Audi R8 V8 manual
Discussion
Having enjoyed so many other Readers Cars threads over the years, I felt that I should contribute. I have now owned my (vaguely realistic) dream car for 8 months, and that seems like a good enough reason to commit metaphorical pen to paper. I tend to enjoy the detailed posts that outline the reasons behind a purchase, as well as the details about the car, so this will be a long post. For those that aren t a fan of long posts:
TL;DR I bought an Audi R8.
Rewind to April 2025 and I had owned my manual 981 Cayman GTS for 2 and a half happy years. I used it as my daily, and also did a number of road trips and trackdays in it.
It was a great car, but it was my 4th Cayman and I felt like I had experienced all that it had to offer, and so fancied a change. The next logical step would have been a 911. However, the most formative years in terms of cars for me were probably the 2000s which I think was a golden time for performance cars. The cars that really interested me at that time were the sub £100k cars that straddled the sportscar/GT/supercar divide, as they seemed to be the best balance of driving enjoyment, desirability, usability and depreciation-assisted-attainability. The key players were the Porsche 911 (997), Aston V8 Vantage, Nissan GTR and Audi R8 V8. For some reason, it was always the R8 that I hankered after. I remember seeing one on the road for the first time, as it was getting dark, and it looked like some sort of alien craft being so low and wide and with its signature LED running lights. This desire was cemented when it convincingly won Autocar s Best Driver s Car contest in 2007, proving that it has the substance to match the style.
There was never any question in my mind that, if I ever got the opportunity, the R8 that I would buy would be a V8, manual, coupe. I spent a many, many hours over the previous few years researching R8s, and one of the resources I found useful was Volkswizard s Project R8 videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGrxG9sEf14&li...
Based on these videos, I realised that my perfect spec R8 would be a post-facelift V8 manual coupe. Unfortunately, these are incredibly rare, since the facelift was when Audi introduced the dual-clutch S-Tronic gearbox, and most buyers ticked this box. After seeing no post-facelift manual models come up for sale, I had given up on the idea of getting one and would be happy to find a well-priced and looked after pre-facelift model Well, after a fortuitous turn of events, not only did I end up finding a post-facelift model in my perfect specification, but I ended up buying the very car from the Volkswizard channel! He had sold it on in 2020, but a couple of owners later and it was mine.
So, the car is a 2014 V8 manual which had approximately 28,000 miles at the time I bought it. At a similar time, I also got a Renault 5 which I use as my daily (great car btw), so the R8 has been excused from my mundane traffic-laden 14-mile round trip commute and I tend to use it for more enjoyable drives. One bucket list item that I ticked off soon after getting the R8 was to do a European road trip in my own car. Together with my wife, I drove to Nice via Reims and Route Napolean in May which was an amazing experience. The car was fantastic, being very refined and comfortable on the autoroutes (much quieter at a cruise than the Cayman), whilst then really coming alive on RN. The sound of the V8 bouncing off the stone walls was really special.
We even managed to pack in all we needed for a week-long trip with space to spare, with the help of a 3-piece bespoke luggage set that makes the most of the space in the boot and behind the seats. The luggage set was purchased from car-bags.com for around £250. They are not fancy, but they do the job well enough.
In September I met a friend who owns a lovely 997 Carrera S in the Peak District for a great day of driving. We had a great time comparing and contrasting the two cars. They are clearly both excellent to drive, but it really is remarkable how differently they approach the same target, and how different they feel on the road. Even sitting in the respective driver's seats, they feel worlds apart.
