This is the end. As the electrified, autonomous future beckons, the internal combustion engine finds itself on borrowed time, particularly a big, naturally aspirated V-10 like the one at the heart of this beastly Audi.
It’s not quite the final flight for the technology, but with turbochargers right across the line in every other German company, and Ferrari’s recent announcement that all future cars will incorporate some kind of hybrid drive, a change is coming. The future of the supercar is cleaner, quieter, and quicker.
But character? We shall see. As a sort of last hurrah, with temperatures dropping in the mountains and the winter rains closing in, I saddled up this blue-blooded last-of-the-breed and set a course for British Columbia’s interior.
Design
The original design of the R8 set the world ablaze when it arrived. After decades of the 911’s unchanging shape, here was finally an everyday supercar that actually looked like a supercar.
With the updated version, Audi has chosen to smooth out the shape, splitting the instantly recognizable “side-blades” into two pieces. The front and rear are also reworked, but the change is so mild overall that you’d have trouble picking the two years apart.
This being the Plus version, possibly the silliest appellation ever stuck to a supercar, you get a fixed carbon fibre rear spoiler, carbon fibre side blades, a carbon fibre front splitter, and an engine cover made from oak. No, just kidding: it’s carbon fibre too.
Twenty-inch alloys look pretty special, but they’re basically the same kind you get on the mid-level TT. The available paint options are the same you can get on most Audi products. The R8 manages to pull off the clever trick of looking special, but being directly tied to the rest of the Audi brand. It’s a quarter-million dollar car that doesn’t look like a complete extravagance.
Environment
You may be asking yourself, “Why would I buy an Audi, when I could just buy a Lamborghini Huracan, which is essentially the same thing? Or possibly a train, which I could also afford.” Good question. Here’s my answer.
While the significantly more expensive Huracan comes with more exciting styling and the prestige of the prancing bull on its nose, the R8’s interior makes the Lambo feel like an old car. Everything’s more modern and fresh, from the cool switchgear for the climate control, to the virtual cockpit.
Let’s focus a bit on this last. Instead of the iPad-nailed-to-the-dash central screen you get with most cars, the R8 incorporates everything into the instrument panel. That means you can pull the navigation map up, full-size, right in front of you. It’s both easy to use and declutters the cabin.
As for the rest, it’s the usual lashings of leather and carefully stitched trim, with a central spine fitted out with beautiful wood trim– oh, hang on, it’s carbon fibre again. Particularly worth a mention are the fixed-back racing buckets, which weirdly manage to be supremely comfortable for long distance driving. I put on about 900 kilometres in a single day and had zero fatigue to report afterwards.
Performance
The R8’s anachronistic heart is a 5.2-litre V-10 that makes 610 horsepower at 8,250 r.p.m. and 413 foot-pounds of torque at 6,500 r.p.m. Expect future models to exchange the high-revving 10-cylinder for more torque, a reduced redline, and better power numbers.
But forget the numbers. This thing absolutely screams. It can rev from rest to redline in about six-tenths of a second, and when you pair it with the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, it becomes an absolute monster.
However, unlike the Lamborghini version, the R8 doesn’t buck or bellow in some false show of bravado. It just goes. Stuck behind a slow-moving tractor-trailer in Manning Park, I pulled out to pass in a shortish passing lane, hit the throttle, and the R8 dumped three gears in the blink of an eye and warped forward with relentless power.
That amount of on-demand power is endlessly entertaining, but the best part about the R8 is all the other little ways in which it feels more special as the kilometres pile up. Turning North at Princeton, we left the broad routes behind and wriggled along some freshly laid tarmac of the 5A, running all the way up to Merritt.
Here, on a road with relatively tight boundaries, the R8 feels small and light. It’s a wide car, but where some supercars can feel ungainly outside of a track environment, the R8 does well in the real world.
It’s also quiet enough to have a conversation in, assuming you’re cruising, and the fuel tank is relatively large. It is, essentially, a blend between mid-engined sportscar and a grand tourer.
But turning south again and hammering down through the tunnels of the Fraser Canyon, the R8 is most emphatically a supercar. Run it to redline and you can feel the hairs raise on the back of your neck, that man-machine feel of being at the controls of something immensely powerful.
It’s something very special, but you’d expect it to be, considering the price tag. The beauty is that the R8 lets you have it all: supercar performance and enough comfort to want to explore and find new roads.
Features
Audi’s virtual cockpit LCD instrument panel is the centrepiece of technology for the R8, with navigation and parking assistance standard. The only real options are Apple Carplay, and the Bang & Olufsen upgrade to the stereo (don’t bother, just keep the revs up instead).
The fuel economy is actually reasonable, all things considered. Official figures are 16.5 (litres/100 kilometres) in the city and 11.2 on the highway.
Green light
Effortlessly fast; surprisingly comfortable; jewel-like engine.
Stop sign
It ain’t cheap; styling blander than previously; cargo space is limited.
The checkered flag
As a final performance for naturally aspirated German engines, it’s a triumph.
Competition
Porsche 911 Turbo S ($214,800): As the everyday supercar benchmark, the 911 Turbo is hard to beat. It’s got 2+2 practicality, an easy-to-drive seating position, and a thunderously powerful engine.
In terms of pure speed, the R8 can’t quite catch its rival from Stuttgart. The 911’s just that little bit quicker in acceleration, and will slightly out-corner the R8, thanks to Porsche’s clever all-wheel-drive system. However, the uber-911’s shape isn’t all that special, and the R8 also has the edge in terms of that wonderful engine.
