Discussion
shalmaneser said:
That's an interesting factoid. Knowing that behaviour was in the car's brain would irritate me though, have you tested it yourself?
I guess a remap would get rid of the issue altogether.
I guess a remap would get rid of the issue altogether.
Yup, I had it happen a couple of times, went and researched it then tried for my self a couple of times. Germany has a 50kph limit in towns so you do find yourself accelerating from that speed a fair bit!
From Regensburg we went to Ingolstadt for the Audi museum. The R8 wasn't built in Ingolstadt but in Neckarsulm (with the other aluminium chassis Audis and the Gallardo chassis) but it's kind of like bringing it home.
We stayed in the Classic Old Timer Hotel - naturally a modern business hotel on the edge of town. The selling point is that is has its own car museum! We were one of two rooms booked that night (in a 180 room hotel) so we had a private tour of the collection.
They had loads of cool stuff including an Enzo that was coated in bugs so looked like it got out a bit
. I offered to park the R-Acht in the museum but they already had one in there. 
Next day was out to the Audi museum. I had never got my head around how the four companies became Auto Union and then back to Audi but they had loads of info on it. They had a load of rare Horch as well which were uber expensive in the day and covered in lovely design details.
Most of the collection stopped after 2000 so they didn't have anything in the A2 (which was quite a modern thing when it came out) the TT or the R8 in the main collection - all quite influential cars. And no R8s models in the gift shop either!
We stayed in the Classic Old Timer Hotel - naturally a modern business hotel on the edge of town. The selling point is that is has its own car museum! We were one of two rooms booked that night (in a 180 room hotel) so we had a private tour of the collection.
They had loads of cool stuff including an Enzo that was coated in bugs so looked like it got out a bit
. I offered to park the R-Acht in the museum but they already had one in there. Next day was out to the Audi museum. I had never got my head around how the four companies became Auto Union and then back to Audi but they had loads of info on it. They had a load of rare Horch as well which were uber expensive in the day and covered in lovely design details.
Most of the collection stopped after 2000 so they didn't have anything in the A2 (which was quite a modern thing when it came out) the TT or the R8 in the main collection - all quite influential cars. And no R8s models in the gift shop either!
All the good bits of the drive are done at this point but I'll continue the travelogue for those who've missed holidays or need tips on great beer!
Between Regensburg and Ingolstadt we went and did a ferry trip from Kelheim to Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg which is a monastery / brewery on a pretty stretch of the Danube with an attached beer garden / hall that's been brewing since 1050. If you're in the area make sure you do it - the beer is great and the ferry trip is beautiful. Book a table though otherwise you end up sitting outside in the beer garden in 7c.
My darling wife was kind enough to drive from there!
Next we were in Bamburg for my birthday. Bamburg is a gorgeous medieval set on a picturesque river but more importantly, Bamberg has more breweries per head of population than anywhere else in Germany. This was my third trip and I love the smoked beer and the ultra-fresh Ungespundet (just order a U, pronounced "Ooh") they do here. We'd booked into a fancy hotel to celebrate right in the heart of town which seemed like a good idea when we'd booked it late the previous night. Loads of skinny, cobbled, semi-pedestrianized roads are not the R8's natural home though. To get to the hotel's parking lot we had to drive up what seemed to be a narrow stretch between two halves of a beer garden. Loads of people wandering in front not making way giving me dirty looks so I just pootled whilst everyone at the tables stared with the occasional blare of revs to keep from stalling
. I didn't choke and stall or crash into the narrow entrance to the parking under pressure which was good and the beer garden was handily situated for a calming beverage afterwards.
Loads of room but of course when it was time to leave someone was parked hard against us and it was a real contortion trick to get inside in order to pull it out and fill it with luggage and co-driver. This was the only time I had a real problem which I guess was good.
We managed to visit seven breweries on the day and one of my favourite beer gardens (Spezial Keller) up on the hill.
From there we turned towards home and did a fairly subdued one hour journey to Wurzburg in Franconian wine country.
Next day a three hour journey to Trier on the Luxembourg border which is on the Moselle (more great wine, less good beer). We stayed across the road from the largest Roman structure north of the alps which was neat.
Filled up at an automated fuel station in Luxembourg, five hours across Belgium (horrid roads, traffic, rain, road works and misery) and France (less of all of these), onto an earlier train than we'd booked then two and a half hours in more Belgian style roads on the other side to home.
