Audi R8

I had a look round an R8 yesterday, looks fantastic, sounds even better. I saw Clarksons review on Top Gear. Has anyone had a clutch in one? The premiums on them seem to be increasing, is this realistic money they are really fetching? Still positively a 911 addict though, won't be shifted that easily!

Be strong bro [ ]

A friend of mine had one of the very first in the UK. Nice/original design car, quite fast and very user friendly, C4S level plus, wow factor, better residuals than C4S. Now that Audi is partly owned by Porsche, R8 is currently better than C4S, but only 2-seater. No comparison to the Turbo and above.

One went by me whislt driving in Italy last week and the noise was impressive. I have an Audi garage right across from my office and I am thinking of going over and see if I can get a test drive. I too will need a good deal of persuading to move over. RB.

After the TV and photo's, I was suprised how good they look in the flesh. As long as they don't drive like most Audi's, should be a cracking car (pity though about no manual option though)

I think you will find there is a manual version Terry

Looks a great car, my only problem is that there are so many Audis on the road and this one is a specially one , just not the same as a 911, even if it is quicker. Phil

They do look stunning, and very fast- not much beat it around Bedford Autodrome in the hands of Evo mag, except some sillies like the Enzo etc. I suspect though that residuals are poised for a fall esp when the V10 version comes out. Plenty about on the used market now, so prices are surely headed down. Still a lot of money though, when you consider what else is available.

In an ideal world, they'll bring out a stripped out raw track versionof the R8 which will tempt everyone out of their GT3s, thus causing their price to fall, thus causing me to buy one. [ ]

nice plan john but..... dream on....[ ] and let me know when they do!!

At the end of the day - its an AUDI......yawn. I would rather have a Nissan GT-R - may not have the badge (Porsche) , but it does have the performance.

I had a test drive in Gordon Ramsey's R8 that Audi had loaned him for a few months, over at Cambridge Audi. Same as you guys said, looks great, sounds great but my own opinion was that it was just too Audi-ish, it somehow felt too refined, like a large car with great power steering. Mind you part of that lack of was down to the R-Tronic gearbox which I didn't really get on with. I'd like a longer drive on some nice B-Roads with a manual gearbox to make a really good judgement.

I think the residuals are currently high as they are still quite new and rare and the speculators are keeping the prices high. It is only a matter of time before the R8 novelty and hype wears off and Gallardo's and F430's depreciate closer to their current asking prices. It is a very capable car as you'd expect from the makers of the current Lambo's and it does look much better in the flesh. However the new 997 has stepped things up a gear from the sounds of it, and if the previous C2S was roughly equivalent in terms of performance (it was within a gnats danglies whichever way you looked at it) the new facelift 997 C2S will have leap-frogged it. Would be nice to be in a position to be able to choose between them though. Both excellent cars.

the audi r8 is not a car it is a marketing exercise and corporate symbol relating to positioning (as much internal as external) for before, during and after the coming vw/audi/porsche merger or non-merger depnding on how it pans out given the amount of money developing it and he fact they cost more to build then they sell for it is as a car pretty good - no match for the top end porsche though and simply not a practical everyday car like a porsche (esp targa) can be

I thought VW controlled Audi and Porsche now control VW - so surely the wise men of Porsche would not allow the R8 to be better than the current version of the 911 ?!

audi is 99.7% part of vw (since 1964) porsche has worked closely with vw as a designer/engineer for tem and purchaser of components in 2005 porsche bought 19% of vw in abloc trade to prevent a possibel takover by renault following a EU ruling (upheld by the ECJ in 2007) that german legal protection for VW was unlawful in 2007 this was increased to 31% - just below the level which requires a general offer to all shareholders (ie a takeover) porsche shareholders are now worried they have overpaid for a nonproductive asset and with porsche stock languishing form recent highs (oli price and EU threast on car taxation and green isssues) a share led takeover seems difficult porsceh appoinyt a cople of board memebers at vw but they ecrtainly dont control porsche could sell out but could then lose the benefits of the commercial relatioship or they could launch a takeover but this needs either lots o money (credit crunch makes this tough) or the agrement of VW board and shareholders but its hard t see what terms would be acceptable to any let alone all of the various groups - there are also VERY significant differntial tax issues which would result from differnt outcomes how it pans out remains to be seen the R8 is a threat to porsche - VW saying maybe you need us more than we need you

The longevity of the R8 has yet to be tested. I doubt that it will last 40+ yrs like the 911 has and remain on top of the game. Do Audi/VW have the appetite to keep pumping in the billions of Euros it would take to keep the R8 as a 911 killer, brearing in mind the 997C2S is a good £20k cheaper than the R8? I doubt it when there is much more and easy profit to be made in the rep-mobile market. Now the facelift 997 has raised the bar again it'll be interesting to see if Audi try to play catch-up and release a facelift R8.

majordom - Thought I'd flipped into a financials website there! I've just put my red braces on but they clash with my pyjamas. My interest in the credit crunch is based around the hope that people will hold on to their non-leased cars a little longer so the market will drop thus enabling me to find my 996 cab at a good price. I'm still looking, came scarily close a couple of times but didn't feel right. I'm only looking around '99 - 2001 but can't get a feel of what's the right price: silly dear or walk-away cheap. Any guidance/ views gratefully accepted.