old-school lump, devoid of assistance from new-fangled turbochargers or hybrid systems. Instead, it simply gulps down vast quantities of air and petrol, then ignites the explosive mixture thousands of times a minute to create a whopping 612bhp. When you think about it in those terms, itโs no surprise the sound is more war machine than sewing machine.
There are two products of all this fire and brimstone. The first is the aforementioned sound, which is particularly satisfying when it echoes from the walls of the tunnels under Manchester Airport, and the second is a huge dollop of speed. With four-wheel drive and massive tyres ensuring none of that might is wasted, the R8 will get from 0-62mph in a little over three seconds. Press your right foot hard against the floor and youโll keep accelerating all the way to 204mph. Forget the tunnels under the airport, this thing is almost as fast as the aircraft that take off above them.
But this performance doesnโt come at the cost of comfort. Sure, the Audiโs ride is on the firm side โ it is a 204mph supercar, after all โ but itโs still civilised. You arenโt jolted around too much, and the seats are surprisingly comfortable. You do sit a bit high, though, which means those whose feet stick out of the bed might find things a bit cramped when the roof is raised. You get cruise control, satellite navigation and digital instruments, too, so it doesnโt feel as though youโve bought a garden shed on wheels.
And it certainly doesnโt handle like a shed. The steering is surprisingly light, but itโs wonderfully direct and the response from the front wheels is instantaneous. One minute, youโre going one way, the next youโre going another. And because the R8 has four-wheel drive, it just grips and goes. Thereโs no wheelspin, no tyre squeal and no drama.
As a result, itโs ridiculously easy to lose your licence in one of these. Itโs so stable and forgiving that you can easily forget just how powerful it is, and thatโs when the boys in blue start taking an interest. Squeeze the accelerator gently and the speedometer will be reading three figures in seconds. Itโs appallingly fast.
So, the R8 is a magnificent, majestic feat of engineering, yet thereโs a โbutโ that would make Kim Kardashian feel under-endowed. You see, the R8 might be brilliant, but it still isnโt the mental, man-eating monster Iโd hoped it would be. Instead, itโs unerringly competent and German, so itโs too expensive to justify the normality of the cabin, the surefootedness of the chassis and, if weโre brutally honest, the banality of the badge.
Yet for all that, it remains one of the most usable supercars out there. You would never take a Lamborghini Huracan down a narrow country lane, drive it through a puddle or park it in a rough part of Stoke-on-Trent. Youโd wrap it in cotton wool and treasure it and treat it like the precious masterpiece it is. Youโd barely use it. The R8, on the other hand, will deal with pretty much anything, meaning youโd drive it come rain or shine. So no, the R8 isnโt as special as a Ferrari, but thatโs kind of the point.
Audi R8 Spyder V10 Quattro Performance Carbon Black
Price as Tested: ยฃ166,180
Engine: 5.2-litre V10 petrol
Gearbox: 8-speed automatic
Top speed: 204mph
Power: 612bhp
0-62mph: 3.2 secs
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