In the trip we managed to complete the following:
Between Regensburg and Ingolstadt we went and did a ferry trip from Kelheim to Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg which is a monastery / brewery on a pretty stretch of the Danube with an attached beer garden / hall that's been brewing since 1050. If you're in the area make sure you do it - the beer is great and the ferry trip is beautiful. Book a table though otherwise you end up sitting outside in the beer garden in 7c.
My darling wife was kind enough to drive from there!
Next we were in Bamburg for my birthday. Bamburg is a gorgeous medieval set on a picturesque river but more importantly, Bamberg has more breweries per head of population than anywhere else in Germany. This was my third trip and I love the smoked beer and the ultra-fresh Ungespundet (just order a U, pronounced "Ooh") they do here. We'd booked into a fancy hotel to celebrate right in the heart of town which seemed like a good idea when we'd booked it late the previous night. Loads of skinny, cobbled, semi-pedestrianized roads are not the R8's natural home though. To get to the hotel's parking lot we had to drive up what seemed to be a narrow stretch between two halves of a beer garden. Loads of people wandering in front not making way giving me dirty looks so I just pootled whilst everyone at the tables stared with the occasional blare of revs to keep from stalling
. I didn't choke and stall or crash into the narrow entrance to the parking under pressure which was good and the beer garden was handily situated for a calming beverage afterwards.Loads of room but of course when it was time to leave someone was parked hard against us and it was a real contortion trick to get inside in order to pull it out and fill it with luggage and co-driver. This was the only time I had a real problem which I guess was good.
We managed to visit seven breweries on the day and one of my favourite beer gardens (Spezial Keller) up on the hill.
From there we turned towards home and did a fairly subdued one hour journey to Wurzburg in Franconian wine country.
Next day a three hour journey to Trier on the Luxembourg border which is on the Moselle (more great wine, less good beer). We stayed across the road from the largest Roman structure north of the alps which was neat.
Filled up at an automated fuel station in Luxembourg, five hours across Belgium (horrid roads, traffic, rain, road works and misery) and France (less of all of these), onto an earlier train than we'd booked then two and a half hours in more Belgian style roads on the other side to home.
In the trip we managed to complete the following:
- Longest castle in the world (Burghausen).
- Tallest steeple in the world (Ulm).
- Largest Roman structure north of the alps...in the world.
- Longest treetop walk in the world (1.3km in the Bavarian Forest, which happens to be the largest contiguous forest in Europe...in the world).
- Oldest takeway joint in the world (wurst house in Regensburg).
- What felt like the largest glass museum in the world (Passau).
- At least one speeding ticket.
- At least one parking ticket (parking machine broken, app didn't want to recognise Germany as a place).
- Probably a "low emission zone" ticket in one of the little towns.
- Maybe a "driving on Austrian motorway without a vignette" fine (didn't know about this one until too late but unsure if we actually made it onto a motorway where it was needed).
- Numerous positive Politzei interactions.
- Loads of stares, grins, camera phones, "give it some" hand signals and friendly people wanting to have a chat despite near total language difficulties.
- Three bottles of schnapps.
- Much fuel.
- Two inches to my waistline.
Edited by seefarr on Sunday 25th October 09:20
I'm really happy with the Audi (as you can guess). I think it's a brilliant compromise between usable and super car. It quite comfortable and quiet on most roads (expect concrete roads which it hates). It's got enough vision, isn't too big, has a good enough turning circle, isn't crazy low (we only kissed the front once in all of the silly steep car parks). All the electrical gubbins work well but it doesn't have modes or too many systems to wrap your brain around. And I didn't have to feed it any more oil in the 2000 miles after the first time! The light upholstery may have been a mistake for dirty shoes and apparently gets stained slightly blue by jeans (who knew?!) but I'm sure it's recoverable and you could go for black.
On the other hand it's got a berserk engine when you stretch it and enough low grunt not to have to change down if you couldn't be bothered. The sound it makes after 7000rpm is astonishing and the few times I managed to stretch it into the top reaches of the rev range on a twisty road were scary, so quick enough for sure. It's pretty and I still look back every time we park and grin. That engine is in the boot which is still amusing.
It's got a friggin' open gated shifter.
