R8 V10+ - 1 year (and a bit) on!

Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
Posts
29,580
What a love/hate (mainly with Audi UK & it's dealerships) relationship this has been. I bought the R8 in April last year, a 1 owner car with 3,000 miles on the clock. I hadn't intended to buy an R8, I simply wanted to try a Plus and a couple of days after I popped in to see a car that unbeknown to me had been sold the day before they had one due in. So I went back to drive it when it arrived on SOR 2 days later. The first I saw of the car were these 3 pictures, taken by a dealer selling the car and sent to me. I got the impression the car was not selling and had moved around a couple of traders hands but I wanted a car with an Audi dealership stamp set and Warranty.

28986927950_f8f50c19ca_o.jpg

28986932530_269a69fe62_o.jpg

28654187263_bea0ae30bf_o.jpg


The car looked to my eyes fantastic, spectacular even and red for me suits the car very well. I arrived, took a brief look around and then took it for a spin with you Sales Manager joining me. I told him I wanted at least an hour in the car, which was no issue, but frankly within the tunnel on the A50 towards Uttoxeter I was buying the car. Further pushing on confirmed it was the right call so when we got back I lad out the terms I would buy the car on and we did the deal there and then. I collected it 3 or 4 days later.

29241024316_4a527c2559_h.jpg

29167332832_20f3f3934a_h.jpg


On collection I had a couple of issues so when I got back to my office I wrote to them and made them aware I wanted these addressed, my marker in the sand. They were a front offside lower grill which wasn't fitting properly and a strange clonking noise from the rear end...something that would cause me to come close to rejecting the car, more on that in a bit. Anyway I did what we all do, parked it, walked around and smiled then took all the books into the house and started to read....for about 10 minutes then though sod that, I need to drive it so went for 200 mile spin. My first impressions were that it was and is a spectacular car with an incredible engine. It pulls from low down to silly speeds in no time, corners on rails, moves around and have lots more feel than I remember. The small changes to the Plus add up to more than the sum of the parts. The S-Tronic is the first DCT box Audi put in the R8 and it's a gem. Rapid, smooth and clever and in manual provides a fair level of involvement. The R-Tronic was poor, the S-Tronic is very very good. Interior was immaculate (not anymore, again more to follow) and the car felt tight....if with a bloody annoying clunk out of the back of the car.....

So I had a car I was happy with, but with a couple of niggles, but here it is sitting on my drive as Optimus Prime:
29241464186_aee70b4a10_h.jpg


The front grill was never fixed properly and another issue which I had stupidly missed when buying the car was the owner had wrapped the grills front and back with carbon wrap. He also had the rear bumper painted which I actually liked, but had to do my due diligence as I did notice this was non standard and was placated when shown the owners pictures of the car being painted from new, so not after having a prang! The wrap was going to have to go as with miles and pace heat was causing bubbles and frankly it looked cheap and tatty and that had to go, more on that in a bit....

The Clonk!
So this was apparent on the car from day one. It showed itself at slow speeds, usually when the car was pivoting from left to right and over bumps. So if I want over a speed bump at an angle it would show itself and when I left the house, clonk clonk clonk. VERY annoying. So I took it back to Stoke Audi who had the car for close to 2 weeks at the end of which they had 'had a go' at sorting the grill and not been able to fix the clonk....but they did feel it was getting better, so perhaps I should take the car and see how I get on as "it's not anything major". So I took the car back and within a week was back on the phone and this time I tried to book it into to Stafford Audi. My view was simply a 2nd pair of eyes might have a different view but amazingly, I got a call from Stafford Audi telling me as the car was new it must got back to Stoke for them to keep doing the work. Both dealers belong to the same group, unimpressed but more on that too in a bit....

So I took it back for second go August last year. Holiday time, so a we week in after "having another look" it was obvious they were not doing much and had no idea or worse, knew what it was but couldn't be arsed. The R8 tech then had 3 weeks off so I collected the car and re-booked it in for his return. After 2 days with them again rage arrived and I decided enough was enough so escalated to a board member of the group. To be fair he was fantastic, called me within a few minutes and got on the case. I asked him to take oversight and made it clear that it is diagnosed with a clear view and time line to fix by Friday of that week (it was a Tuesday when we connected) or the car would be coming back for a full refund, ignoring the 4000 miles I had added!