I am a big fan of trackdays, so the R8 was always going to end up on track at some point. The only modification I made was to replace the brake fluid with Motul RBF660, but I left the stock pads in place since they had plenty of life left in them. I wanted to take it to a fast and flowing circuit, so Donnington Park was the chosen destination. The car felt great on track; very keen to turn in and willing to rotate, but always predictable and fairly benign. It was a pleasure to really extend the engine to the red line in multiple gears too.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the day it became clear that something wasn t right with the car as it became difficult to engage gears and it started to smell of burning clutch when I parked up. Cue a clutch change and the first big bill of R8 ownership. Given the way the car is designed and packaged, a clutch change is an engine out job. I spoke to a number of reputable garages and every quote I got was around £6K. Pretty sobering! Anyway, the work was done by the excellent Unit 20 in The Wirral and the car felt lovely afterwards. I was reassured that a clutch change should not be required after every trackday! I hope to do a couple of 2026, although I have to admit a bit of apprehension to venturing back on track, since I don t think I was particularly hard on the clutch. There were no silly launches, I was fastidious with rev-matching on downshifts, and did relatively short stints (4-5 laps max) with cooldowns in between. Hopefully the clutch was on the way out anyway and the trackday was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I would be keen to hear from other manual R8 owners regarding how their cars stand up to use on track.
The only modifications I have had done are having the REPerformance gear shifter bush kit installed, and replacing the head unit with a new one along with the RTA fabrications fascia. I think this looks great, and having wireless Apple CarPlay is transformative when it comes to using the car.
So, finally, my impressions. Well, unsurprisingly, I love it. My main likes:
Looks - still looks fresh to my eyes, love the engine on display and the sci-fi appearance at night with the lights.
Engine - it really is spectacular, with instant throttle response, a wide powerband, amazing mechanical refinement and smoothness, but with a proper savagery at the top end.
Gearshift - almost a cliché now, but the open gate manual is a delight to use. Interestingly though, it is not flawless. You have to be really quite precise with it, and if you are rushing shifts it can be easy to snag the gate. Definitely not as flattering as the Cayman's box which would forgive imprecision.
Handling and ride - the way the car combines sharp responses and excellent body control with a supple ride is lovely. It feels like a step on from even the Cayman.
Dislikes so far:
Brakes no quibbling with the power, and they stood up to track use admirably well for a stock set up. The issue is how over-servoed they are, and this can make smooth heel-and-toe shifts trickier than they should be. Definitely prefer the brake feel in Porsches.
Rattles for a low mileage car, it does have a lot of annoying rattles! This gets on my nerves probably more than it should. The next time it is in for a service at Unit 20 I think I ll get them to try and track down and fix a few.
The dislikes are fairly minor, and are far outweighed by the likes. I used to own an E90 M3 before my Cayman. If I had to summarise what the R8 feels like in one sentence, it is akin to a Cayman with the M3's V8 stuffed in place of the flat 6. To me, that is just about a perfect combination In terms of future plans, I just hope to enjoy more road trips and (maybe ) trackdays in it. No plans to modify or sell in the near future.
If you ve made it this far, well done!
TL;DR I bought an Audi R8.
Rewind to April 2025 and I had owned my manual 981 Cayman GTS for 2 and a half happy years. I used it as my daily, and also did a number of road trips and trackdays in it.
It was a great car, but it was my 4th Cayman and I felt like I had experienced all that it had to offer, and so fancied a change. The next logical step would have been a 911. However, the most formative years in terms of cars for me were probably the 2000s which I think was a golden time for performance cars. The cars that really interested me at that time were the sub £100k cars that straddled the sportscar/GT/supercar divide, as they seemed to be the best balance of driving enjoyment, desirability, usability and depreciation-assisted-attainability. The key players were the Porsche 911 (997), Aston V8 Vantage, Nissan GTR and Audi R8 V8. For some reason, it was always the R8 that I hankered after. I remember seeing one on the road for the first time, as it was getting dark, and it looked like some sort of alien craft being so low and wide and with its signature LED running lights. This desire was cemented when it convincingly won Autocar s Best Driver s Car contest in 2007, proving that it has the substance to match the style.
There was never any question in my mind that, if I ever got the opportunity, the R8 that I would buy would be a V8, manual, coupe. I spent a many, many hours over the previous few years researching R8s, and one of the resources I found useful was Volkswizard s Project R8 videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGrxG9sEf14&li...