It handles wonderfully and stops well. People stare and point camera phones. Strangers come and talk about it (including one guy who parked next to us in an X6M, my most hated of super minivans but who was so earnestly in love with the R8 I forgave him his current car).
14 year old me is staring in slack jawed astonishment that this car is mine. Do it. Buy one.
On the other hand it's got a berserk engine when you stretch it and enough low grunt not to have to change down if you couldn't be bothered. The sound it makes after 7000rpm is astonishing and the few times I managed to stretch it into the top reaches of the rev range on a twisty road were scary, so quick enough for sure. It's pretty and I still look back every time we park and grin. That engine is in the boot which is still amusing.
It's got a friggin' open gated shifter.
It handles wonderfully and stops well. People stare and point camera phones. Strangers come and talk about it (including one guy who parked next to us in an X6M, my most hated of super minivans but who was so earnestly in love with the R8 I forgave him his current car).
14 year old me is staring in slack jawed astonishment that this car is mine. Do it. Buy one.
In Audi news I sold the BMW after 6 days in the classifieds to a nice young gent on the last day before lockdown. Result!
I should mention that the car has a name. I know this is considered the height of gauche on pistonheads but he's called Rolf. We've named the last few cars we've had (Juan the Evo, Larry the F-150 and Günther the BMW) and it seemed like a tradition. We went through a list of German drivers (whilst in Germany in many pubs), I voted on Walter for obvious Audi reasons but it didn't feel right. Rolf Stommelen notched up 63 Grands Prix starts, was the first man to hit 350kph on the Mulsanne when he was driving a 917, was the fastest driver down Mulsanne another year in a 935, even against the prototypes and once finished second in the Nürburgring 300 in a 936 after having the throttle jam open on lap 6 - he turned off the engine for corners. Legend.
Last weekend we were booked into Sunday lunch at a pub out in the Chilterns for the last weekend before lockdown. There are some valves in the exhaust that open on cold start and above 4000rpm and I was keen to have them open all the time. To do this, you take off some trim in the engine carbon compartment, disconnect a couple of hoses and plug the ends up - the computer thinks it's closing the valves, your car is slightly louder and everyone is happy. So trim piece removal is a piece of piss, right? Except in the the drizzle, except parked in the road with an Uber driver right behind staring at you whole time, except when the boot/bonnet closes on your wife's head because you've had to remove one of the struts, except when the trim doesn't want to sneak past various sensors and except when you can't remove the plug from the sodding engine bay light. We're running into our time limit for getting out to the pub so we button it back up and head off. Audi 1, seefarr 0.
I mapped a twisty route beforehand and managed to actually find some open roads and corners which is something of a miracle this close to London. The last stretch of road, there's only one guy in front and he puts his indicators on to turn into a T-Junction just as the "twisty road ahead" sign comes up. You beauty. Instead of turning off straight away he stops and gesticulates a bloke approaching his centenary out in a weezy Renault Bluerghe. There's no one behind me so blokey could have gotten out after I went through - you can be too polite sometimes!
Round two for the exhaust this weekend and it goes well. I park off the road in front of someone else's garage that never gets used and with minimal swearing, we're done. Using an extendable ski pole as a temporary bonnet strut was a stroke of genius if I do say so! It's not transformative or in any way obnoxious but there's certainly more V8 woofle at low rpm and the gratuitous throttle blip down shifts are much more amusing round town. It doesn't seem to have impacted the noise when cruising at all as well which is nice. For the price (£2 for some hose plugs, some scratched carbon fibre trim and much swearing) I'd say it's worth it! But why didn't they make it like this in the first place?
I should mention that the car has a name. I know this is considered the height of gauche on pistonheads but he's called Rolf. We've named the last few cars we've had (Juan the Evo, Larry the F-150 and Günther the BMW) and it seemed like a tradition. We went through a list of German drivers (whilst in Germany in many pubs), I voted on Walter for obvious Audi reasons but it didn't feel right. Rolf Stommelen notched up 63 Grands Prix starts, was the first man to hit 350kph on the Mulsanne when he was driving a 917, was the fastest driver down Mulsanne another year in a 935, even against the prototypes and once finished second in the Nürburgring 300 in a 936 after having the throttle jam open on lap 6 - he turned off the engine for corners. Legend.