Amazing, within 2 days my car was fixed, after they spent 2 days rebuilding the back end. It was simply a case of lubrication and a couple of washers on the rear end suspension, as I had suggested all along, but was a big job. I think they knew that and hoped I would just give up. I hope I am wrong but this is all I could conclude. They tried there best to placate, did various things FOC, champaign, flowers the whole 9 yards and once escalated they were good, but it really annoyed me I had to do this. Also their man was incredibly disappointed how Stafford had dealt with me so i am sure had a few words. I am not a person who holds a grudge, so I just asked that next time we do this better....

I had also spoken with Audi UK and realised they were useless. Simply an outsourced contact centre full of young girls who annoy their dealers and add nothing to my case other than more hassle. They were told to do one as they had added nothing and next issue I went another route...more on that too to come!

More to follow...need coffee
 
So a couple of three weeks after I bought the car I decided it needed to head north for the full North Coast 500! Wife and I packed a small bag and headed north at pace to most of my mates telling me snow was due. Luckily for us we drove past the snow into the sun and had quite the loveliest of weather for our hoon. Anyway here's some more pictures....

First stopping point, somewhere near, erm, Scotland
29241623726_02fc50de1b_h.jpg

28653273974_08edfca2ea_h.jpg

29276156365_6397330e18_h.jpg

This is a 160mph road I am told. Only an idiot would do that of course, but here is a picture.

29275864825_f391742623_h.jpg
29242200886_51e11b9b81_h.jpg

29242343726_00c11fce9c_h.jpg


I have loads, but you get the idea. If you haven't done it, find time, it is really worth it and the finest views on this island.

On the A7, a road with about 100 miles FULL of speed cameras I averaged 33mpg!!! That is astonishing and my RS4 would never have got close. The car was wide and probably a little underdamped for some of the roads but it was an epic 5 days were we stayed in some fine places, with stunning views and silver service. What you waiting for, GO!!!!
 
The Oil Leak...
My second significant issue was another annoyance. I took the car for a service to Stoke Audi (£600 oil change) and after having the car back for about 3 weeks I needed to get it MOT'd, amazingly. There is a local garage down the road from where I live I like to use at it's family run, respects the cars and build some nice little rally cars and gives a bloody good service. For the MOT it was 2 minutes away so I popped it down. Prompt everyone drop tools and come have a nose, one of the side effects of owning cars like this, and obviously a perfect no faults MOT. However, when up on the ramp I alway nosey on over to look around my cars and I noticed oil at the front of the engine, so near the bulkhead as it's rear engaged. I got straight on the phone to Stoke Audi and booked it in. No problems, took it down the Monday morning and they started work....or so I had hoped.

A week came and went and silence, so I called up and asked what was happing and got the standard "well, X has looked at it and needs to look at it some more". This was on the Friday. I then asked that someone gave me a call mid morning Monday with full update. After I heard nothing (surprised?) I called my dealer for an update....buy my service 'specialist' was busy. Fair enough, can you get him to call me. An hour or so later the assistant service manager phones me to tell me, honestly, "that we haven't really looked at the car, but next 2 days were all mine". So for 10 days it had sat parked at Audi whilst they distracted me. I am never rude, but I made it clear I was annoyed and took to Twitter.

Long story short I told Audi to not bother use UK customer service as they are CRAP and get someone of a senior level to call me. Next day CEO's office makes contact and I take them through the story. Shocked and stunned, sadly not surprised, he confirms he will get on to it. Added to this were conversations around me not having a Warranty.....which of course I did, then that running out...which is what I had just bought a new one....from Audi....so they should know about it....to 2 days delay whilst they made their mind up if it was covered....then 7 days to order the parts which they could not do without the Warranty company saying yes or me paying for them in advance.

You might have concluded that another 2 weeks of ******* around means Stoke Audi or that dealer group will never, outside of an emergency see me, my business or any car again. Terrible and Audi just doesn't understand their customers of these cars and that when they say they will do something by X then I expect it to be done. It is really disappointing as I was speaking to them about a new R8...but they never bothered calling back either. I was take my firing stick to several people if I ran their business.

