Audi R8 advise

[DJR 7]

Espritmania said:

Just found out that if the a/c unit packs up it's an engine out job.

Happened on mine, apparently its quite a common fault on the V8, not sure about the V10.
Fortunately mine was covered by the warranty, i should imagine its a costly exercise

[Nedzilla]

It's only if the compressor fails it's the engine out. Failing pressure switches are a common cause of air con not working on R8s and is a relatively cheap and easy fix so don't jump to conclusions if the air con isn't working.

Can anyone shed any light on what causes the compressor to fail? I'm seem to remember reading on r8 talk it was something to do with lack of oil/lubricant supply but not having any clue whatsoever how the air con system works I'm non the wiser or possibly wrong for starters.

Cheers

[Angelis]

The R8 is the Kim Kardashian of sports cars. Big arsed and pointless.

[Chad_Hugo]

Briefly considered one last spring before getting a Porsche 997.2 Turbo S, I would strongly recommend the V10 as it's much closer to a supercar in sound/feel/speed than the V8 version- if that is what you are looking for.

Or, to put it another way, don't drive the V8 and then the V10, as if you only have budget for the V8 at the moment you will be disappointed.

My previous car was a PP+ C63 AMG and the R8 V8 did not impress at all, felt slow/under-powered in comparison. In no way is it a super car, more a relatively fast sports car.

V10 is a major upgrade on that.

[andyferrari]

Had a V10 R8 for 18 months and it proved to be a really good car. It was an Rtronic and was very good to drive, the sound of the V10 when it's wound up is sublime.
Great blips on the down shifts as well. A lot of poeple say they arent Supercars which I don't understand, it was faster and better to drive than my F430 before it.

[electron16]

Hi, can anyone recommend a service/parts warranty for my 2011 R8 ?
R8's can be very expensive to repair when they go wrong, so would prefer some insurance cover, but there is a great difference in the cost between various companies. Eg one quotes £1700 a year, another £1300 for 3 years.
You get more with the expensive one of course, and you can choose where the car is repaired which is essential in my view, also seems to be more comprehensive, but £1700/yr is pretty high.
Would be interested to hear your experiences regarding any disputes etc ...... and advice

[AstonExige]

electron16 said:

Hi, can anyone recommend a service/parts warranty for my 2011 R8 ?
R8's can be very expensive to repair when they go wrong, so would prefer some insurance cover, but there is a great difference in the cost between various companies. Eg one quotes £1700 a year, another £1300 for 3 years.
You get more with the expensive one of course, and you can choose where the car is repaired which is essential in my view, also seems to be more comprehensive, but £1700/yr is pretty high.
Would be interested to hear your experiences regarding any disputes etc ...... and advice

Comparably speaking, R8's are actually reliable and not as susceptible to large bills like most other exotic cars, mainly down to the fact it's an Audi. If it were me, I'd put the money away in a bank each year, use that pool to fix the car if required, see what you're left with at the end of your ownership. Unless you're unlucky you'll be quids in.

[davejones]

I have no experience with warranties other than the Audi approved one which is pretty comprehensive although I never needed to use it as the previous poster states, these are pretty tough reliable cars - again although I have not suffered it, there are several reports of problems with mag ride shocks leaking and obviously the older the car gets there is always a likelihood of failure - the cost to rectify this is high although switching to a traditional set up resolves the issue once and for all. You don't state whether you are looking at V8 or V10, mine is a V10 manual and has been very reliable and great fun - however these are cars that were north of £100k new and comparatively running costs are low, however they are complex beasts, needing regular routine preventive maintenance.

[will_]

AstonExige said:

electron16 said:

Hi, can anyone recommend a service/parts warranty for my 2011 R8 ?
R8's can be very expensive to repair when they go wrong, so would prefer some insurance cover, but there is a great difference in the cost between various companies. Eg one quotes £1700 a year, another £1300 for 3 years.
You get more with the expensive one of course, and you can choose where the car is repaired which is essential in my view, also seems to be more comprehensive, but £1700/yr is pretty high.
Would be interested to hear your experiences regarding any disputes etc ...... and advice

Comparably speaking, R8's are actually reliable and not as susceptible to large bills like most other exotic cars, mainly down to the fact it's an Audi. If it were me, I'd put the money away in a bank each year, use that pool to fix the car if required, see what you're left with at the end of your ownership. Unless you're unlucky you'll be quids in.

And even if you shell out for the warranty, there is no guarantee that it will pay out on a claim (or pay out the full amount), and then you have incurred the warranty cost and the repair cost.

Personally I'd either go for a manufacturer extended warranty or "self-insure."

[PompeyReece]

electron16 said:

Hi, can anyone recommend a service/parts warranty for my 2011 R8 ?
R8's can be very expensive to repair when they go wrong, so would prefer some insurance cover, but there is a great difference in the cost between various companies. Eg one quotes £1700 a year, another £1300 for 3 years.
You get more with the expensive one of course, and you can choose where the car is repaired which is essential in my view, also seems to be more comprehensive, but £1700/yr is pretty high.
Would be interested to hear your experiences regarding any disputes etc ...... and advice

Audi full cover warranty is usually around £1,800 per year for my 2008 R8.

As above, I don't bother and put the money in a fund to use when issues occur.

[Raven Flyer]

I have the Audi named components warranty (since Nov) on my 2013 V10 Spyder.

It names pretty much every component I can think of (that could fail) and is £1300 a year.

I've just had an MOT and service and nothing has gone wrong with the car.

[electron16]

Thanks for the comments, my R8 is a V8 with only 22k on the clock, so probably the best option is to leave the fees in my bank account !