Last weekend we were booked into Sunday lunch at a pub out in the Chilterns for the last weekend before lockdown. There are some valves in the exhaust that open on cold start and above 4000rpm and I was keen to have them open all the time. To do this, you take off some trim in the engine carbon compartment, disconnect a couple of hoses and plug the ends up - the computer thinks it's closing the valves, your car is slightly louder and everyone is happy. So trim piece removal is a piece of piss, right? Except in the the drizzle, except parked in the road with an Uber driver right behind staring at you whole time, except when the boot/bonnet closes on your wife's head because you've had to remove one of the struts, except when the trim doesn't want to sneak past various sensors and except when you can't remove the plug from the sodding engine bay light. We're running into our time limit for getting out to the pub so we button it back up and head off. Audi 1, seefarr 0.
I mapped a twisty route beforehand and managed to actually find some open roads and corners which is something of a miracle this close to London. The last stretch of road, there's only one guy in front and he puts his indicators on to turn into a T-Junction just as the "twisty road ahead" sign comes up. You beauty. Instead of turning off straight away he stops and gesticulates a bloke approaching his centenary out in a weezy Renault Bluerghe. There's no one behind me so blokey could have gotten out after I went through - you can be too polite sometimes!
Round two for the exhaust this weekend and it goes well. I park off the road in front of someone else's garage that never gets used and with minimal swearing, we're done. Using an extendable ski pole as a temporary bonnet strut was a stroke of genius if I do say so! It's not transformative or in any way obnoxious but there's certainly more V8 woofle at low rpm and the gratuitous throttle blip down shifts are much more amusing round town. It doesn't seem to have impacted the noise when cruising at all as well which is nice. For the price (£2 for some hose plugs, some scratched carbon fibre trim and much swearing) I'd say it's worth it! But why didn't they make it like this in the first place?
No update in a while but we haven't done much interesting bar a couple of drives out to the countryside for lunches.
We both had to take a week holiday before the end of the year and we've been holding off until the last minute in the hope of some clarity. We toyed with the idea of flying somewhere warm and sunny but the uncertainty and the fact that we've just bought an expensive new car meant we were driving somewhere. And we can't really leave Britain, so we went down to Cornwall for a winter seaside pootle.
The trip down was the easiest we've done, probably unsurprisingly. The Audi really does seem to eat up the miles and we arrived feeling nice and fresh to St. Ives. And it averaged an incredibly frugal 23mpg - new record!
The weather forecast was looking as hopeful as you could imagine for a British winter by the sea.
But we had glimpses of what could be.
Sunday was spent resting and patronising local hostelries. Monday we gradually got up and drove down to Land's End via the B3306 and its a hell of a road. The first bit from St. Ives was lovely and empty and we got to open the car up. We were incredibly lucky with traffic, always meeting buses at a bus stop (on our side) or a wide enough bit not to have to reverse (coming on the other direction). And it was dry! We waited once for traffic in a layby, pulling out as soon as we had someone appear in the rear view and had a whale of a drive.
Still haven't washed the car after 2000 miles through Germany and the trip down to Cornwall!
On the way back we stopped off in a muddy layby to go tramp through a field to a 3500 year old stone circle. Who says an R8 can't do it all?
We both had to take a week holiday before the end of the year and we've been holding off until the last minute in the hope of some clarity. We toyed with the idea of flying somewhere warm and sunny but the uncertainty and the fact that we've just bought an expensive new car meant we were driving somewhere. And we can't really leave Britain, so we went down to Cornwall for a winter seaside pootle.
The trip down was the easiest we've done, probably unsurprisingly. The Audi really does seem to eat up the miles and we arrived feeling nice and fresh to St. Ives. And it averaged an incredibly frugal 23mpg - new record!
The weather forecast was looking as hopeful as you could imagine for a British winter by the sea.
But we had glimpses of what could be.
Sunday was spent resting and patronising local hostelries. Monday we gradually got up and drove down to Land's End via the B3306 and its a hell of a road. The first bit from St. Ives was lovely and empty and we got to open the car up. We were incredibly lucky with traffic, always meeting buses at a bus stop (on our side) or a wide enough bit not to have to reverse (coming on the other direction). And it was dry! We waited once for traffic in a layby, pulling out as soon as we had someone appear in the rear view and had a whale of a drive.
Still haven't washed the car after 2000 miles through Germany and the trip down to Cornwall!
