Audi R8 V10 plus

To be honest I’ve been looking forward to the launch of the R8 for a while now and needless to say it delivered in spades. The only way to describe the Audi R8 V10 plus is to say that it is just like a marshmallow with Tabasco filling.

On first visual presentation, the R8 looks like a well mannered business executive but the first time you depress the accelerator you find out that its more like that bouncer outside an exclusive nightclub, you know, the one with a neck like a tree trunk.

The performance levels on the V10 plus are nothing short of eye watering. 449kW from the V10 5.2l engine will rocket you from a standing start to over 100km/h in just 3.2 seconds, which is only a fraction slower than a Lamborghini.

560Nm pushed through the Quattro system will propel you at mind numbing velocity down the back straight and a light application on the ceramic brakes check up the R8 in no time.

The electronic gadgetry in the R8 ensures that even if you aren’t the best driver and manage to mess up a corner the car will fix it for you and make even the sloppiest of corners look amazing. Behind the steering wheel there is now a redesigned MMI system and a racey version of Audi’s Virtual Cockpit,that allows for a lot of personal customization when you are in the individual mode.

It is important to point out that the R8 runs on 305/30/20 section tyres. The tyres that we had the honour of ruining at race pace were the P-Zero’s supplied by Pirelli and I am glad that we had them because the surface of the newly renovated Kyalami circuit is still very green.

Unfortunately because the vehicles at launch are still on Euro plates we had to forego the road test so we couldn’t really test Audi’s claims that the R8 is just as good for daily use but to be honest it didn’t matter. The track activities more than made up for it and on lower speed cool down passes you can absolutely feel that this car will have no issues in and around town.

The R8 benefits from an 80% aluminiumbody construction with 13% carbon fibre completing the passenger cell, making the car incredibly light. One of the more surprising things that I found was how incredibly light the steering is and how small the turning circle is as we were able to make a complete u- turn on the track without touching the grass on either end.

There were many things on the R8 V10 plus that I really liked, I am a sucker for carbon fibre, the real stuff, not the carbon look stuff and the V10 has the real stuff in plenty of places. The wing, the side scoops and panels at the rear side windows as well as select panels in the interior but the party piece has to be the race car inspired steering wheel. Just about everything of importance is located on the steering wheel, the start stop button, driving mode, exhaust note and performance button, everything else is within 30cm of the driver aiding to the mono cockpit feel of the interior.

Driving the V10 plus around Kyalami at pace is bucket list stuff the track is amazing and the car, well the car is almost perfect in the way that having that bouncer from the club as a friend is perfect. Its all business but you just know there’s a hooligan under that suit that likes eating Tabasco flavoured marshmallows.

To say that I was impressed by the new R8 would be an understatement. It is such an improvement on the previous generation and I do not doubt for a second that the 40-50 units that Audi wants to sell this year are going to move quickly, no pun intended.

To sum it all up if you have R2 970 000 floating about and you want a super car that isn’t as shouty as an Italian one, the Audi R8 V10 plus is going right on top of your list.

Pricing:
Audi R8 V10	R2 630 500
Audi R8 V10 plus	R2 970 000