spend $100K on a 997 when you could have this? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

I'm passing this car every day and I'm getting the urge to do something stupid.. I love Porsche but no way do I pass up this midengine beast for a 997 Super Car

It will always be a mystery to me how Audi could take a beautifully proportioned car like the Gallardo, put their own body on it and make the car look awkward. Especially considering the fact that Audi makes and has made the world's best looking sedans for a couple of decades. I've read great things about the way it drives, but if it doesn't look right, why bother? http://l.yimg.com/img.autos.yahoo.com/i/articles/geneva_picture_gallery/2008_audi_r8/2008_audi_r8_side_x.jpg http://inamess.com/images/Gallardo_side.jpg

I think the R8 is a beautiful car. I am not much of a 997 fan, unless it has the aerokit on it. If I was ready to spend a 100k car the r8 would get a test drive as would a 997S with aero kit and a used F 360. Which would win my money...my heart hopes the 997 would but it would be close.

I would certainly take a 360/430 over any Porsche or the R8 but Ferraris are not at all practical cars like the Germans. A Ferrari could never be your only car unlike a Porshuh. Its like having a crystal chandelier in a high school locker room. THe R8 has very unconventional styling, much like the TT when it first came out 10 years ago. I like car companies that push the envelope. Porsche could learn something from them.

Pushing that styling envelope! http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2007/06/pontiac_aztec.jpg

Pretty Sweeet! Daddy Likey :dance:

I have to admit, I am a big fan of the R8. I saw it in person at a local Audi dealership and it looks even better up close. The article in Car and Driver complained that it did everything well but had no personality... I disagree. With my little experience on race tracks.... a well behaved mid-engined R8 would be fine by me. I would hate to wrap a newly minted 100+K car around a tree because of my incompetence. I would love a F430 but the comparison is not really fair as they are in very different price points. Porsche or Audi? Porsche or Audi? Hmmmm.... difficult choice.

and just look at all the groceries you could fit in there!

the audi is pretty hawt. if you look at the "rear" engine hatch, and look down, take a look at the exhaust clamps! : ) top notch!

The Audi is a really neat car.. but for 100-120K, I'd rather have a GT3.

^Wow a GT3 is now in well north of $100K territory? Just my opinion I'm not sure that the power is there for a mostly track car. For that kind of dough the GT3 is going to have a tough time keeping up with ZR1 and V10 Viper at the next track day. I mean if I'm holding Euros I have to be very tempted at these American bargains right now. Well put it this way if I'm at Laguna Seca or Infineon and you offered me an hour of 10/10's laps in a $100K ZR1 or a $100-120 GT3....I jump right in the ZR1. Now for the ride home different story.

The Audi R8 MSRP in the US is: 109K for a manual... 118K for "tip" The Porsche GT3 MSRP in the US is: 107,5K So.. Lets assume similar amounts of dealer mark-up mean that yes, these cars are the same price. Still want an Audi? I am not saying the R8 is a bad car.. but it is HEAVY.. some 300lbs heavier than the GT3. That makes quite a difference at the track. Yes, the 911 "may be harder" to drive.. but to many, like myself, it just makes the driving more rewarding.

Interesting parallel... The R8 is the road car version of racing car with an endurance racing DNA without equal. and the GT3 is the five star endurance racing version of a road car. See in my opinion the R8 sounds like the more versatile car with more exotic looks. My only experience with a GT3 (996) was as a passenger on a long trip where we got stuck in unexpected August downpour. Never in all my years have I sat in a car that seemed so utterly unpredictable in the wet. One minute we were chugging along no problema and one tenth of a second later the driver has his hands full and wondering if we are going to wrap the car around the next tree. The GT3 was infamous for this but to actually experience it first hand was crazy. But that just goes to the general difference between an R8 and GT3. One you can drive everyday without scary momments and the other has all its scary momments intended for the track on sunny days. p.s. I think I saw but definitely heard an R8 last night on the west side highway in NYC. It was black and about 6 cars in front of me. It darted off like a F16. Might have been a black Aston Martin..maybe. Have you seen those new Audi commericals where the proffessor tells the student he's going to have one of these three jobs and and buy one of these three cars" Well this car sounded just like the Audi in tha commercial.

From a well known Porsche hater GT3 v. R8 by Clarkson

I can't access that one at work, but if its what i thinkg, then thais a classic. Is it the one where he stuffed the GT3 into the barrier? As for the R8 being a road version of the LMP1? sorta I guess.. maybe when they put a diesel in it... IIRC, its more Lambo Gallardo than anything else. I too think it looks great and yes, as a Daily Driver much more forgiveable and perhaps useable than a 911 (then again, the backseat of a GT3 is pretty cavernous for luggage/shopping bags and a front trunk as big as a Boxsters Tires were perhaps the biggest issue of a GT3 in the rain.. but AWD does take the white knuckles out of most driving scenarios.

Porsche consistently beats it on the track, even the quarter mile. It also has rear seats if you dont get the GT3, looks better, sounds better, and is just plain better. But to each his own. And again, EVERYONE knows if you put 911 power in a boxster/cayman itd beat everything. Imagine a 415 HP GT3 engine boxster with PCCB's and new coilovers.

What parts of the racing car are in the road car?

^They claimed the R8 is only 20% Gallardo. Hmm I thought this engine was a variant of the LMP. That's coming but not yet (in other words this currently has NONE of the LMP): http://www.audiworld.com/news/08/audi-r8-v12-tdi-concept/outstanding-torque/]V12 R8

That 20% is pretty much the entire chassis. The engine is the same one used in the RS4, right down to the HP rating. Does anyone know if the Gallardo's engine is off center by a couple of inches like the R8?

Audi R8 vs porsche GT3 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Myv8qjHNM