On the way back we stopped off in a muddy layby to go tramp through a field to a 3500 year old stone circle. Who says an R8 can't do it all?
Thanks for the kind words!
On the subject of usability, our apartment in St Ives is on a hill and the parking is a reverse park that has to be be made uphill. The Audi hates doing anything slowly at full lock as the front diff binds up so making that park on day one was not fun. Stall, stall, clutch odour and regret. I think it's called character.
Tuesday we headed off to The Lizard which is an amusing name for the most Southerly point of mainland Britain. Off to the B3302 which is a great road we had mostly to ourselves, through Helston and onto the A3083 which was busy enough we couldn't build up too much of a head of steam.
But on the way back the gods of petrol heads smiled upon us and we had the A road completely to ourselves and it was magic. Fast and well sighted and then down to slow and tight. There was water on the road so I was short shifting and using the lovely woofly V8 torque more than the banshee high end but but apart from that, best drive in 12 years in Britain for me!
We lunched in a great pub in Porthleven called The Ship with a view of the ocean, quaffable pints and a mean crab nachos.
I've got to say, most of the B roads down this end of Cornwall have been double lanes and not busy. Winter down here might be a bit of forgotten drivers haven? Having said that, we have found our share of roads that are exactly 1.0 Audis wide.
On the subject of usability, our apartment in St Ives is on a hill and the parking is a reverse park that has to be be made uphill. The Audi hates doing anything slowly at full lock as the front diff binds up so making that park on day one was not fun. Stall, stall, clutch odour and regret. I think it's called character.
Tuesday we headed off to The Lizard which is an amusing name for the most Southerly point of mainland Britain. Off to the B3302 which is a great road we had mostly to ourselves, through Helston and onto the A3083 which was busy enough we couldn't build up too much of a head of steam.
But on the way back the gods of petrol heads smiled upon us and we had the A road completely to ourselves and it was magic. Fast and well sighted and then down to slow and tight. There was water on the road so I was short shifting and using the lovely woofly V8 torque more than the banshee high end but but apart from that, best drive in 12 years in Britain for me!
We lunched in a great pub in Porthleven called The Ship with a view of the ocean, quaffable pints and a mean crab nachos.
I've got to say, most of the B roads down this end of Cornwall have been double lanes and not busy. Winter down here might be a bit of forgotten drivers haven? Having said that, we have found our share of roads that are exactly 1.0 Audis wide.
Edited by seefarr on Thursday 17th December 17:50
andy97 said:
firemunki said:
Lots of hidden rock in them, you soon learn exactly how wide your car is, and how clueless the tourist lot are!
My heart would be in my mouth with such a nice wide car.
Exackerly!My heart would be in my mouth with such a nice wide car.
but it must have just been stick or leaf drag through the thick grime made it look bad so no harm. 
seefarr said:
I've got to say, most of the B roads down this end of Cornwall have been double lanes and not busy. Winter down here might be a bit of forgotten drivers haven?
I think I tempted fate there! The last few days in Cornwall were wet. People were building arks and we were driving around in an R8 at greatly reduced pace. We drove down to Falmouth one day and tried exploring some B roads but everything seemed flooded. As well as being camber sensitive, the Audi tries to dive at the edge of the road if you go through a large puddle, so we stuck to A roads.Heading back towards London we went via Dartmoor. We seemed to be following a pretty serious storm so had wet roads the whole way. Dartmoor was still fun and dead empty except for a few very hardy souls out walking. We also saw some small horses but I took a picture of the car.
We stopped at a pub for lunch, then on to the Fleet Air Museum. Managed to acrete some proper filth by then!
Stayed the night in another pub in Somerset then a dull drive back into London and Tier 4 with a side order of "Christmas is cancelled".
Another great time away in this ridiculous car. Still makes me grin when I see it and laugh like a loon when it reaches 8000rpm.
The Audi has not been doing many miles recently for obvious reasons - occasional trips to the shops to keep the battery ticking over. But we got the "service due" notification recently so booked that in with "Audi VW Specialist Centre" in Harrow who seem to have a good record with RS stuff. The car was due a full service for this one (which I hadn't noticed when I bought it) so 8 new spark plugs and a few more filters were added to the standard service. The call when it came was a long one though...
