Audi R8 V10 Plus 2015 Review

Audi’s R8 has been a quiet achiever for the brand. Not in looks, maybe, but in the way it’s gone about its business.

On the road it has built a reputation as the thinker’s supercar. On the racetrack via its various LMS variants it has become the default GT racer across the globe. When you’re finished playing with 911s and you want to get serious about the various championships around the world, you call Mr Audi.

The all-new R8 has already been shown and we’re looking forward to driving it. But shouldn’t we first re-familiarise ourselves with the R8 ‘Classic’… Even just a couple of days of commuting?

Any excuse!

It’s been around five years since I last drove an R8 on the road. And some things have barely changed.

The ancillaries are one or two generations out of date Volkswagen Audi Group and the infotainment system clunky, undersized and slow to respond in comparison to the large screen units to which we’re now accustomed.

The instrument panel display is also least a generation out of date – not just in graphics but in the amount of info you can access. Cruise control is a very simple on or off affair. Want to see how far things have come – check out the latest TT.

And there’s still glaring omissions for a car that’s priced on the high side of my last property purchase.

I admit it – I did spend probable 15 seconds fumbling for an electric seat control wedged between the R8 Plus’ steering wheel and aggressively shaped seat cushion bolster when trying to get into the car after one of my (even shorter) colleagues had been driving.

No, this $408,200 404kW 317km/h supercar has a good old fashioned manual seat slide – probably sourced from the A3 (nee Golf) parts bin. And the seat rake and steering wheel adjustment are resolutely analogue too.

Not that this is a drama, it works fine – it’s just not what you expect. Oh and you need to insert and turn the ignition key. How old-school…

What you do expect and are immediately rewarded with is the wonderful V10 engine sounds – right from start up.

Although introduced as a V8, it’s the V10 version of the R8 that has built the car’s reputation. A magnificent sounding engine, it is at the same time a flexible and heady powerplant that seems as at home coping with stop start traffic, as it is when let off the leash.

And if the ‘whoompa’ on start up doesn’t do it for you each morning, just a two or three second ‘blat’ in the lower gears is enough to wipe away the tedium of any commute – and probably your licence. Audi’s 0-100km/h claim for the car is 3.5sec. Sounds about right…

This Audi may have Lamborghini leanings, but there’s no doubt well-heeled R8 buyers around the world actually do commute. If the 911 is the sportscar you can use every day, the R8 is its junior supercar equivalent.

Stowage is at the pointy end provides similar space to the latest 911s. A trip to Bunnings will only be possible if the items are appropriately shaped – think small and rectangular.

If you’re trip involves groceries of an edible kind, it pays to remember the proximity of the space to radiators, oil coolers and the like. Thermomix has nothing on Audi here – it’s more slow cooker than boot.

Vision is reasonable (true, the rear three-quarter requires you still have a neck that swivels) but there are few issues with parking or negotiating the normal byways of a city like Melbourne.

A reversing camera and park sensors smooth the way, although I remained paranoid about marring the beaut black alloys of our tester. Low-profile 19-inch tyres don’t allow any wriggle room and it pays to remember, the R8 is just a touch wider at the rear than you think.

Just a little extra care is also required on steep driveways.

The R8’s liveability (I’m not going to be foolish enough to write practicality) is aided significantly by what I believe is the biggest improvement in the R8 since I drove it last… The (relatively) new S tronic dual-clutch gearbox.

Previously the R tronic robotised manual was a horrible affair – better placed in a large white van than a lightweight alloy mid-engined sportster. Gear changes at low to middling speeds were woefully slow and jerky. And when you were getting up the R8 on a sporting road or racetrack drive they were slightly less slow and built to woefully jerky.

The S tronic box is the smart, twin-clutch transmission the R8 always needed and deserved. It can be a touch recalcitrant when manoeuvring at low speed (especially when cold or hot) but 98 per cent of the time it works perfectly (Better in fact than the DCT we sampled recently in BMW’s latest M6).

And in sport mode its down-changes are micron perfect and come along with a wonderfully flamboyant throttle blip. I did it up to every set of lights. I’m sure all around me thought I was a total wanker!

On the track or a decent piece of road the R8 comes into its own. But don’t believe from the day-to-day praise above that the R8 presents as anodyne.

Despite the all-wheel drive system there are true mid-engined traits that emerge. The front-end is more precise and responsive than any front-engined car can be, but that also means you need to actively filter input especially under heavy braking. Like a 911, soft hands are the order of the day or you’ll have the pointy end tracking every which way.

The reward is a wonderful connection with the front contact patch. You’ll even feel the change in tarmac surfacing if you pay attention.

Performance is fulsome and available in a distinctly linear fashion right from idle. There’s none of the overboost histrionics and torque overload some performance cars are blighted with – just a steady, heady, yet rapid build of pace. In the few days we had the R8 used less fuel than the last local V8 I tested.

In this outgoing Plus version, the first generation R8 has a fitting swansong. There’s a limited-edition LMX version with laser headlamps and a few extra goodies at an extra $32K-odd but no extra performance also available should you wish to indulge in the high-tech. I’m a fan of the Plus if for no other reason that it remains the purest of the R8s.

The all-new R8 is very much an evolution of the current car. Audi promises more performance but one of the things I truly hope Audi retains is this engine’s character – it’s a cracker.

We won’t have to wait too long to find out… The all-new R8 launch is just weeks away.

2015 Audi R8 V10 Plus pricing and specifications:
Price: $408,200 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 5.2-litre ten-cylinder petrol
Output: 404kW/540Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 12.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 299g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: N/A