Audi R8 V10 Plus - Ownership Experience Thread

It's strange. Pictures never seem to do the R8 justice for me. Sort of looks like a tarted up TT, but then whenever I see one for real they look absolutely incredible and nothing like a TT.
 
Housey said:
I was on it fairly hard as those who sat next to me would attest. However I don't know the flow of the track and that is where the real pace is found and I was cautious when I did not have confidence in the track or where it went. I can see where time is made, you only have to follow a slow car in the hands of someone who knows the track like the back of their hand to see that.
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Yeah I know exactly what you mean. You have to know the track inside out to know where and how hard to push.

G-MAN2004 said:
It's strange. Pictures never seem to do the R8 justice for me. Sort of looks like a tarted up TT, but then whenever I see one for real they look absolutely incredible and nothing like a TT.
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Thats exactly what I was thinking, in the flesh the R8 looks amazing. On my way to Tennis practice today I was a R8 exactly the same as the OPs and it was stunning. It was in red too....
 
The ring is unlike any other track I know of, in that a good driver who knows it well will consistently beat a great driver who doesn't. If you're chasing the stopwatch it can be a scary place, which explains their stance on timing equipment.

As for mpg, if you're in double figures you're probably not trying hard enough lol.
 
A bit of an update as ive just reached 10k miles and just collected the car from Audi after their final attempt to rectify the clonk noise ive been experiencing since I bought the car in April. It is fair to say the clonk noise has been getting to me to the point where it was final ultimatum time. I put it on the MD's radar Tuesday and asked him very politely to own my problem and get it at worst identified by today or else i would be rejecting the car.

To be fair he called me at home in 30 minutes of my email and dived in to the situation nicely. Long story short i have collected the car today and it feels like a new car. My clonk has been found and fixed following a complete rebuild of the rear end and offside rear suspension. It seems the culprit was a cross member and the entire rear end is now as it should be and in turn, silent. I will do the full run down with Audi next week but ive now got a sorted R8 and of course some bubbly for being such a nice chap.

I am disappointed it has taken 3 attempts to get to what seemed the obvious route cause and i feel my intervention with the MD was needed but now it's sweet. I suspect they have also upgraded the gearbox software as that is a whole lot smoother in sport mode and perhaps a placebo effect but the damping seems better, which suggests it was a bit dry bushed at the back. Car had done 3k miles in 2.5 years, classic garage queen and not running these things is not good as suspension bushes etc dry up and it's how stuff like this starts. Fair to say it had been getting worse but now it's silent!
 
I think if I owned one of these and people kept coming up to me for a chat, rolling down their windows and shouting etc, it would just annoy me.
 
So I've just been out to waste a tank of juice and I can confirm it is now bang on! I had a proper run this evening and **** me it is quick, I mean proper quick, level on from my old GT3 pace wise and just feels very very sure footed and stable when carrying big speed, which of course I couldn't do in the UK so that was, I mean is, my imagination but more stable now than it has ever been.

Proper car this, proper.
 
Sometimes you just need to get in and drive...

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Glad its fixed Steve. :)

When you know they are not 100% you cannot enjoy them the same and scared of pushing too hard in case something goes wrong.

Like you I really got to the enjoy the car and push it very hard today, absolute great fun, hopefully we are both now trouble free and can enjoy driving without worry. :)
 
Yup, it had been annoying me hugely and if it wasn't sorted this week it was going back to Audi for a refund but I didn't want to do that as it's such a sweet colour/specification and i love the car so wanted it fixed. This is what the service rep sent me on email. I am going to pick up my Polo as I left that with them this evening as I could not arrange a lift and plan to have a chat with the R8 tech who did the work, he wasn't there when I went in this PM.

All lower trims/diffusers removed & refitted
Remove and refit rear anti roll bar drop links (inc lubricate)
Remove and refit rear shockers
Realign upper rear cross member
Remove refit rear brake pads, check for excessive movement
Inspect front shockers
Vehicle inspection

Since refitting all the above the knocking noise has gone, road tested from hot, and cold, all ok. In our opinion the noise was being generated from the cross member.
 
Dr House said:
Very nice looking car. I still really want to own one at some point soon
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It is a fantastic car and certainly better than I expected it to be. I felt it was a bit of an itch scratch purchase. I bought it on sight after a 50 mile drive without any real build up. Thought I'd have a go in the Plus to see what it felt like compared to the normal one as I'd actually gone into Audi to drive one they had for sale only to find out it had been sold. Then this one came up on a SOR basis and I was offered it to have a proper go.

In the 7000 miles I've done in it, particularly now it's no longer clonking, I've grown to enjoy the car hugely. It is a car that makes me get up to drive and also a car that make you always take the long route home, which for me is a good metric. Probably only my GT3 did that previously and the R8 is a much more accomplished and faster car. It is a rocket ship but relatively easy to pedal at pace securely and the traction in superb. I've not done a launch control take off or even turned off the traction stuff, not sure I need to frankly.
 
hurfdurf said:
You must do a lot of miles in a year, are you worried at all about depreciation?
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Bar maybe 1000 initial business miles, all pleasure trips! I think with cars like this depreciation is always a consideration, but it is no longer used for anything other than pleasure and I have done 3 major fun trips in it of over 1000 miles each, but that's what I bought it for.
 
Have you considered buying something a but more economical for uses like that? Maybe a Polo or something?
 
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