Instrumented Test
It hits you like a smack upside the head as you upshift through the six gears of the Audi R8’s manual gearbox. Despite the serious look of the brushed aluminum shift gate, the stirring 4.2-liter V-8 residing directly behind you, and the still-futuristic exterior styling, the R8’s cockpit remains a remarkably friendly place to go about the business (or in this case, the pleasure) of some serious driving. The scenery might be blurring by you at a blistering pace, but Audi’s attention to the basics—traditional round instruments, well-placed pedals, and a chubby, flat-bottom steering wheel—lend an air of ease to the interior that manages to be functional and comfortable. A supercar by many measures, the R8 is one we’d be happy to take the long way home each and every day.
Save the Manuals!
Smart Balance
The car boasts a 43.5/56.5-percent front-to-rear weight balance and standard, rear-biased Quattro all-wheel drive (torque sent to the front wheels varies from 15 percent under normal conditions to 30 when slip is detected), so hairy, “hey, this might get expensive” moments are rare in the R8. Credit part of its forgiving nature to the tight and direct—but never twitchy—hydraulically assisted steering and stability control that lets the good times roll a bit before administering a face-saving body check. The ESC can be switched off completely for those with the confidence to walk on the wild side. We pulled a solid 1.00 g of stick on our test track’s 300-foot skidpad, our test driver noting mild, benevolent understeer at the limit. From the helm, body lean is minimal, even in tight, high-speed corners.
With only 430 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque, the V-8 engine trades the locomotive power of a larger engine for a rowdy character and 8250-rpm redline. Still, we managed to post a 4.2-second 0-to-60 time and reach the quarter-mile mark in 12.8 seconds at a trap speed of 111 mph. A top speed of 176 mph arrived at 7500 rpm in top gear, accompanied all the way by the V-8’s meaty exhaust note. Impressive, but if true supercar numbers are what you’re after, may we suggest the R8 V-10 Plus, which shaves a full second from the 0-to-60 time and 1.4 seconds in the quarter-mile? Time is money, they say, and those seconds don’t come cheap, the V-10 Plus adding more than $50,000 to the 4.2 V-8 car’s $119,150 base price.
Although the aforementioned aluminum shift gate might look a little daunting, the shift action is intuitive. Don’t overthink it, and the shifter lands in the correct slot every time, the action accompanied by a satisfying metallic sound reminiscent to chambering a round in a single-shot rifle. If manual shifting isn’t your bag, Audi’s seven-speed automatic will handle gear swaps for an additional $9100, bringing shift paddles and launch control with it.
Residing at each corner are 19-inch wheels shod with meaty Pirelli P Zeros (235/55s in front, 305/30s at the rear), partly hiding massive calipers—eight-piston units in front and six-piston in the rear—that pinch trashcan-lid-sized iron rotors. The pedal is firm and its operation linear, with initial bite coming right at the top of the pedal. The binders hauled the R8 down from 70 mph in 152 feet with no fade detected in repeated stops. That’s just a tad more real estate than required by the 2014 Corvette Stingray and 2014 Porsche 911 Carrera S in our recent comparison test, which managed 142 and 147 feet, respectively.
Bits and Pieces
The R8’s base price starts off relatively reasonably for a supercar, but our test example feasted at Audi’s options bar, carrying nearly 15 large in extras: the $6500 diamond-stitch full-leather seats; the $1300 black faux-suede headliner; the $900 illuminated aluminum door sills; the $2100 navigation system with MMI; the $2000 Convenience package (parking sensors and rearview camera, enhanced storage, and auto-dimming and power-folding rearview mirrors); and the $100 Audi music interface with iPod capability that deletes the six-CD changer. Exterior add-ons contributing to the price creep included the $650 Ice Silver metallic paint and $1200 Black Optic package (19-inch aluminum wheels in a titanium finish, black exhaust finishers, and various black exterior trim bits). By the time it cleared the cash register, the R8 was wearing a $133,900 sticker. That’s 10 grand and change lighter than the cost of a similarly equipped 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S we recently tested.
The Porsche, despite sharing VW Group oversight with Audi, is a direct competitor to the R8. Yet the two cars go about their missions in different ways. Whereas the rear-engined 911 is constantly being poked and prodded by engineers bent on squeaking another sliver of performance from its layout, the mid-engine R8 feels as if it could handle an additional 250 horsepower without negatively affecting its manners, an attribute that translates into confidence behind the wheel.
Thoroughly modern in almost every respect, the R8 coupe in V-8–powered, manually shifted guise as tested here, retains that classic sense of purpose that makes driving at any velocity balanced and fun. And if fun and finesse aren’t the primary ingredients in a given supercar’s formula, what’s the point?
