Picking a price point and comparing new thing with used thing is a richly tempting theme for many a PH post. We'll get it out of the way first. Yes, you can have an early R8 for the price of a new Cayman. Or a TT S. There, done. We'll move on now.
This is a used car. One that's nearly 10 years old. Gawd, that's got you feeling old hasn't it! But as arguments continue to rage about the 'correct' level of performance, and the growing disparity between how fast our cars go and how quickly we can actually drive them, a manual V8 R8 seems to nail the sweet spot.
To think the Le Mans quattro concept was 2003...
Fact: 420hp is plenty to be going on with, especially when you're controlling it via a slatted, open gated manual gearshift. Peak torque of 317lb ft is barely a smidge more than you get in a new
718 S Boxster
or Cayman, and the Audi demands more than twice the revs before you get it.
As if that's a problem with an engine that sounds this good. Because you'll have noted it also has double the number of cylinders. If you're not inclined to drive it at least a gear lower than you need to most of the time just to make it sing you're reading the wrong website. Because any car with a) a stick shift b) a V8 and c) a redline over 8,000rpm has got to be on your to-do list. You'll need to work it to make any meaningful progress against the Vorsprung Durch TDI brigade of your four-ringed comrades. But manual labour never sounded so appealing.
The R8 is fresh in our minds because we've just taken delivery of the latest V10 Plus for our UK roadtest. If your measures are gizmos, endless configurable driver modes and a ton of buttons on the steering wheel to make you feel like Allan McNish lapping La Sarthe while driving round the North Circular then fill your boots. The new one is quantifiably 'better' in pretty much every regard. Apart from its horrible electric steering.
Open-gate manual and 8,250rpm? Yes!
Audi styling evolution being what it is - that is to say, glacial - this nine-year-old hardly looks outdated. How many 'civilians' would even spot that it's a different car entirely?
Alternatives
at this price and vintage would include various tarted up 997 911 4S models or - at a stretch - a leggy Turbo. An Aston V8 Vantage is, perhaps, the heart over the head option and there are plenty to choose from at this price. But, as we all know, an R8 is both a glamorous slice of exotica. And a four-wheel drive Audi. With steering feel and a definite rearward bias to its torque split.
Inevitably a classifieds search of early cars does rather resemble a 50 Shades Of Metallic Grey (with optional Alcantara for those into the tactile stuff) so we were rather tempted by this red-on-carbon example, if only for standing out. In the end office opinion fell on the side of this Daytona Pearl one with silver blades, the better for being less wannabe Ferrari and more true to the brand values.
Dare we say appreciating asset yet? Probably not for a while. But as R8s increasingly fall into what the more snobby might regard 'the wrong hands', interest in manual supercars seems to be gaining traction and purists will be chasing a dwindling number of 'proper' versions like this. So it'd have to be a reasonably safe place to put your money if you kept it well. And a lovely place from which to speculate on the future desirability of manual sports cars.
AUDI R8 4.2 MANUAL
Engine: 4,163cc V8
Transmission: 6-speed manual, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 420@7,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 317@4,500rpm
MPG: 19.3mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 349g/km
First registered: 2007
Recorded mileage: 43,000
Price new: £76,725
Yours for: £46,995