Anyway that is water under the bridge but in the first 12 months the car has spent 8 weeks at Stoke Audi, not good, but then my RS4 spent the same at Stafford Audi so we seem to have a theme here.
 
Last edited:
Lovely car but I have to say your experience of Audi mirrors mine when I had a 2-year-old A8. They were really poor and always fobbed me off or sat on the car for weeks while doing nothing.
I guess Audi are too used to selling and maintaining A4 Tdi S-Lines, not £120k supercars, and so do not understand the relationship they need to have with such owners.
 
Lovely car but I have to say your experience of Audi mirrors mine when I had a 2-year-old A8. They were really poor and always fobbed me off or sat on the car for weeks while doing nothing.
I guess Audi are too used to selling and maintaining A4 Tdi S-Lines, not £120k supercars, and so do not understand the relationship they need to have with such owners.

On this point I am now working with a highly recommended specialist who works with Audi to ensure Warranty cover but has a depth of understanding not common in the network. He is world renown builder of R8 V10's and high level tuning and it's just him and comes recommended by several people who have R8's and already has shown himself to be a different league. Car is being collected from him tomorrow...for the 3rd issue...more on that to come too....
 
To come.....more issues, some Nurburgring, some Silverstone, some Curborough, some Evo Triangle....and final thoughts :)
 
A shame that the joy of owning such a gorgeous piece of precision engineering like that is marred by the poor attitude of the people who are supposed to be trained in improving the company brand :(
 
A shame that the joy of owning such a gorgeous piece of precision engineering like that is marred by the poor attitude of the people who are supposed to be trained in improving the company brand :(

Ive run businesses, teams, divisions and I have lived and breathed service most of my working life. I have an acute feel for it and when it's bad it annoys me, even more so when I try to explain why and can see it going in one ear and coming out the other. I am never rude, I don't swear at people, I don't treat anyone with contempt and I never talk down or look down on anyone, even though my persona on here might lead people to suspect I might that isn't me at all.

It just annoys me greatly when such a great brand that they have worked so hard to cultivate shows itself to be well behind other 'lesser' brands on many occasions. I have had better service from Mazda, even Peugeot dealers than I have ever had from Audi. I have experienced a good Porsche dealer so I know what good looks like, but then Porsche dealers remember that the people buying the cars are the people with the money who have perhaps tasted what good looks like. A sharp suit and swagger is just that, it's not success and should not (neither should success) mean you can carry yourself differently but so many of the German dealers seem to employ people like that.

Now having said that I do not see this issue with Stoke Audi, their issue is one of transparency and doing what they say. Of knowing what a customer expects, of appreciting that R8 owners might expect a little more. Not silver service, just that level of high touch, keeping you updated, demonstrating you know me, like any good customer service team does. What you get instead is a whole load of disconnected experiences, where one person seems to hand off to another and then I need to educate the new person. They don't understand that me saying no rush does not mean leave it for a week before you look at it, it means don't try and do it in 3 hours if you need 6, take 6 I will wait happy.

There is no sense of urgency and no level setting. It's just yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir....at which point you walk out and they carry on as normal. I know why as I know DP's of Audi dealers and the bonus systems are a big issue and reason why these things happen, but that is whole other discussion.
 
Beautiful looking cars these and to be honest, my favourite colour for them as well.

You would think you would get better service from Audi for such an expensive/premium car though.
 
The noisy front end...
This started to show itself a few weeks back in a multi story car park, a clicking noise from the front of the car at full lock. Again I thought 'here we go again' but the following week I was due at the Nurburgring with the chaps and felt it wasn't significant as only showed itself in that car park. Long story short on my first lap of the Ring it started to click again, on both left and right handers. **** socks.

So we popped it down to one of the local garages for a once over and nothing obvious so consensus was diff/cv joints/ball joints etc. That pretty much put and end to my Ring weekends fun, though the weather did the same for everyone, so off to Koblenz for beers! On return I booked it in with the said specialist mentioned above and a week later we we up on the ramp, diff out and checked, all find, so re-oiled it and checked the CV joints which actually seemed ok. So then into the boot he got and we drove around some traffic islands on his estate and bingo, there was the noise. Obvious things checked like bolt torques etc and then agreed to take it down to Audi to get stuff changed, which he would facilitate. Perfect, get the real expert to diagnose, get Audi to fix rapidly under his supervision, Audi pays!

