R8 V10? When is it out?
Discussion
Last saturday 13th June in Northants, I caught sight of an R8 looming up in my rear view mirror. Sepang Blue with silver sideblades. Bloke driving it had a young boy in the passenger seat. I just assumed it was an R8 V8 until I noticed the bigger scoops and the oval exhuasts as it went by. So if it was a V10 on test drive why was a young child in it ? I therefore drew the conclusion it was a privately owned one and that deliveries must have started.
I called my local dealer only to be told "No chance". I've had a deposit on the R8 V10 since June 07 when they officially denied a V10 would ever happen. So I asked when mine would be delivered it came back as "maybe 4th week Jan 2010". Arrrghhh. After a few phone calls to Audi HQ I managed to get a delivery date of last week in July, which will become August for plate reasons.
Any one else got a deposit on one with a delivery date ? I cant be the only person !
monthefish said:
Stealth-wagon said:
I've had a deposit on the R8 V10 since June 07 when they officially denied a V10 would ever happen.
Eh?
You managed to put down a deposit on a car the manufacturers were telling you they wouldn't build?
I drove an R8 in 2007, as well as various Gallardo's. Whilst I prefer the look of the Lambo, 2 of the 3 cars I looked at had significant problems, one of which developed a *very* expensive clutch fault whilst actually viewing it to buy (and no, I wasn’t doing clutch dump starts!). Cost to fix was thick end of £5k, and the attitude of a certain Lambo dealer was enough to make me want to thump them good and proper.
I came to the conclusion that if I was going to enjoy a car like this fairly regularly / daily then it was likely to be a far safer bet to go with the Audi, despite its looks not being quite as dramatic. I've had a succession of RS6's and so on, and after 60k+ miles in them through all sorts of daily abuse, they have all been remarkably good from a running point of view. I've also owned two of the original Ur Quattro's and numerous Italian exotica, and on balance I have a certain amount of faith Germanic engineering even if they don’t quite have the soul of Italian machines.
Anyway, going back to June 07, I wanted to put my name down on the R8, but only if it was going to be a V10. They initially denied that there was even a twinkle in the eyes of the Audi design team about ever doing a V10 … but Audi also own Lamborghini so it seemed entirely logical from my point of view. The receipt letter I eventually got was to say that I was reserving my place in any future queue for any V10 should it ever happen, and that my deposit was always immediately refundable. It seemed pretty strange, but I went with it.
I can recall another conversation with the Audi from 2007, where I was half joking that with the world going green, and with Audi's winning Le Mans with Diesel engines, that what they really ought to do was an R8 with a Diesel engine. I even pointed at the engine bay and the suspiciously large gap left between the front of the V8 engine and the cockpit bulkhead, enough for at least 2 more cylinders or compact V12 TDi (that’s now in the Q7)....
The reaction of the senior sales bloke I was discussing this with was priceless. His face dropped, and a lot of teeth sucking could be heard, and he scoffed at the very idea that Audi would ever consider devaluing their flagship car with a oil burner. He then thought I was wasting his time with such a suggestion yadda yadda, and got very stroppy. He's since lost his job too.
If ever I do go down the LP560-4 route, it would be a car I occasionally used, not for daily use. But at least I then would have scratched the persistent itch to own one…
Stealth-wagon said:
monthefish said:
Stealth-wagon said:
I've had a deposit on the R8 V10 since June 07 when they officially denied a V10 would ever happen.
Eh?
You managed to put down a deposit on a car the manufacturers were telling you they wouldn't build?
I drove an R8 in 2007, as well as various Gallardo's. Whilst I prefer the look of the Lambo, 2 of the 3 cars I looked at had significant problems, one of which developed a *very* expensive clutch fault whilst actually viewing it to buy (and no, I wasn’t doing clutch dump starts!). Cost to fix was thick end of £5k, and the attitude of a certain Lambo dealer was enough to make me want to thump them good and proper.
I came to the conclusion that if I was going to enjoy a car like this fairly regularly / daily then it was likely to be a far safer bet to go with the Audi, despite its looks not being quite as dramatic. I've had a succession of RS6's and so on, and after 60k+ miles in them through all sorts of daily abuse, they have all been remarkably good from a running point of view. I've also owned two of the original Ur Quattro's and numerous Italian exotica, and on balance I have a certain amount of faith Germanic engineering even if they don’t quite have the soul of Italian machines.
Anyway, going back to June 07, I wanted to put my name down on the R8, but only if it was going to be a V10. They initially denied that there was even a twinkle in the eyes of the Audi design team about ever doing a V10 … but Audi also own Lamborghini so it seemed entirely logical from my point of view. The receipt letter I eventually got was to say that I was reserving my place in any future queue for any V10 should it ever happen, and that my deposit was always immediately refundable. It seemed pretty strange, but I went with it.
I can recall another conversation with the Audi from 2007, where I was half joking that with the world going green, and with Audi's winning Le Mans with Diesel engines, that what they really ought to do was an R8 with a Diesel engine. I even pointed at the engine bay and the suspiciously large gap left between the front of the V8 engine and the cockpit bulkhead, enough for at least 2 more cylinders or compact V12 TDi (that’s now in the Q7)....
The reaction of the senior sales bloke I was discussing this with was priceless. His face dropped, and a lot of teeth sucking could be heard, and he scoffed at the very idea that Audi would ever consider devaluing their flagship car with a oil burner. He then thought I was wasting his time with such a suggestion yadda yadda, and got very stroppy. He's since lost his job too.
If ever I do go down the LP560-4 route, it would be a car I occasionally used, not for daily use. But at least I then would have scratched the persistent itch to own one…
Interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post that.
Stealth-wagon said:
So if it was a V10 on test drive why was a young child in it ? I therefore drew the conclusion it was a privately owned one and that deliveries must have started.
Given that this was in 'Northants' there's every possibility that the car was linked to Audi UK (in MK).Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff