Audi R8: It-s a collision of worlds, supercar architecture meets Audi branding. It looks like a squashed Audi TT with added attitude - check out the straked nose and tail vents and the sideblades - but underneath lurks an all-aluminium structure derived from that of the Lamborghini Gallardo.
So it-s strange to sit supercar-low, with an engine on full (and nocturnally-illuminable) view behind me but familiar Audi detailing all around. Even the pseudo-racy flat-bottomed steering wheel is taken from the RS4, the car which also donates its 420bhp, madly-revvable, 4.2-litre V8.
Dry-sump engine and manual six-speeder
The purest form of R8 has an open-gated manual gearshift (like a Gallardo's), conventional steel brake discs and regular suspension dampers.
The V8, dry-sumped in this installation, is quiet and docile no longer. It moves through rumble to staccato beat and then to a howling, blattering climax as the 8,250rpm limit approaches. It-s a rousing tune, quite different from a Ferrari V8's flat-crank scream, more like a Ford GT40 might sound if had that extra 2,000rpm. But it-s not all revs and no haul; even at gentler crankshaft speeds the R8 pulls hard.
This is the fastest road-going Audi ever, with 187mph attainable - what, an Audi with no speed limiter? - given the space and opportunity and just 4.6 seconds needed to reach 62mph. The four-wheel drive traction helps here, and also keeps this slightly tail-heavy car from getting stuck into a powerslide from which it can-t extract itself. That said, the torque is biased rearwards most of the time, so you can edge the tail out nicely as you pile on the power ready for the next straight, knowing that the front wheels will pull it back on course if things get out of hand.
Steer on the throttle
No Audi has ever been more engagingly throttle-steerable than this one, just as every previous Audi has been nose-heavy! This handling balance and the sight of four rings on the steering wheel are hard to reconcile with each other at first, and the first few miles don't give much clue to what-s coming. That-s because at low speeds the steering is a bit slow-witted with big movements having small effects, but the same has been true of some excellent mid-engined cars in the past (Honda-s NSX, for example) and the problem passes with pace.
All that said, a Porsche 911 C4 is ultimately a more physical, interactive drive for the real enthusiast, if a less foolproof one if you lose your commitment in a fast corner. As for which is the better car, that's as much down to taste as anything else.
R-Tronic sequential-shift works
One thing is definite, though. If you crave a sequential-shift transmission and no clutch pedal, the Audi R8-s R-tronic option keeps its host car-s character intact while Porsche's torque-converter-based Tiptronic is the ruination of a good 911. The paddle-shift Audi uses a robotised version of the standard Graziano transaxle, with paddles on the steering wheel, and it works well with particularly smooth full-throttle upshifts. Even the automatic mode, often unsatisfactory in such transmissions, is usable (and better than the Gallardo-s).
Other tempting options are carbon-ceramic brakes, unbearably snatchy in the car I drove (a cure is promised), and Audi Magnetic Ride. Here, the damper fluid contains ferrous fluid and altering the magnetic field around them instantly and precisely alters the damping effect. Thus is the ideal blend of a comfortable ride and tight handling achieved, although the standard dampers do a pretty good job already.
This is a fabulous car, no question. But is it too much of a supercar to be an Audi, too much of an Audi to be a supercar, or just right on both counts? I'd say the last of those three. And the world had better get used to the idea.
Get full technical details and more pictures of the
Audi R8 here.
