Reviews
Gallery 1
It’s generally regarded as a sensible, useable supercar. It’s been Motor’s Performance Car of the Year. And now it’s all new. Well, sort of.
See, the 2016 Audi R8 has a new, lighter, stronger structure with plenty of carbon-fibre, a new interior and a new-ish look. But underneath all that newness beats the heart of the previous model R8, albeit with a few tweaks to bring it up to date. If, that is, you can call one of the passenger-car planet’s last big-inch atmo engines a modern interpretation of anything.
In any case, MOTOR got to sample the new R8 recently, although, sadly, there was no on-road component and really just the greasy (it was about 34-ambient) South Circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park from which to draw a conclusion. Which kind of means we haven’t (drawn a real conclusion). Yet.
So that’s okay, then. Even more so because the Plus version gets carbon-ceramic brakes (a $20,300 option on the lesser model) tighter suspension and 20-inch alloys as well as a range of trim fluff.
If anything, the new R8 is even more complicated than before with a range of driver modes, all selectable via switches and buttons on the flat-bottomed tiller. But there has also been a worthwhile upgrade to the Quattro system including a water-cooled, electro-hydraulic centre diff and the ability to shuffle 100 per cent of the torque front or rear.
But even more impressive is that tweaked Quattro set-up which seems to make the car rotate much more willingly. There’s a surprising amount of leeway afforded by the ESP, too, but provided you don’t completely screw the pooch, there’s a fair chance you’re going to come out the other side of the corner intact.
4.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
SPECS Engine: 5204cc V10, DOHC, 48v Power: 449kW @ 8250rpm Torque: 560Nm @ 6500rpm Weight: 1555kg 0-100km/h: 3.2sec (claimed) Price: $389,900 Like: Atmo engine lives; revamped Quattro; useability Dislike: No manual; cheaper, but not exactly cheap
