Discussion
A bit of car history for me. First car was a Mk II Escort with a snorty 2L, then some motorbikes. Had some friends have some pretty scary accidents so moved to the next best thing - Westfield with a Toyota 4GAE that you couldn't fall off:
Then we moved to the UK where cheap European cars are abundant, so of course I bought a Mitsubishi EVO VIII MR FQ-320. Obligatory decat and tune up to ~380hp included. This did 5 years service including a few track days (fastest thing on track in pssing rain at Castle Combe and slowest thing on track with a bunch of GT cars on the full Silverstone) and a road trip through Germany including the Nordschleife. Parts cost buttons and it was as reliable as the moon. Only issue was I neglected it and it kept killing the tiny little batteries and it wasn't exactly suited to the Autobahns. And it looked stupid. And it was loud.
Next up we moved to Canada for a 3 month career break, so I bought an F150 whilst I was there. I did another Readers' Cars for that:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
When we got back to the UK I got my European car. I was looking at the cheaper end of E92 M3s but they were all a bit scabby at my price range. Started looking at 335is and one came up with low miles and the Birds suspension and LSD. This has been an amazing car for the last 5 years - pretty damn fast after a tune up to ~380hp, handles crappy UK roads with aplomb on the 18inch wheels and fancy suspension, comfortable on the motorway and a nice place to sit. And it does good skids. Although it did have an expensive habit of eating ABS pumps and when it went the second time it was time to go. Not a great picture but you know what an E92 looks like.
So on to the main event. I've been following R8 prices for a few years and they've been pretty static and then I saw an article somewhere about cars that are at the bottom of their depreciation curve and they were mentioned up the top. I did the normal thing of looking around and thinking "I can afford a car at £30k", looking at the cars for that money and then getting scope creep. I knew I wanted a car without MagRide as that's a £5k bill if you have to replace all 4 corners and some people report it only lasting 20k miles. Insurance is basically the same as the BMW to keep on the street in London!
I found this one with 27k miles on it. Upside is no MagRide and carbon sideblades, only thing it was missing for me was heated seats for my dicky back. I was NOT a fan of the fake carbon wrap on the wheels, the fake carbon grill and black badges. The wrap on the wheels still actually looks in good condition to be fair but the grill and badges are scabby.
I loved the "sand" interior with the black exterior and most importantly, it's got the correct gear shift!
Went for a 5 minute test drive (it was basically out of fuel!) and it was amazing. It needed a few stone chips taken care of so I asked the dealer to swap the badges for silver and a deal was done. More to come!
Then we moved to the UK where cheap European cars are abundant, so of course I bought a Mitsubishi EVO VIII MR FQ-320. Obligatory decat and tune up to ~380hp included. This did 5 years service including a few track days (fastest thing on track in pssing rain at Castle Combe and slowest thing on track with a bunch of GT cars on the full Silverstone) and a road trip through Germany including the Nordschleife. Parts cost buttons and it was as reliable as the moon. Only issue was I neglected it and it kept killing the tiny little batteries and it wasn't exactly suited to the Autobahns. And it looked stupid. And it was loud.
Next up we moved to Canada for a 3 month career break, so I bought an F150 whilst I was there. I did another Readers' Cars for that:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
When we got back to the UK I got my European car. I was looking at the cheaper end of E92 M3s but they were all a bit scabby at my price range. Started looking at 335is and one came up with low miles and the Birds suspension and LSD. This has been an amazing car for the last 5 years - pretty damn fast after a tune up to ~380hp, handles crappy UK roads with aplomb on the 18inch wheels and fancy suspension, comfortable on the motorway and a nice place to sit. And it does good skids. Although it did have an expensive habit of eating ABS pumps and when it went the second time it was time to go. Not a great picture but you know what an E92 looks like.
So on to the main event. I've been following R8 prices for a few years and they've been pretty static and then I saw an article somewhere about cars that are at the bottom of their depreciation curve and they were mentioned up the top. I did the normal thing of looking around and thinking "I can afford a car at £30k", looking at the cars for that money and then getting scope creep. I knew I wanted a car without MagRide as that's a £5k bill if you have to replace all 4 corners and some people report it only lasting 20k miles. Insurance is basically the same as the BMW to keep on the street in London!
I found this one with 27k miles on it. Upside is no MagRide and carbon sideblades, only thing it was missing for me was heated seats for my dicky back. I was NOT a fan of the fake carbon wrap on the wheels, the fake carbon grill and black badges. The wrap on the wheels still actually looks in good condition to be fair but the grill and badges are scabby.