[jakesmith]

AstonExige said:

electron16 said:

Hi, can anyone recommend a service/parts warranty for my 2011 R8 ?
R8's can be very expensive to repair when they go wrong, so would prefer some insurance cover, but there is a great difference in the cost between various companies. Eg one quotes £1700 a year, another £1300 for 3 years.
You get more with the expensive one of course, and you can choose where the car is repaired which is essential in my view, also seems to be more comprehensive, but £1700/yr is pretty high.
Would be interested to hear your experiences regarding any disputes etc ...... and advice

Comparably speaking, R8's are actually reliable and not as susceptible to large bills like most other exotic cars, mainly down to the fact it's an Audi. If it were me, I'd put the money away in a bank each year, use that pool to fix the car if required, see what you're left with at the end of your ownership. Unless you're unlucky you'll be quids in.

I have not found this in my experience, I have found it extremely expensive to run with parts very expensive and lots of silly things failing like rear fog light, rear brake light, struts, engine cooling fan, maffs etc. Must have spent £10k easily keeping it in top fettle over 2 years. Got a bill of £1600 coming in a month or so for new oil cooler pipes as the original ones were mild steel & corrode before Audi saw sense & replaced with stainless. Eyes open buying one of these cars.
However I never bother with warranties unless it's the main dealer one and even then they are a bit 50:50 about paying out IME.

[Chris355]

Pretty reliable. Mag ride can be troublesome, so best avoided imo as it doesn't add much/anything. Running costs are pretty reasonable otherwise.

The manual can be a bit notchy but is quite nice. The r tonic gearboxes get a lot of hate, but i quite like them, the s tronic (later cars) works well.

They are very comfortable and the interior is like sitting in most audi's. Does its job but nothing special.

The v8 is sporty but not particularly fast. The v10 is much better powerwise. Frankly the v8 is plenty fast enough to lose your licence.

They are nice cars, but I dont find them particularly exciting to drive.

They get a lot of attention (generally positive). Thats good or bad depending on your perspective. The ladies usually love them.

There is constant debate whether its a supercar; everyone has their opinion but does it really matter?!

I think they are good value for money.

[jakesmith]

Here are my running costs over 2 years for your interest. Car was 10 years old with 45,000 when I got it, V8 manual

Now... I didn't get it inspected when I bought it privately and probably a good whack of that would have been flagged by an inspection and I would probably not have bought the car, so there is a moral of the story!

Maintenance:
Maffs, filters, carbon clean, brake fluid = £1200
Battery: £140
Service: £600
Strut, brake light, air con pressure switch: £800
Aux belt, brake light switch: £300
Bank 1 lambda probe: £220
Replace bonnet (minor edge bubbling) with 70% contribution from Audi £855
Service £600
Replace cooling fan, front struts x 2, hand brake, fog lamp, wiers £2370

Upgrades:
Cruise: £300
Carbon side blades: £1500
Retrofit heated seat: £400
Exhaust (needed doing so upgraded): £2800
Stereo (did myself) £2200

[paddy1970]

I had the Audi UK warranty on my R8 (it came with the car when I bought it used from a UK dealer).

I had to use it on 2 occasions: one for an oil leak and the other time for a corroded brake connection and associated electrical harness.

On both occasions, they tried to tell me that it was not covered. It was a real pain to deal with.

The first one (oil leak), they had to get an expert in from Audi HQ and it took 4 weeks+ to get it fixed with the usual it won't be covered because of x or y. The second time (corroded brake connection and associated electrical harness), it was actually excluded in the warranty fine prints: No coverage for electric connection and harness!!!! I kicked off and, with the intervention of Audi HQ, they covered it because my car had been immobilized previously for 4 weeks for the first repair.

The bottom line is that even the full Audi UK used car warranty is not fully comprehensive and the Audi UK dealership is a pain to deal with when you want to make a claim.

[ian-163jt]

dont matter if supercar or not , as long as you get answers who cares , great car , better than a lot of so called supercars ...

[electron16]

Hi, what is the best option for standard servicing of my R8 V8 ?. I note that many owners prefer to use a good specialist, which I've used for a battery change (not a simple replacement !) etc. but now it needs a service at 22,000 miles. I'm very happy with the specialist, but thinking of the future when I need to sell.
Most buyers will expect to see an Audi dealers stamp. Not sure if a non-Audi dealer stamp would put 'uninformed' buyers off ?

[Trev450]

So long as the independant you use is well respected then it is not at all detrimental and in some cases is preferable to a main dealer.

[jakesmith]

electron16 said:

Hi, what is the best option for standard servicing of my R8 V8 ?. I note that many owners prefer to use a good specialist, which I've used for a battery change (not a simple replacement !) etc. but now it needs a service at 22,000 miles. I'm very happy with the specialist, but thinking of the future when I need to sell.
Most buyers will expect to see an Audi dealers stamp. Not sure if a non-Audi dealer stamp would put 'uninformed' buyers off ?

You're unlikely to get your money back on the cost difference on resale.
The service quality can be variable at dealers
Is it all Audi history so far, what's the mileage & how long are you realistically going to keep it?
If it's full Audi history on a car that has done 30,000 miles and you're only keeping it for a year then it might be worth it
If the car has done 70,000 miles your next buyer will be more concerned with condition than Audi stams.
If you're keeping it several years then I wouldn't contemplate using a main dealer.
Personally I've onlyy used dealers when my cars have been very new, as a hedge against an issue that falls outside warranty - to try and get good will. It has worked a few times for me but once they're 5-6 years old they don't see the main dealer again
I think even with proper exotics as long as it is a well regarded indi it's fine