Saturday 16th September 2017

Audi R8 RWS - Frankfurt 2017

That's 'RWS' for 'rear-wheel series' - yep, the rear-driven Audi R8 is finally here!

---

Ever since its launch in 2007, every Audi R8 has been praised for the balance of its Quattro four-wheel drive system; here was a car, and an Audi no less, that delivered the security of four driven wheels but genuine driver involvement too. Now Audi has gone one step further...

Er, where's the tyre smoke?

Yes, this white R8 with the odd graphics has a 540hp V10 and rear-wheel drive. 540hp, and rear-wheel drive... Not the full-house 610hp Plus, granted, or the 580hp of the equivalent Huracan, but you won't hear us grumble. The Audi R8 V10 RWS is described by Stephan Winkelmann as "made for purists", said to bring "the driving concept of our R8 LMS racing car to the streets." And that's quite a successful car...

50kg lighter than the four-wheel drive car at 1,590kg (without a driver), this R8 reaches 62mph in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 199mph. A rear-wheel drive Spyder is available too, adding 90kg to the weight, a tenth to the benchmark sprint and reducing the top speed by a single mph. The weight distribution is 41:59 front to rear for the Coupe, or 40:60 for the Spyder.

There are dynamic tweaks implemented to make the most of this R8's layout, Audi even speaking of "controlled drifts" thanks to the revised chassis set-up and driver aids. Apparently the ESC intervenes "reliably" at the limit too...

Stickers fortunately optional

Marking the RWS out over the regular R8 V10 are a matt black grille, matching air intakes and the lower sideblade in a body colour. Fortunately the red film you see here - it's like a GT4 car, you see - is optional, as are bucket seats.

All this, hopefully you will agree, sounds like very good news for the Audi R8 range. However, there is a catch: the RWS is a limited edition. Yes, just 999 will be made between Coupe and Spyder, which isn't very many. Hopefully demand will be so great that Audi considers adding a rear-driven R8 to the range permanently but, for now, you'll need 140,000 euros for the coupe or 153,000 euros for the Spyder. Expect UK prices and availability soon!

 

[ZX10R NIN]

About time Audi did this but making it a limited edition is not the call but hey ho something is better than nothing.

[wab172uk]

Still no manual option though

[hondansx]

Bit predictable really, and quite slow behind the Huracan.

Wonder how long until the well paid Audi marketing department comes up with a limited edition version with the Plus' engine? What creativity!

[kambites]

I can't help for feel that it's too late. IMO the ideal R8 to be RWD only would be the original manual V8.

[anonymous-user]

So a normal Audi R8 quattro sends 85% to the rear anyway so an extra 15% is going to make that massive difference in the real world? Great car though.

[Adz The Rat]

Still has the Quattro badge on the grille....

[andrewparker]

Adz The Rat said:

Still has the Quattro badge on the grille....

It's an Audi Sport badge

[Murphy16]

Good to see Audi making a RWD version of the R8. They're quite often criticised for being dull and clinical, this seems like a bit of fun.

[Alucidnation]

And 99% of people who buy an R8 won't care.

[Adz The Rat]

andrewparker said:

It's an Audi Sport badge

Just saw that on Instagram, my mistake

[Leins]

andrewparker said:

Adz The Rat said:

Still has the Quattro badge on the grille....

It's an Audi Sport badge

I was wondering why they changed the company name from "quattro GmbH"

[Debaser]

A RWD R8 sounds good to me!

[Rindergulasch]

They should make that a software option on all R8s. After all, that should be less of a hassle than to also build a RHD version, and as R&D costs go it would benefit every customer instead of only some small parts of the world with LH traffic?

[ensignia]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

But that isn't what buyers want; they'll sell about two of them. But they should do it anyway to appease the "purists" on here.

[Lime_Coriander]

I hate to sound cynical, but is everyone forgetting that Lambo make a RWD Huracan, LP580-2?

[Krikkit]

Lime_Coriander said:

I hate to sound cynical, but is everyone forgetting that Lambo make a RWD Huracan, LP580-2?

For not much more money either! The R8 RWS is €140k, the Lambo starts at £155k in the UK.

[Lime_Coriander]

Krikkit said:

Lime_Coriander said:

I hate to sound cynical, but is everyone forgetting that Lambo make a RWD Huracan, LP580-2?

For not much more money either! The R8 RWS is €140k, the Lambo starts at £155k in the UK.

Yeah exactly! Don't get me wrong, the very fact Audi is making a RWD car is a big deal, and an interesting direction for them to take considering their history

[Ares]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Plus the R8 manual is a dog.

[NDNDNDND]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I'd still prefer a bad manual to a boring automatic.

[Ares]

NDNDNDND said:

I'd still prefer a bad manual to a boring automatic.

I'd take a great automatic over a bad manual. Seems I'm in the majority too ;-)