The alternator belt was heavily cracked and needed replacing and the the brake fluid was getting old so we changed that too. All of the above came to a tickle over £900 and done in two days.
The car also had a leaking front shock that would need replacing and there was play in some rear suspension bits. You'd have thought that this would have been picked up in the MOT and 600'000 point RAC check done by the dealership? Surely this isn't the reason they did the MOT, even though it wasn't due for another 5 months? I called up the dealership about the 6 month warranty they promised (and that I'd chased about a half dozen other times) that had yet to materialise and surprisingly, it didn't exist! After a bit of back and forth they have pointed out the the policy wouldn't have covered the rear suspension anyway (wear and tear) so I've got money for the front shock. So I guess the moral of the story is don't hand over your money until you get everything promised and get an independent inspection. Especially when dealing with posh Tod's-and-linen-trouser wearing, chablis-quaffing b
ds.
So we are at £2200 for two front shocks and the rear gubbins on top of the service. And the front tyres are at 2mm so it needs four new boots, but given that I'm not driving it anywhere, that can wait until next month! Wasn't the R8 supposed to be the sensible choice?
The alternator belt was heavily cracked and needed replacing and the the brake fluid was getting old so we changed that too. All of the above came to a tickle over £900 and done in two days.
The car also had a leaking front shock that would need replacing and there was play in some rear suspension bits. You'd have thought that this would have been picked up in the MOT and 600'000 point RAC check done by the dealership? Surely this isn't the reason they did the MOT, even though it wasn't due for another 5 months? I called up the dealership about the 6 month warranty they promised (and that I'd chased about a half dozen other times) that had yet to materialise and surprisingly, it didn't exist! After a bit of back and forth they have pointed out the the policy wouldn't have covered the rear suspension anyway (wear and tear) so I've got money for the front shock. So I guess the moral of the story is don't hand over your money until you get everything promised and get an independent inspection. Especially when dealing with posh Tod's-and-linen-trouser wearing, chablis-quaffing b
ds. So we are at £2200 for two front shocks and the rear gubbins on top of the service. And the front tyres are at 2mm so it needs four new boots, but given that I'm not driving it anywhere, that can wait until next month! Wasn't the R8 supposed to be the sensible choice?
LetsTryAgain said:
"8 new spark plugs and a few more filters were added to the standard service.
The alternator belt was heavily cracked and needed replacing and the the brake fluid was getting old so we changed that too. All of the above came to a tickle over £900 and done in two days."
That work for that money isn't too daft at all.
I dare say the shock wasn't leaking that bad - probably a misting of oil.
Would have needed replacing eventually if it's started leaking, but it could probably have waited.
No I wasn't unhappy with the price at all - I've come from paying similar amounts for servicing and fettling a 3-series. The shock had been noted as leaking or misting in some service paperwork from a few years ago so I figured it was probably best not to put it off, and as long as you're doing one you should do the matching one!The alternator belt was heavily cracked and needed replacing and the the brake fluid was getting old so we changed that too. All of the above came to a tickle over £900 and done in two days."
That work for that money isn't too daft at all.
I dare say the shock wasn't leaking that bad - probably a misting of oil.
Would have needed replacing eventually if it's started leaking, but it could probably have waited.
SamJB said:
Great thread, really enjoyed reading about your Euro trip and can echo a lot of the points you've mentioned about these cars, they really are great cruisers!
Regarding tyres, I swapped my P Zeros out for Pilot Sport 4S's and they're simply far better in every way, quieter, grippier, more comfortable and best of all, eliminate a lot of the scrubbing from the front diff when making tight turns/parking. Can't recommend them enough, Audi used to offer different width's for the tyres too so went for 245 up front and 305 at the back as I wanted the extra bit of sidewall. After your trip down my way and seeing our marvellous lanes, I'm sure you can understand why!
As someone else mentioned, I would also suggest looking into a clean up of the intake manifolds to help it run a bit more efficiently.
Mine usually averages 25-26mpg on a motorway trip and 23mpg locally. I did find a great post on the R8 forum for doing it yourself if it's of any interest. For mine, I'll probably tie it in when I service mine next:
https://www.r8talk.com/threads/diy-v8-carbon-build...