Today we found the issue and it was something a friend had told me about he had read....

About 150 R8 V10 Plus have an issue where the Carbon Brakes interacts with the hub bits (not technical) and it creates a clicking. This is what was diagnosed and some £260 grease later it was solved. Silence, car running like a dream and I collect it tomorrow. Audi is aware, the grease was specifically for this, but I will need to clearly understand if this is a lifetime fix or a service item and what the route cause is as I might insist on full front end, not just grease!
 
Dashboard gash...windscreen chip
Sadly this isn't as good as it might sound....

During my ring trip, proving to be a costly trip, I managed to get a small nick in my dashboard, right above the glovebox. I can only conclude that something flew off the seat and hit the dashboard during the trip on the Friday or Saturday as it wasn't like that before in photos. SO ANNYOING as not sure it can be repaired and I am looking at a big bill for a new dashboard which I will have to do if it can't be fixed as it's annoying me very much. Suggestions on a post card for people who can fix such things.
34867713383_eed4f35fd2_h.jpg


To add insult to injury I suspect a new windscreen might be incoming after I collected a big chip. Lucky thing is it's low and not obvious but I fear it's growing so might go crack :(
 
Dead interesting to read this, thanks for writing it up. Frustrating with the service you`ve received from Audi but posts like yours are how we can get a feel of something many of us will never experience.

Any video of the V10 through tunnels ? That must sound epic.
 
Lovely car. Really feel for you regarding the dash. It's not something where you can pop down to a breaker and pick up a mint one. Not to mention after the dash is replaced you will most likely be chasing squeaks and rattles afterwords as well. It is really difficult to find someone who would look after your car as if it was your own.
 
Bodywork and grills....
As mentioned above when I bought the car I did not register the grills had been wrapped in carbon as it was far from obvious. It was obvious the previous owner had hardly used the car and probably hadn't got a point where the engine was producing prolonged heat. Of course I got it and used it as it was meant to be used and within a few weeks I started to see bubbles and on washing the edges were annoying me. Because of this and a couple of other cosmetics bits (didn't like the pain match on the rear bumper and sills were showing chipping) I took it into my preferred body shop and got them to replace all the grills front and back with Audi bought black gloss parts. I did consider going for carbon parts from the US, or having the ones I had on dipped, but in the ended decided Audi parts was the way to go. So I have both sills painted, the rear bumper removed and painted, all 4 wheels back to metal refurbed and all the grills replaced with brand new black gloss parts. The car looked much better, wrap was gone and now I had only to deal with the bloody scratch on the near side carbon blade, which has been polished out to a large extent but will either need dipping or replacing (3K!).

Some pics after the work was done. Much cleaner to my eyes and better paint match.
32451545491_d6f68fd76c_o.jpg

32194966540_5aaccef54a_o.jpg

32451636761_d44d075fa4_o.jpg


FIVE grand lighter mind! The grills were 1.8K alone!!!

The current state of the carbon blade scratch...
32421254872_2fe31134b7_o.jpg
 
Audi - Great cars but massively let down but the god awful dealers.

On the various RS forums I use you might expect that they would have a "name and shame" section of the "bad" dealers but because there's that many bad ones, the forums instead have a very small "name and praise" section for the good ones (there are a few) as thats easier to use rather than trawling through dozens/hundreds of pages of negative dealer experiences!

I've had 2 RS models for around 4 years total and haven't had a single "good" dealer experience once, at best they have been 2-3/10 on average with a single visit rating a 5/10.
 
Audi have awful dealers, my sister had an issue with her TT S that Stafford Audi took weeks to not fix - dashboard intermittent sat nav going blank fault - along with numerous rattles and an oil leak which it returned with (dash fault not fixed either!)

Her husband escalated it with a group director and got nowhere with the fault fixing, ultimately it's ended up at Knights BMW where they gave him an excellent deal on a new M4 and a 116d to accompany their X5 550M tank.

The M4 is fantastic, they love it, why they need three cars between the two I don't know but their experience with Audi has been poor (after his previous A5 being faultless) BMW are far from perfect dealer wise but they aren't going back to Audi again, good cars awful service.
 
Back
Top Bottom