I loved the "sand" interior with the black exterior and most importantly, it's got the correct gear shift!
Went for a 5 minute test drive (it was basically out of fuel!) and it was amazing. It needed a few stone chips taken care of so I asked the dealer to swap the badges for silver and a deal was done. More to come!
I still remember the day I saw the first one of these on the road. Looked like nothing else, so much presence. gen2 just not the same. would like to get in one of these one day.
Thoughts about the chassis cracking issue? I guess you've bought from a dealer so if anything does crop up it should be OK.
Thoughts about the chassis cracking issue? I guess you've bought from a dealer so if anything does crop up it should be OK.
carinaman said:
Very nice except for the carbon wrap stuff.
I'm thinking it'll protect the wheels a bit whilst the missus learns how big it is when reverse parking! 
shalmaneser said:
I still remember the day I saw the first one of these on the road. Looked like nothing else, so much presence. gen2 just not the same. would like to get in one of these one day.
Thoughts about the chassis cracking issue? I guess you've bought from a dealer so if anything does crop up it should be OK.
I remember reading the Evo magazine articles about them when they came out and loved them. I went and got copies again to relive it before this arrived actually! Thoughts about the chassis cracking issue? I guess you've bought from a dealer so if anything does crop up it should be OK.
We also went to the Frankfurt motor show and gawped at the spyder when they released that.
As far as the frame cracking, I think like lots of stuff it's been overblown by cranky forums
. Consensus seems to be now that it only happens in the event of an accident or very hard hit on a pothole, probably after the MagRide has given out. If that happens, you take it to a repairer and insurance either wrights it off or fixes it. If it were a common event they'd be expensive to insure but it was comparatively cheap. Hopefully I'm not wrong! 
So we caught the train out last night to go pick it up. Had some fun and games with insurance - did you know that quoting for insurance on the day the insurance starts is a lot more expensive compared to a week before? I certainly didn't but £200 says I'm not going to forget a second time!
The respray on the bonnet looked great and he'd changed the 4 rings badges to silver like we agreed. He hadn't changed the R8 badge at the back but a genuine one is £36 so no sweat, that's been ordered. It also had a small scratch on the front that didn't get repaired so he's going to pay for a mobile repairer to come out. He was so nice to me, I must have overpaid.
We drove out of his showroom and spent 10 minutes setting the satnav that seemed to come straight from a bad computer game in the 1980s. It took a while to find us as well but we'll deal with it.
Set off down the road and the first thing to notice is that the engine is a peach. It feels like it has a super light flywheel so picks up and revs really quickly. When you turn off the key, the engine just stops dead too which is really cool. And I only stalled it once on the way home!
That engine could be louder when you're pootling along but is appropriately noisy when making progress. Lots of the noise seems to be fan noise, kinda like a 911 if that makes sense which I didn't expect. Lightning throttle response, especially coming from fast turbo cars.
The steering is light and delicate but it's really easy to place exactly where you want on the road. Really nice. It cruises on the motorway with an even more relaxed feel than the BMW - doesn't feel like you're moving fast at all so I think cruise control is going to be important.
The open gate shifter is really easy to use after the first dozen shifts too. I was constantly just dropping it back a cog or two to play a tune with the engine. Coming back in on the M40 we went through the Hanger Lane tunnel in 2nd and deep into 3rd. The missus was supposed to record but she just shut her eyes and videoed her kneecaps, so I guess that means it's quick enough! I am a very happy boy.
Tucked up on a slightly fancier street round the corner from ours:
Next up, we should do something about that crappy stereo / SatNav and maybe look to do a road trip...
The respray on the bonnet looked great and he'd changed the 4 rings badges to silver like we agreed. He hadn't changed the R8 badge at the back but a genuine one is £36 so no sweat, that's been ordered. It also had a small scratch on the front that didn't get repaired so he's going to pay for a mobile repairer to come out. He was so nice to me, I must have overpaid.
We drove out of his showroom and spent 10 minutes setting the satnav that seemed to come straight from a bad computer game in the 1980s. It took a while to find us as well but we'll deal with it.
Set off down the road and the first thing to notice is that the engine is a peach. It feels like it has a super light flywheel so picks up and revs really quickly. When you turn off the key, the engine just stops dead too which is really cool. And I only stalled it once on the way home!
That engine could be louder when you're pootling along but is appropriately noisy when making progress. Lots of the noise seems to be fan noise, kinda like a 911 if that makes sense which I didn't expect. Lightning throttle response, especially coming from fast turbo cars.
