R8 discussion

[jammy-git]

Or it could just be that Jake is doing every single little bit of work as soon as it looks like it might need doing to keep it in A1 condition?

[200Plus Club]

If you buy the right one spec wise they come with carbon and proper exhausts for free :-)
I've never known one so unlucky for bills like that.

[Pioneer]

The two Gallardo's I had never cost me anywhere near that much! Just unlucky I guess.

[jakesmith]

jammy-git said:

Or it could just be that Jake is doing every single little bit of work as soon as it looks like it might need doing to keep it in A1 condition?

It is in A1 condition, and based on what I've read, anyone buying a 12 year old one with 65,000 miles on for £30k that has only had annual oil changes will likely be buying a car that needs a lot spent on it to get it driving as it should IMO, or otherwise ignoring a number of minor issues that could cause issues later or affect the drive.

Lots of the work like changing the oil cooler pipes, struts, air con pressure switch, rear brake lige etc, are very common issues & will need to be done on any R8 of a certain age IMO. Lots of what I spent was on completely uneccesary upgrades getting the car exactly how I want it and I plan to keep it forever.

I could have spent another £10k on a newer lower mileage car and still needed to do half of this work maybe a few more years down the line.

Maybe running aGallarde would cost less but I bet they were way more expensive to buy, with much lower milage on them & used less than mine so not really a like for like comparison.

It's also been completely reliable unlike the Maserati GT or various Porsches I had before at least I seriously love the car.

[Raven Flyer]

jakesmith said:

jammy-git said:

Or it could just be that Jake is doing every single little bit of work as soon as it looks like it might need doing to keep it in A1 condition?

It is in A1 condition, and based on what I've read, anyone buying a 12 year old one with 65,000 miles on for £30k that has only had annual oil changes will likely be buying a car that needs a lot spent on it to get it driving as it should IMO, or otherwise ignoring a number of minor issues that could cause issues later or affect the drive.

Lots of the work like changing the oil cooler pipes, struts, air con pressure switch, rear brake lige etc, are very common issues & will need to be done on any R8 of a certain age IMO. Lots of what I spent was on completely uneccesary upgrades getting the car exactly how I want it and I plan to keep it forever.

I could have spent another £10k on a newer lower mileage car and still needed to do half of this work maybe a few more years down the line.

Maybe running aGallarde would cost less but I bet they were way more expensive to buy, with much lower milage on them & used less than mine so not really a like for like comparison.

It's also been completely reliable unlike the Maserati GT or various Porsches I had before at least I seriously love the car.

The facelifts have a lot of the problems fixed. The pipes that rot all became stainless and some of the known-to-fail smaller components seem more robust, but there is a big hike in price to the 2013-2015 cars. I've got another 3 years of Audi extended warranty available to mine. I'm almost hoping that something goes wrong, so it can be replaced, but it has been 100% reliable for the last 2 years.

[SarlechS]

I wonder if anybody could point me in the right direction of a Specialist or Indy who would do a comprehensive pre sale check on an R8 around the midlands area? anyone know roughly how much the going rate on this is? i'd imagine 2-3 hours labour rate?

[Trev450]

Not quite the midlands but Ricky at RE Performance in Swindon is regarded as the possibly the best R8 expert in the country.

[RSbandit]

Quite expensive to run an older one...had a 2014 plus for two years and nothing more than servicing and tyres.

[jammy-git]

Not an R8 but I paid just under £500 for an inspection on my Porsche a year ago.

[R8Reece]

RAC will do one anywhere in the country.

Not aware of anyone in the midlands though unless you take it to an Audi dealer?

[200Plus Club]

R8Reece said:

RAC will do one anywhere in the country.

Not aware of anyone in the midlands though unless you take it to an Audi dealer?

My experience of a main dealer was very positive if a little wallet lightening. The R8 technician has to be booked in for work in advance and did a good job. I'd get a quote from a main dealer to see if they offer an expert appraisal service but I can imagine people getting a huge shock on price if they do find stuff.

[SarlechS]

Trev450 said:

Not quite the midlands but Ricky at RE Performance in Swindon is regarded as the possibly the best R8 expert in the country.

