Audi R8 V10 Plus 2016 Review

Audi R8 V10 Plus
First Australian drive
Bathurst and Eastern Creek

All-new despite the evolutionary looks, Audi’s second-generation R8 V10 Plus is at the same time a potent supercar and a cosseting flagship. While it might not have the edge or image of its German counterparts, nor the latest from Ferrari, this is a mid-engined performance benchmark that incongruously could be lived with day to day. At $389,900 it’s serious money and yet a magnitude cheaper than its Latin counterparts. Too sensible to be sexy? Almost, but it’s a hell of a drive…

Great racetracks can make mincemeat of even very good road cars. They highlight any inadequacy. And write large faults that otherwise would be masked under all the glitz and glamour.

Bathurst’s Mt Panorama circuit is a great racetrack. Arguably the greatest Down Under. And Audi’s brand-new R8 V10 Plus is wonderfully at home on its 6.2km layout. Which, I guess, makes it a great car. Super even…

It’s not every day you get to drive someone else’s $400K 440kW-plus supercar on the racetrack. Even rarer is the opportunity to do so on Mt Panorama. Access to this hallowed bitumen is severely rationed – and here we were without speed limits or any artificial rules, allowed to drive the new R8 as fast as we wanted.

So I’ll cut to The Chase… Literally… I saw 274km/h soft-pedalling into the fastest corner in Australian racing. Braver colleagues added 10km/h to that. What was notable was not my squeamishness to push the limits but rather the absolute ease at which this car gathers, holds and maximises its pace.

Straight-line speed is a given – a calculation of weight, drag versus power. The R8’s prowess extends to the curvy bits as well. This new car is better balanced than the first-generation mid-engined Audi and even sharper. Yet at the same time it feels more accommodating to an average driver’s mistakes and miscues.

Five laps of Mt Panorama at pace in the old car would have even expert racers a little wary and ‘damp under the Warwicks’. The new car is both seconds faster and kinder in its accuracy and responses. With astonishing grip from its 20-inch Pirellis and the sort of chassis neutrality not often associated with a mid-engine layout, the R8 is arguably the idiot’s supercar.

Which is not meant to be damnation via faint praise. The flagship of Audi’s sports car range and the car that insiders say is the most important in terms of the brand’s image, the new R8 is so very capable for a whole spectrum of drivers because of the millions of man-hours that went into it.

It may not look that different on the outside, but under the skin the new R8 is radically changed.

The heart of the second-generation car is an all-new platform which combines an aluminium space-frame and a central monocoque of carbon-fibre. The front and rear structures locate the front and rear suspension units and the rear-mid-mounted engine and transmission.

There are multiple extrusions, castings and fabricated sections, all mated to the car’s carbon-fibre passenger cell and firewall. This ‘black’ core of the R8 comprises around 13 per cent of the total body-in-white. The complete structure weighs just 200kg and yet is claimed to be 40 per cent stronger than that of the car it replaces.

The Lamborghini-derived 5.2-litre V10 is the least changed part of the car – and even that has been made over. In R8 V10 Plus trim it pumps out 449kW and 560Nm.

The last atmo engine in Audi’s range, it spins to a giddy 8700rpm and now features dual-mode injection and cylinder deactivation. In certain high-gear, low-load conditions one bank of cylinders shuts down to decrease fuel consumption. Apparently – I hardly glanced at, nor cared about, how much it was using…

A new – and remarkably vocal -- bi-model Audi Sport exhaust system is also standard. It makes the musical V10 accessible to all. You’ll hear the new R8 before you see it.

The seven-speed twin-clutch S-tronic gearbox is also new. Quattro all-wheel drive allows the transfer of 100 per cent of available torque front or rear within a few milliseconds and, by virtue of a bespoke version of Audi’s Drive select system (the dial to change it is Ferrari-style on the steering wheel), there are now dry, wet and snow modes for the ultimate in tuneability.

Two versions of the car will be offered locally – the V10 Plus and the plain-Jane V10… There is no longer a V8 version offered, although rumours persist of such a variant – or temptingly, perhaps an entry-level model with an outrageously tuned version of Audi’s turbo five-cylinder. Proper quattro music…

Both of the new V10s are better equipped but cheaper than the cars they replace. The base grade R8 V10 now pumps out 397kW and 540Nm and is priced at $354,900. This is a $10,000 saving on the outgoing model.

Standard equipment includes nappa leather upholstery and Magnetic Ride adaptive suspension. Conventional steel discs are gripped by eight-piston fixed callipers up front and in the cabin Audi’s Virtual Cockpit takes pride of place.

Our tester, the top-spec V10 Plus, is rated at a muscular 449kW and 560Nm. At $389,900, it’s a substantial $19,300 less than the outgoing flagship.

Although laser lighting remains an option, the Plus deliberately ticks many of the boy racer wish-list items. Carbon-ceramic brakes are standard with the 380mm front discs gripped by race-spec six-piston fixed callipers. The dedicated Sport suspension system is a step up from the set-up offered in the standard car and then there’s the carbon-fibre.

Beautifully laid-up carbon pieces are used throughout the cabin of the V10 Plus but perhaps the highlight of the car is the external pieces. Absolutely functional carbon front and rear spoilers add around 200kg of downforce at racetrack speeds.

Every time I walked past the white V10 Plus test car I drove I couldn’t help but run my hand over the carbon side-blades… Proper craftsmanship that in its subtlety is so very Audi.

Our drives at both Bathurst and Eastern Creek didn’t allow any scope for independent performance testing. A couple of 0-100km/h runs at the latter in the full heat of the day yielded times in the 3.7-second range – that’s just 0.5sec slower than Audi’s claimed acceleration time for the V10 Plus.

In the right conditions there’s likely a 3.0-sec dead in this car. Launch mode is a violent affair but the soundtrack that goes along with it is quite addictive.

Audi Australia delivered more than 400 first-generation R8s to local owners between 2007 and 2015. And the attraction of the car didn’t wain -- last year 42 new R8s found homes.

There’s no doubt in my mind the new generation expands the appeal and the desirability of the R8. It’s a cracker…

2016 Audi R8 V10 Plus pricing and specifications:
On sale: June
Price: $389,900 plus ORCs
Engine: 5.2-litre petrol V10, naturally-aspirated
Output: 449kW/560Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Kerb weight: 1454kg
Safety rating: TBC