R8 raves in July's evo

Started by feelou, June 10, 2007, 08:54:36 PM

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feelou

The July issue of evo pitches the R8 against the 911C4S Power kit, the Aston Vantage Prodrive, and the BMW M6.
The Audi won the acid test with flying colours.

Here are the highlights:

  • "So here's the answer. It's one we sometimes doubted we'd ever witness, but, for the good of the supercar's evolution, it could hardly be better. Audi humbles Porsche. A new dawn starts today."
  • "Mission accomplished... Audi clearly had the 911 in its sights when creating the R8, and, impressively, it has managed to beat the established master first time out of the blocks."
  • "R8's impressive time around the West Circuit places it right amongst the biggest supercar names. Overall, it's the 10th fastest car we've ever timed at Bedford. It's faster than a Gallardo and the bloody thing is faster than a Koenigsegg CCX! It's also one of the fastest cars we've driven around Millbrook's two-mile bowl."

I bow to the performance. I want one. Badly.  :-\

feelou

Funnily enough, a friend of mine drove it this weekend. He's been a long-time Audi customer (S4, RS6) and owns a new S8 and a Porsche Carrera 4S. He is invited to Audi events every now and then. Here's his email.

At current exchange rates, the base price of the R8 is $166k! The price of an RS4 on our shores, and a round $100k less than what it retails for in New Zealand. Feckers Audi NZ.

The R8 is 157k with 6-gear and 167k with R-tronic - add a few other good optionals (B&O, magnetic ride, GPS) and we are talking 180k CHF...

I actually drove the R8 today :-)
I was in France for the audi driver training, and we got a quick R8 demonstration on the track. Given I could not try it at the dealer last week, I was offered to drive it (but not on the track). So I went outside and terrified the French countryside for a good half hour  :-) . Not enough to judge, but the car is very pleasant and comfortable / easy to drive. It's like a bif TT: you're very fast very quickly. Great soundtrack, great R-tronic (even in Automatic mode) and very, very fast. Breaks bite, body is very controlled, nice steering feel - all in all less intimidating than a 911 (a more physical experience)

Btw, C4S was great fun on the track: at 8/10 it's really magnificent (incredibly precise, follows line perfectly, great turn in and traction, very stable both in sharp and fast curves). At 9/10 it gets more demanding: especially if the rear tires are hot it begins to oversteer at curve exits, that upshifts at max rev don't always get perfect (especially if you have do it in a fast bent). At 10/10 (or in the wet, as it began to rain at the beginning of the "free" session), it's quite a challenge - if you leave the perfect line it understeers, in most exits it will oversteer (and ESP gets in, making you lose 1-2 secs every time). The only thing that always works are the brakes.

I then did a few turns on a taxi RS4 with a crazy instructor - always sideways, big fun and at times a little scaring... (I've got a videoclip, but it's 300 MB...)

Audidude

Holy cow, that review is the biggest rave I've seen in EVO.

They absolutely loved it, basically saying that Porsche ahs to go back to the drawing board if they want to compete with the dynamics on the road of the R8!!

Cheers
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