Thank you! - I think I've seen a video on him on YouTube, I'll give him a call and seei if we can arrange something

jammy-git said:

Not an R8 but I paid just under £500 for an inspection on my Porsche a year ago.

Ahh a little more than I expected - it's just for piece of mind, I'm pretty good at looking at the obvious bits, its just the diff's / suspension, oil cooling pipes / OBD reads etc that I need an expert eye on

R8Reece said:

RAC will do one anywhere in the country.

Not aware of anyone in the midlands though unless you take it to an Audi dealer?

I'd rather take it to someone who knows these R8's to be honest, every AA / RAC engineer I've come across with my Porsche (broken down twice in 7 years) hasn't a clue where to start, I will look into it though, hopefully the inspectors at RAC are more qualified than the engineers who recover the cars. I'll check the Audi dealers to see if they offer the service of a PPI

[jammy-git]

FWIW, I'm glad I choose a specialist. They knew exactly what to look for, they were happy to take minor bits of trim off in order to look for common issues behind, etc. They send myself and (with my permission) the previous owner the comprehensive report and with the findings in the report (whilst largely reassuring) I was able to negotiate a discount on the asking price which paid for the cost of the inspection several times over.

[Fast Eddie]

SarlechS said:

I wonder if anybody could point me in the right direction of a Specialist or Indy who would do a comprehensive pre sale check on an R8 around the midlands area? anyone know roughly how much the going rate on this is? i'd imagine 2-3 hours labour rate?

Ed Jackson at APS in Brackley

[SarlechS]

jammy-git said:

FWIW, I'm glad I choose a specialist. They knew exactly what to look for, they were happy to take minor bits of trim off in order to look for common issues behind, etc. They send myself and (with my permission) the previous owner the comprehensive report and with the findings in the report (whilst largely reassuring) I was able to negotiate a discount on the asking price which paid for the cost of the inspection several times over.

Completely agree, I've only ever used specialists or people in the know for PPI checks on these sorts of cars, you get what you pay for a lot of the time and with these sort of cars if your tech isn't competent it can cost you thousands!

Fast Eddie said:

Ed Jackson at APS in Brackley

Thank you sir, I'll check them out too!

[crimbo]

I just sold my GTR and Ivan at mintco did a real indepth of the car for the new owner. I know he checks r8s as I was asking what they are like etc. I have seen a previous report he had done on a previous GTR at a dealer. He went over everything and took over 3hours to complete

[R8Reece]

crimbo said:

I just sold my GTR and Ivan at mintco did a real indepth of the car for the new owner. I know he checks r8s as I was asking what they are like etc. I have seen a previous report he had done on a previous GTR at a dealer. He went over everything and took over 3hours to complete

Thanks, never heard of this lot but looks really good.

[Griffith4ever]

I bought an R8 V10 Spyder in Jan. Previously owned a tvr Griff, three Westfields, a Porsche 996 C4S.

It's just a other world! I use her almost daily as my regular car (I have a van and a yeti too).

Such an amazing bit of kit. Previous owner had it remapped back to lambo spec 565 bhp. Mag ride deleted by previous owner presumably after misting.

She drives like a race car. Utterly amazing. I've got the Rtronic as that was at my price point for a 10 year old V10 with 25k miles. The box is actually great. Sure, the first three gears changing up are clunky but only if you are driving gently in sport mode. Switch off sport and they are much smoother, or , don't drive gently ;-) the box does not deserve some of the bad rep it gets, it's all part of the experience and I'm not bothered about losing a few tenths . Changing down is epic. Now the 996 tiptronic, that's WAS a bag of sh...

I can approach my local 7 lane motorway roundabout junction at great speed then step down the gears rapidly , and loudly whilst concentrating on the road. Just such a sublime experience. I drive in manual paddle mode all the time.

What an amazing bit of kit. Night and day from anything else I've owned.

[Trev450]

Congrats they are a special car.

The car is 520 bhp as stock and most remaps add around 55-60 bhp so you are likely to be closer to 580 bhp.

[Griffith4ever]

Cheers. Here she is. Mamba black.





It's black with a red metalic over the top. An Audi special colour of some sort, as is the interior.