Nice one, thanks for that! I was going to go with the Pilot Sports for sure. Showing some improvement in the front diff binding would be amazing - the R8 hates reverse parks in it's current form which is not great for London...Regarding tyres, I swapped my P Zeros out for Pilot Sport 4S's and they're simply far better in every way, quieter, grippier, more comfortable and best of all, eliminate a lot of the scrubbing from the front diff when making tight turns/parking. Can't recommend them enough, Audi used to offer different width's for the tyres too so went for 245 up front and 305 at the back as I wanted the extra bit of sidewall. After your trip down my way and seeing our marvellous lanes, I'm sure you can understand why!
As someone else mentioned, I would also suggest looking into a clean up of the intake manifolds to help it run a bit more efficiently.
Mine usually averages 25-26mpg on a motorway trip and 23mpg locally. I did find a great post on the R8 forum for doing it yourself if it's of any interest. For mine, I'll probably tie it in when I service mine next:
https://www.r8talk.com/threads/diy-v8-carbon-build...
I asked about a carbon clean when I serviced it and they said that they wouldn't recommend it until 40'k miles. I was happy to swerve the extra £800 charge too! The car lives on a London street so working on it is no fun currently.
The most exciting thing that's happened in the last 3 months is that we got the car washed! We don't have a hose out the front so it hasn't had a wash since we bought it in October. A guy round the corner who has developed a Lockdown side-hustle and is as passionate about washing cars as I am about avoiding manual labour did an amazing job!
Next up, new tyres.
Next up, new tyres.
New tyres achieved! 4 new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S were procured via blackcircles and fitted up down by "Car Care in-Kensington" in Notting Hill (!) who seemed like a really nice, professional outfit. All in for the princely sum of £800 - less than smaller 18 inch MP4Ss I had fitted on the BMW! I thought long and hard about going to the larger 305s on the rear as suggested. In the end I figured that adding more tyre out the back wouldn't do anything for the front-rear balance and might accentuate the understeer I've felt if you don't plant the nose under brakes. That could also have been worn tyres though... First impressions (at a heady 20mph) are good and as promised they do seem to enrage the front diff a lot less at low speeds. We'll see if it continues after they get scrubbed in.
I saw something interesting regarding direct injection motors the other day on Iain Tyrells channel. He was going round a 300SL and was saying they were the first DI fuel injected road engine (from 1954!). The owners manual recommends pulling down and carbon cleaning the heads every 20k miles, so it's not just a new phenomenon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISell98Jv9w
I saw something interesting regarding direct injection motors the other day on Iain Tyrells channel. He was going round a 300SL and was saying they were the first DI fuel injected road engine (from 1954!). The owners manual recommends pulling down and carbon cleaning the heads every 20k miles, so it's not just a new phenomenon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISell98Jv9w
The R8 got a proper run out on the weekend to Surrey to go socially distanced, outside visiting. On the way out we were running behind a McLaren 570 on the (I think) A4 section under the A40. We had pole position at quite a few red lights together and hearing the two quite different V8s bouncing around the concrete was so much fun. He was QUITE a lot faster once 2nd gear happened. Allegedly.
I took one of my automotively minded friends out in it and he was hooting and laughing once we made it through the herds of cyclists and found 8000rpm. His missus has a 997 and everything was "Don't tell her but I think this is so much more comfortable / better built / faster than the Pork".
And an update on the tyres - loads of grip and the obstreperous front diff is essentially cured. Tell your friends.
So a great weekend and a good reminder as to why we bought it in the first place. Now we just need to be able to travel again.
I took one of my automotively minded friends out in it and he was hooting and laughing once we made it through the herds of cyclists and found 8000rpm. His missus has a 997 and everything was "Don't tell her but I think this is so much more comfortable / better built / faster than the Pork".
And an update on the tyres - loads of grip and the obstreperous front diff is essentially cured. Tell your friends.
So a great weekend and a good reminder as to why we bought it in the first place. Now we just need to be able to travel again.
We went up to North Norfolk to visit the in laws this weekend. Thanks to a pistonheads article from a few years ago I'd found the B1145, which goes from Kings Lynn through to Mundesley and since that's where we had to end up it seemed fated. The A47 runs essentially parallel so there's not much traffic. I really enjoyed this road - loads of overtaking opportunities, good sight lines and some tighter sections. We picked up a newish Golf who was keen and he followed us most of the way, heaps of fun rubber banding away in the straights, waiting at 60ish and then see him loaded up round the corners. The road was tight but I feel like I've got a good handle on the width of the car now.