Based on these videos, I realised that my perfect spec R8 would be a post-facelift V8 manual coupe. Unfortunately, these are incredibly rare, since the facelift was when Audi introduced the dual-clutch S-Tronic gearbox, and most buyers ticked this box. After seeing no post-facelift manual models come up for sale, I had given up on the idea of getting one and would be happy to find a well-priced and looked after pre-facelift model Well, after a fortuitous turn of events, not only did I end up finding a post-facelift model in my perfect specification, but I ended up buying the very car from the Volkswizard channel! He had sold it on in 2020, but a couple of owners later and it was mine.
So, the car is a 2014 V8 manual which had approximately 28,000 miles at the time I bought it. At a similar time, I also got a Renault 5 which I use as my daily (great car btw), so the R8 has been excused from my mundane traffic-laden 14-mile round trip commute and I tend to use it for more enjoyable drives. One bucket list item that I ticked off soon after getting the R8 was to do a European road trip in my own car. Together with my wife, I drove to Nice via Reims and Route Napolean in May which was an amazing experience. The car was fantastic, being very refined and comfortable on the autoroutes (much quieter at a cruise than the Cayman), whilst then really coming alive on RN. The sound of the V8 bouncing off the stone walls was really special.
We even managed to pack in all we needed for a week-long trip with space to spare, with the help of a 3-piece bespoke luggage set that makes the most of the space in the boot and behind the seats. The luggage set was purchased from car-bags.com for around £250. They are not fancy, but they do the job well enough.
In September I met a friend who owns a lovely 997 Carrera S in the Peak District for a great day of driving. We had a great time comparing and contrasting the two cars. They are clearly both excellent to drive, but it really is remarkable how differently they approach the same target, and how different they feel on the road. Even sitting in the respective driver's seats, they feel worlds apart.
I am a big fan of trackdays, so the R8 was always going to end up on track at some point. The only modification I made was to replace the brake fluid with Motul RBF660, but I left the stock pads in place since they had plenty of life left in them. I wanted to take it to a fast and flowing circuit, so Donnington Park was the chosen destination. The car felt great on track; very keen to turn in and willing to rotate, but always predictable and fairly benign. It was a pleasure to really extend the engine to the red line in multiple gears too.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the day it became clear that something wasn t right with the car as it became difficult to engage gears and it started to smell of burning clutch when I parked up. Cue a clutch change and the first big bill of R8 ownership. Given the way the car is designed and packaged, a clutch change is an engine out job. I spoke to a number of reputable garages and every quote I got was around £6K. Pretty sobering! Anyway, the work was done by the excellent Unit 20 in The Wirral and the car felt lovely afterwards. I was reassured that a clutch change should not be required after every trackday! I hope to do a couple of 2026, although I have to admit a bit of apprehension to venturing back on track, since I don t think I was particularly hard on the clutch. There were no silly launches, I was fastidious with rev-matching on downshifts, and did relatively short stints (4-5 laps max) with cooldowns in between. Hopefully the clutch was on the way out anyway and the trackday was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I would be keen to hear from other manual R8 owners regarding how their cars stand up to use on track.
The only modifications I have had done are having the REPerformance gear shifter bush kit installed, and replacing the head unit with a new one along with the RTA fabrications fascia. I think this looks great, and having wireless Apple CarPlay is transformative when it comes to using the car.
So, finally, my impressions. Well, unsurprisingly, I love it. My main likes:
Looks - still looks fresh to my eyes, love the engine on display and the sci-fi appearance at night with the lights.
Engine - it really is spectacular, with instant throttle response, a wide powerband, amazing mechanical refinement and smoothness, but with a proper savagery at the top end.
Gearshift - almost a cliché now, but the open gate manual is a delight to use. Interestingly though, it is not flawless. You have to be really quite precise with it, and if you are rushing shifts it can be easy to snag the gate. Definitely not as flattering as the Cayman's box which would forgive imprecision.
Handling and ride - the way the car combines sharp responses and excellent body control with a supple ride is lovely. It feels like a step on from even the Cayman.
Dislikes so far:
Brakes no quibbling with the power, and they stood up to track use admirably well for a stock set up. The issue is how over-servoed they are, and this can make smooth heel-and-toe shifts trickier than they should be. Definitely prefer the brake feel in Porsches.
