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The Unabashed Case for the Audi R8 5.2 FSI
On a bad day, car criticism is about finding faults with the very things car critics enjoy. You are invited to watch the dreary, bloodless business of marking demerits on a new car's record for shoddy switchgear, insufficient verve or...whatever.
Today, friends, is not that day.
Today, we consider the 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI (yes, that's the one with the V10), a car so well conceived and executed that we haven't the slightest interest in quibbling or equivocating.
This is a great car.
The Particulars and Caveats
We will not pretend in this particular tale that we weren't swayed by Audi's offer to let us do whatever we damn well pleased with its $164,050 worth of carbon fiber and aluminum on a roughly 2,000-mile road trip. That one company representative actually laughed heartily when we told him we'd unintentionally vaporized a not-small hare on a nighttime run on a lonely Nevada highway with the company's car might also have had some sway with us.
Indeed, it wasn't the R8 V10's performance during our few giddy laps of Infineon Raceway that impressed us most, although on that treacherous road course it impressed mightily and scared us in roughly equal measure. Neither the 525-horsepower midengine missile's performance on a steamy evening at the Sacramento Raceway Park drag strip nor its impressive numbers on our own test track sold us on the R8 V10. Though predictably, it killed there as well.
No, what impressed us most was the R8 V10's ability to turn 11.8-second quarter-mile runs while reminding us why we fell in love with manual transmissions in the first place, while impressing standers-by yet not so much that they assumed we were insufferable rich guys, and while handling with aplomb the indignities dished out by public roads and two tall guys on a long road trip.
This Ain't No NSX
It's true that an R8 V8 equipped with the identical six-speed manual could accomplish many of these same things for something on the order of $30,000 less than this V10 model. (And we love that car, too.)
What the V10 model brings is no need for excuses. With some justification, the regular R8 with its 420-hp V8 has been criticized in some quarters as staking out the same ground that the Acura NSX once did — that of the no-muss, no-fuss everyday supercar.
Implicit in that back-handed compliment is the notion that, like the Acura, the R8 V8 is a bit underpowered to truly rival comparable models from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. The R8, in fact, lost our 2007 comparison test to the Porsche 911 Turbo for that reason. The Audi was spectacular to behold and operate, but a 12.8-second run through the quarter-mile simply would not cut it against the 480-hp Porsche.
Full Story: Edmunds Inside Line - 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI Full Test and Video
Car is a rocket. The spyder version just made my Allstar list!
M