I think the sidewalls on the Michelins might be a bit harder than the previous incumbents but the ability to reverse park more than makes up for it. I took my father in law out in it (who's a massive petrolhead) and he seemed to like it. We did British seaside things like sit on the beach in the cold and get average fish and chips.
We came back the same way and had more of the same. The only exciting thing that happened was the missus getting stuck between a truck ahead and an aggressive range rover behind. As it went to two lanes she indicated, checked behind and saw the range rover still attached to the rear bumper and started moving across..... Turns out a second range rover had welded itself back there whilst the first one had swung out to do the immediate cock-block overtake. Poor rear 3/4 visibility led to horns, swearing and I think a wker sign from the range rover sport... Irony.
I think the sidewalls on the Michelins might be a bit harder than the previous incumbents but the ability to reverse park more than makes up for it. I took my father in law out in it (who's a massive petrolhead) and he seemed to like it. We did British seaside things like sit on the beach in the cold and get average fish and chips.
We came back the same way and had more of the same. The only exciting thing that happened was the missus getting stuck between a truck ahead and an aggressive range rover behind. As it went to two lanes she indicated, checked behind and saw the range rover still attached to the rear bumper and started moving across..... Turns out a second range rover had welded itself back there whilst the first one had swung out to do the immediate cock-block overtake. Poor rear 3/4 visibility led to horns, swearing and I think a w
ker sign from the range rover sport... Irony. We managed to make it down to Cornwall the week before half term in May for a week looking at the ocean. The Audi was great on the way down (hit 23.8 mpg!!!) and we went via Dartmoor both there and back. It adds 30 mins or so but its so enjoyable.
Somehow we managed to have quite a few really good drives with little traffic (although we found a huge amount of bimbling campervans and 15mph OAPs too). We were staying in Seaton which is between Looe and Plymouth. The road down into town and the local A roads (A387 and A374) were all really nice and we had a few good turns on each.
Besides the drives we had your typical British holiday - puffy coats and wooly hats one day, pissing rain another then bright sunshine and t-shirts the next. And we spent lots of time in pubs!
The car took us down and back in comfort and no small amount of style. All our clothing fitted on the shelf behind the seats which left the frunk free for booze, coats and boots.
Still love it!
Somehow we managed to have quite a few really good drives with little traffic (although we found a huge amount of bimbling campervans and 15mph OAPs too). We were staying in Seaton which is between Looe and Plymouth. The road down into town and the local A roads (A387 and A374) were all really nice and we had a few good turns on each.
Besides the drives we had your typical British holiday - puffy coats and wooly hats one day, pissing rain another then bright sunshine and t-shirts the next. And we spent lots of time in pubs!
The car took us down and back in comfort and no small amount of style. All our clothing fitted on the shelf behind the seats which left the frunk free for booze, coats and boots.
Still love it!
Edited by seefarr on Wednesday 16th June 21:15
Court_S said:
Awesome to see it racking up some miles and be used / enjoyed. Seems like a really usable but special car.
We've done almost 5000 miles since we bought it in October! We're roughly planning on doing another trip to the continent in October this year too - Covid willing. Won't somebody think of the resale value?!SarlechS said:
out of interest what miles per gallon are you returning on a typical drive?
Almost 24mpg on the way down and 18.5mpg around the twisty roads in Cornwall. It's gotten better as I've owned it, either from the regularity of driving or the regularity of being taken to the upper reaches of the rev range. 
Court_S said:
Sod the resale value, just enjoy the bloody thing.
shalmaneser said:
There was one of these at the last track day I was at, sounded immense and seemed to go pretty well too! I could well see myself in one of these at some point.
Do it! doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit
elvismiggell said:
What have the running costs been like so far?
Insurance? Has it needed a service or any work yet?
I could theoretically stretch to one in the near future, but I'm less sure I can sensibly afford to run one.
Service was £900 for a major from an indi. It needed 2 shocks and some other suspension stuff, so an extra £2200. 4 x MPS4S were £800 fitted. Insurance could have been £550 a year kept on the street in London if I got onto it soon enough.Insurance? Has it needed a service or any work yet?
I could theoretically stretch to one in the near future, but I'm less sure I can sensibly afford to run one.
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