Rattles for a low mileage car, it does have a lot of annoying rattles! This gets on my nerves probably more than it should. The next time it is in for a service at Unit 20 I think I ll get them to try and track down and fix a few.
The dislikes are fairly minor, and are far outweighed by the likes. I used to own an E90 M3 before my Cayman. If I had to summarise what the R8 feels like in one sentence, it is akin to a Cayman with the M3's V8 stuffed in place of the flat 6. To me, that is just about a perfect combination In terms of future plans, I just hope to enjoy more road trips and (maybe ) trackdays in it. No plans to modify or sell in the near future.
If you ve made it this far, well done!
Edited by Nomes on Sunday 21st December 20:42
I seriously considered an early R8 when I was plotting my last hurrah in a decent sports car before aching bones and retirement put paid to such frivolities.
I ended up with a V8 Vantage which I’ve been enjoying for the last four years. However, the R8 always appealed. A very attractive and distinctive car, with just enough power to be able to use all of it more often than you would with a ‘proper’ supercar.
I have a feeling a R8 wouldn’t have fitted in my garage, as I can only just get out of the Aston when it’s put away.
I hadn’t realised the pedals were so offset - it looks like the throttle pedal is roughly in line with the steering wheel - does it feel that way when driving?
I’ve just dropped £3.5k on a clutch for the Aston - £6k must have stung a bit. Are there any other big jobs that R8s require? I seem to recall reading that suspension gets tired and is pretty expensive.
I ended up with a V8 Vantage which I’ve been enjoying for the last four years. However, the R8 always appealed. A very attractive and distinctive car, with just enough power to be able to use all of it more often than you would with a ‘proper’ supercar.
I have a feeling a R8 wouldn’t have fitted in my garage, as I can only just get out of the Aston when it’s put away.
I hadn’t realised the pedals were so offset - it looks like the throttle pedal is roughly in line with the steering wheel - does it feel that way when driving?
I’ve just dropped £3.5k on a clutch for the Aston - £6k must have stung a bit. Are there any other big jobs that R8s require? I seem to recall reading that suspension gets tired and is pretty expensive.
Nigel_O said:
I seriously considered an early R8 when I was plotting my last hurrah in a decent sports car before aching bones and retirement put paid to such frivolities.
I ended up with a V8 Vantage which I ve been enjoying for the last four years. However, the R8 always appealed. A very attractive and distinctive car, with just enough power to be able to use all of it more often than you would with a proper supercar.
I have a feeling a R8 wouldn t have fitted in my garage, as I can only just get out of the Aston when it s put away.
I hadn t realised the pedals were so offset - it looks like the throttle pedal is roughly in line with the steering wheel - does it feel that way when driving?
I ve just dropped £3.5k on a clutch for the Aston - £6k must have stung a bit. Are there any other big jobs that R8s require? I seem to recall reading that suspension gets tired and is pretty expensive.
I have really enjoyed your thread on the V8 Vantage, your car looks lovely. The pedals are pretty much perfectly set, it's just the angle that I took the picture from that makes them appear skewed. In terms of other big jobs, my car has the mag ride system which is great when working but is known to be a weak spot. If/when the dampers fail, replacing like-for-like is very expensive, but most people seem to switch to a cheaper passive set up. That's what I will do if have the same issue. The other potentially expensive problem is replacing the AC compressor, which is apparently another engine out job. Hopefully I won't find out how much that costs!I ended up with a V8 Vantage which I ve been enjoying for the last four years. However, the R8 always appealed. A very attractive and distinctive car, with just enough power to be able to use all of it more often than you would with a proper supercar.
I have a feeling a R8 wouldn t have fitted in my garage, as I can only just get out of the Aston when it s put away.
I hadn t realised the pedals were so offset - it looks like the throttle pedal is roughly in line with the steering wheel - does it feel that way when driving?
I ve just dropped £3.5k on a clutch for the Aston - £6k must have stung a bit. Are there any other big jobs that R8s require? I seem to recall reading that suspension gets tired and is pretty expensive.
Lovely cars, and well done finding one in manual!
