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Which is what I’m in now. Because Audi has known for a while the R8 is in for the chop and so not bothered to update it, a lot of the superficial stuff is feeling its age: the clunky nav, terrible DAB reception, old-looking dials and so on. But the stuff that actually matters is wondrous.
That V10, for instance – that’s right, the engine I thought spoiled the original R8. In this more mature car, it feels perfect, so smooth and characterful, possessed of a sound, throttle response and rev range that’s increasingly rare in these turbocharged times. And the fact that this is the low-powered version with ‘only’ 562bhp? I couldn’t care less.
It also works brilliantly well with the rear-drive chassis, blessed with enough mid-range torque to tax the car to the very limit, without ever threatening to overwhelm it. In an era when fast cars become ever heavier and more powerful, swifter to accelerate but more cumbersome, the R8 is the car that reminds you just how delightful it is to have a powertrain and chassis system that are actually in harmony.
And because so much enjoyment is there to be had flowing this car from point to point, carrying speed into corners, placing it on a pinhead and balancing the car on the throttle, you never feel inclined to resort to the instant gratification of just putting your foot to the floor, because it’s all the car’s really good for. Fast food is fine as far as it goes, but this is haute cuisine and you don’t need long behind its wheel to see how much more satisfying it is.
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