The steering is light and delicate but it's really easy to place exactly where you want on the road. Really nice. It cruises on the motorway with an even more relaxed feel than the BMW - doesn't feel like you're moving fast at all so I think cruise control is going to be important.
The open gate shifter is really easy to use after the first dozen shifts too. I was constantly just dropping it back a cog or two to play a tune with the engine. Coming back in on the M40 we went through the Hanger Lane tunnel in 2nd and deep into 3rd. The missus was supposed to record but she just shut her eyes and videoed her kneecaps, so I guess that means it's quick enough! I am a very happy boy.
Tucked up on a slightly fancier street round the corner from ours:
Next up, we should do something about that crappy stereo / SatNav and maybe look to do a road trip...
Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 6th October 15:02
Congrats looks like a great car.
I remember when I got my first R8, a 4.2 R-Tronic which i paid above list for a second hand car, as I loved it after a short test drive. Great cars.
Do join the forum, https://www.r8talk.com/
Lots of useful info and friendly people!
Peter
I remember when I got my first R8, a 4.2 R-Tronic which i paid above list for a second hand car, as I loved it after a short test drive. Great cars.
Do join the forum, https://www.r8talk.com/
Lots of useful info and friendly people!
Peter
seefarr said:
I remember reading the Evo magazine articles about them when they came out and loved them. I went and got copies again to relive it before this arrived actually! We also went to the Frankfurt motor show and gawped at the spyder when they released that.
As far as the frame cracking, I think like lots of stuff it's been overblown by cranky forums. Consensus seems to be now that it only happens in the event of an accident or very hard hit on a pothole, probably after the MagRide has given out. If that happens, you take it to a repairer and insurance either wrights it off or fixes it. If it were a common event they'd be expensive to insure but it was comparatively cheap. Hopefully I'm not wrong!
Off topic but the white Honda FD2 on the front cover was my car. We also went to the Frankfurt motor show and gawped at the spyder when they released that.As far as the frame cracking, I think like lots of stuff it's been overblown by cranky forums
. Consensus seems to be now that it only happens in the event of an accident or very hard hit on a pothole, probably after the MagRide has given out. If that happens, you take it to a repairer and insurance either wrights it off or fixes it. If it were a common event they'd be expensive to insure but it was comparatively cheap. Hopefully I'm not wrong! On topic - looks ace! Love the interior colour...look forward to the updates.
MacR8A5 said:
Congrats looks like a great car.
I remember when I got my first R8, a 4.2 R-Tronic which i paid above list for a second hand car, as I loved it after a short test drive. Great cars.
Do join the forum, https://www.r8talk.com/
Lots of useful info and friendly people!
Peter
Thanks, I've already read everything I can find on there - seems like a knowledgeable bunch with less of your typical brand-specific-forum people... You know what I'm saying! I remember when I got my first R8, a 4.2 R-Tronic which i paid above list for a second hand car, as I loved it after a short test drive. Great cars.
Do join the forum, https://www.r8talk.com/
Lots of useful info and friendly people!
Peter
hondafanatic said:
Off topic but the white Honda FD2 on the front cover was my car.
On topic - looks ace! Love the interior colour...look forward to the updates.
Claim to fame that one! They gave it rave reviews.On topic - looks ace! Love the interior colour...look forward to the updates.
shalmaneser said:
Please do keep this updated - looks great!
Sat Nav is to be expected I suppose, are there nice OEM-looking replacement options? Maybe fitting an OEM non-satnav HU and using a bluetooth widget would be a good option?
There is a SatNav and stereo plan in the works - should have more this week!Sat Nav is to be expected I suppose, are there nice OEM-looking replacement options? Maybe fitting an OEM non-satnav HU and using a bluetooth widget would be a good option?
200Plus Club said:
Get a decent exhaust on if you are keeping the car. Mine had an eisenmann system that was remote switchable. Oh my days that noise!
:-)
I'm going to try to plug the exhaust airlines (to keep the valve open below 3500rpm or whenever) and see if that gives me a bit more and then we'll have to see. I did that on my BMW and really liked it - a little bit rorty but still OK on a cruise.:-)
Not much done today on the actual car. I bought some magnetic GB "stickers" as we're hoping to get to Europe soon. But. They don't stick at all to aluminium (duh) so that's not going to work! Plan B required.
Also test fitted some bags in - managed to get a cabin bag in the nose frunk thing and a taller Eastpak roller and squishy cabin bag to fit quite nicely behind the seats with no reduction in rear vision. With some extra space in the frunk left for shoes and jackets that'll sort us for at least a week.
In non-R8 news I had the BMW polished today ready for sale. Removing 5 years of London's scrapes and very occasional washing must not have been fun but he did a great job - the bloke was really nice too. No relationship etc. but I'll be booking him in to do the R8 soon: https://www.ivaletuk.com/
SarlechS said:
looking forward to this, I'm guessing maintenance on something like this would be higher than a 911?
Why? The engine is shared with an Audi RS4 and there are a fair few of those with high mileages. Other components and the engineering behind them are from a successful main stream mass manufacturer.Recent (ish) n/a 911s can have problems with bore scoring and RMS/IMS; the R8 is know to have issues with Mag ride and air con compressors.
They both have a reputation for being highly useable and non temperamental daily sports cars.
Nice car OP, the interior is a good contrast.
Samcrac repaired the frame on his R8 relatively cheaply. As I understand it, there is a preventative plate that can be welded in easily as long as it hasn’t cracked already.
Interesting thread on r8talk that I suspect you have read already.
When looking into the RS4, the main thing I saw with this engine is the coking. It significantly affects power and even if you clean it, will happen again very quickly. It’s almost a service item if you care about making full power. In the R8 it is more forgivable because you aren’t likely to be doing as much mileage and you can push the cleans out.
Samcrac repaired the frame on his R8 relatively cheaply. As I understand it, there is a preventative plate that can be welded in easily as long as it hasn’t cracked already.
Interesting thread on r8talk that I suspect you have read already.
When looking into the RS4, the main thing I saw with this engine is the coking. It significantly affects power and even if you clean it, will happen again very quickly. It’s almost a service item if you care about making full power. In the R8 it is more forgivable because you aren’t likely to be doing as much mileage and you can push the cleans out.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm still over the moon with it!
I'm not going for a warranty. As someone said the really expensive things that go wrong are the MagRide (which I don't have) and the air-con compressor. This is not an expensive part but it's an engine out operation to replace it - I guess a mid-engined car is always going to have packaging compromises!
As much as the carbon wrapped wheels are not my thing, they've been done to a really high standard.
All direct injection engines suffer coking to a greater or lesser extent - the N54 in my BMW was known for it as well. A walnut blast every ~40k miles is the ticket and like you said, it's just considered maintenance.
I took it round to get a new stereo fitted this morning. I got stuck in a strange skinny road one-way system and discovered it doesn't handle speed bumps that well and the front tyres scrub at full lock quite excitingly but apparently they all do that.
I got the fitting kit from a company called RTA which includes all the wiring, the fascia and the rails. The fascia is super high quality and I reckon it looks pretty factory (I believe it is a copy of the Japanese factory fascia which fitted a double DIN?). Excuse the smudgy fingerprints....
So that's done just in time because within the week of buying it, we're off for a road trip to Germany! Sunday Chunnel, night in Saarbrucken and then down to the alps. Slight snafu (besides the whole Pandemic thing but that probably rates as more than a snafu) is that it's bloody cold in Germany in the next two weeks. This may put a dampener on my Alpine pass ideas but we'll have to see. They'll still have beer and schnitzels so not all will be lost!
I'm not going for a warranty. As someone said the really expensive things that go wrong are the MagRide (which I don't have) and the air-con compressor. This is not an expensive part but it's an engine out operation to replace it - I guess a mid-engined car is always going to have packaging compromises!
As much as the carbon wrapped wheels are not my thing, they've been done to a really high standard.
All direct injection engines suffer coking to a greater or lesser extent - the N54 in my BMW was known for it as well. A walnut blast every ~40k miles is the ticket and like you said, it's just considered maintenance.
I took it round to get a new stereo fitted this morning. I got stuck in a strange skinny road one-way system and discovered it doesn't handle speed bumps that well and the front tyres scrub at full lock quite excitingly but apparently they all do that.
I got the fitting kit from a company called RTA which includes all the wiring, the fascia and the rails. The fascia is super high quality and I reckon it looks pretty factory (I believe it is a copy of the Japanese factory fascia which fitted a double DIN?). Excuse the smudgy fingerprints....
So that's done just in time because within the week of buying it, we're off for a road trip to Germany! Sunday Chunnel, night in Saarbrucken and then down to the alps. Slight snafu (besides the whole Pandemic thing but that probably rates as more than a snafu) is that it's bloody cold in Germany in the next two weeks. This may put a dampener on my Alpine pass ideas but we'll have to see. They'll still have beer and schnitzels so not all will be lost!
Edited by seefarr on Friday 9th October 18:23
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