I've considered them, but regularly watching REPerformance's videos, it just seems like a minefield of bodged cars. The other concern is how terrible the parts availability is for the V8! Genuinely amazed Audi have dropped support for so many parts on what is not a very old car.....Ricky even mentions how s
t Audi are at supporting their legacy models with parts, and how long he's got cars hanging around in his workshop with stuff on back order - and converting to V10 parts is a considerable cost.
Not that I'm trying to scare you OP, I'm sure you're already aware!
I've considered them, but regularly watching REPerformance's videos, it just seems like a minefield of bodged cars. The other concern is how terrible the parts availability is for the V8! Genuinely amazed Audi have dropped support for so many parts on what is not a very old car.....Ricky even mentions how s
t Audi are at supporting their legacy models with parts, and how long he's got cars hanging around in his workshop with stuff on back order - and converting to V10 parts is a considerable cost. Not that I'm trying to scare you OP, I'm sure you're already aware!
Great car. I do think the V8 is very underrated.
I think maybe you were just unlucky with the clutch, it could possibly have been on the way out and the track day just tipped it over the edge. Track days tend to do that!
However £6k for a clutch change, that what put me off ownership.
Keep the updates coming please.
I think maybe you were just unlucky with the clutch, it could possibly have been on the way out and the track day just tipped it over the edge. Track days tend to do that!
However £6k for a clutch change, that what put me off ownership.
Keep the updates coming please.
I had a manual V8 and loved it, fond memories. A decent exhaust makes a difference to the noise/drama if you get the chance.
Now in a gen 2 V10Plus, different beast again although the brake feel also took some getting used to, ridiculously sharp as you mentioned!
Prices seem to be holding up well which is a bonus on all R8s but particularly well maintained ones. Big shout also for unit 20.
Now in a gen 2 V10Plus, different beast again although the brake feel also took some getting used to, ridiculously sharp as you mentioned!
Prices seem to be holding up well which is a bonus on all R8s but particularly well maintained ones. Big shout also for unit 20.
Low mileage and ham-fisted use I think would have done more for the car (thanks previous owners) than one track day. I've seen standard V8s go more than double that distance on original clutches.
It's an easy car to drive badly, if that makes sense. Doesn't need much town (or overly aggressive) use with someone thoughtless behind the wheel to wear them fast.
You normally remove the gearbox to do clutch on an R8 (rather than the engine). 10.8 hours for gearbox, 16.6 for engine.
It's an easy car to drive badly, if that makes sense. Doesn't need much town (or overly aggressive) use with someone thoughtless behind the wheel to wear them fast.
You normally remove the gearbox to do clutch on an R8 (rather than the engine). 10.8 hours for gearbox, 16.6 for engine.
Edited by Dr G on Monday 22 December 17:18
Thanks Dr G, that is helpful info. I know what you mean about it being an easy car to drive badly.
Yes, the poor support from Audi with regard to parts is a bit of a concern. From my understanding the facelift model has the V10 suspension componentry that would otherwise have to be switched over in a pre-facelift model, so hopefully one less thing to worry about!
Yes, the poor support from Audi with regard to parts is a bit of a concern. From my understanding the facelift model has the V10 suspension componentry that would otherwise have to be switched over in a pre-facelift model, so hopefully one less thing to worry about!
There are times parts prices/availability are very annoying, but there's decent aftermarket support and a good enthusiast community that can help keep things semi-sensible.
V8 manual coupe is the sweetest R8 in the range and my joint favourite Audi of all time (I've driven virtually every model they've made in the last 30 years). It's worth the time/effort to keep it nice, as we'll never get another one.
V8 manual coupe is the sweetest R8 in the range and my joint favourite Audi of all time (I've driven virtually every model they've made in the last 30 years). It's worth the time/effort to keep it nice, as we'll never get another one.
Its Just Adz said:
Looks really nice, those wheels especially.
Is that Suzuka Grey?
I used to work for Audi a long time ago, so I loved driving these when new.
Well spotted, yes its Suzuka Grey. I have to say, I think I prefer the original pre-facelift V8 wheels, but these ones are still pretty nice.Is that Suzuka Grey?
I used to work for Audi a long time ago, so I loved driving these when new.
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