Everything that can be said about Audi’s V10 R8 has been said, reckons Steve Smith. Except what’s like stuck in a traffic jam.
There’s no point in telling you what a brilliant car this is. I’d just be repeating something everyone already knows. Countless columns of motoring copy around the globe have sung the R8 V10’s praises. And rightly so. This is one of the landmark cars. No other supercar can deliver this kind of eye-watering power, yet still be so completely driveable and unintimidating. As solid and pragmatic as its Audi siblings, the R8 V10 can genuinely be used as a daily driver. It’s a goal-post shifter. A car that makes designers at other marques go “Bugger, we shoulda done that.”
It’s simply brilliant.
However, for the record, and to give this some semblance of a pukka road test, I’m compelled to mention the following:
Looks gorgeous. Most of the time. With only the subtlest of differences from the V8, the V10 also looks good from some angles — but not from others. The rear three-quarter is easily the best. Yours eyes can’t help but follow a line over the huge rear wheel arches, past that rear window showcasing the mighty V10 and associated plumbing, and along its muscular flank. Personally, I remain unsold on the nose. The overall design silhouette falls away too quickly and those narrow headlights make the whole front section just a little too thin for me. Love the V10s mags though.
Goes extremely fast. Really extremely. While not quite stepping on its Gallardo cousin’s toes, the R8’s 5,2-litre still delivers enough mid-rev grunt to snap your head back when you floor it in fourth gear. Obviously this is all academic. The car is more than fast enough for 99% of the world’s drivers. It’s a Quattro too. Which, with its 235/35 R19 front and 305/30 R19 rear wheels, means it clings to the tarmac like a dassie to Table Mountain on a windy day.
Stops on a dime. Thanks to uprated brakes, the car affords the kind of stopping power that your senses just can’t cope with. There it is, doing speeds way outside what’s even vaguely legal … and the next thing it isn’t. No drama. Suddenly it’s standing still. Your consciousness, though, isn’t. It is still travelling down the road and it takes a couple of milliseconds for the astral elastic band to snap it back into your body. Weird feeling.
Costs a helluva lot. But still not as much as the Italians. Sure, R2-million is a lot for a car — but that’s still a bar less than the Italian exotica.
Wearing the blingest of the bling
Right, with that out the way, we can get to what I really want to talk about — and that’s to review the car standing still. From the inside, as it were.
Which is where I was on a Sunday afternoon during my weekend with the R8 V10. I was stationary. Stuck in one half of a 2km-long, dual-carriageway traffic jam on the N1. Road works apparently. Obviously no one was actually working on the road. Obviously too, was the fact that everyone — at least that’s what it felt like — was staring at the gleaming white Audi. And why wouldn’t they. It’s a beautiful, new supercar and, when you’re stuck in a long queue of cars, there’s nothing else to do but check out the talent.
And that got me thinking.
Part and parcel of owning a flash car is dealing with what your fellow road users think of you. And they are going to have an opinion. You’re not dressed in mid-sized sedan, SUV or hatch-back camo. Nope, you’re wearing the blingest of the bling and that will naturally attract eyeballs.
Normally in this situation I would be very embarrassed to be in car like this. I know what I think of exotic car drivers when I see them on the roads. And it’s not very flattering. The words “more money than sense”, “flash bastard” and invariably “knob” are soundlessly mouthed in their general direction.
However, for the first time in an exotic I felt at ease with the attention. I had even left behind my little “it’s not mine, I’m only a car journo” cardboard sign. Hell, I even had a conversation with the guy in the queue next to me, instead of my usual tactic of sinking down into the seat and staring resolutely at the number plate in front. I was relaxed because I knew what everyone else was thinking. For once it wasn’t “rich bastard”, but “there’s a guy with his head screwed on right. Sure he’s got pots of cash [right —or not], but he’s made an intelligent choice — one that favours substance over style. This guy has an appreciation of power, handling, clever engineering and build quality. He’s not a knob.”
So there you have it. The Audi R8 V10 — brilliant at high speed, chilled at low speed, and completely comfortable when standing still.
In a nutshell
Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro manual
Base price: R1 950 000
Engine: 5,2-litre V10, petrol, 386kW, 530Nm
0-100km/h: 3,9 seconds
Top speed: 316km/h.
Transmission: Six-speed manual or automatic R-Tronic
Safety: Electronic stabilisation programme ESP with integrated ABS; Park distance control front and rear with camera (only available with Navigation, PNE)
Fuel consumption, combined: 13,7-litre/100km
Warranty: 2 years with unlimited mileage