baege

totally different price brackets, I know but I am currently torn between the a rwd r8 vs. 718 4.0 manual.

want a normally aspirated car

love the v10 in the r8, epic motor

but love manual, the smaller size of a 718, and the overall feel of a porsche

anyone on here move from a 2nd gen r8 to a 718 4.0? how did that go for you?

Zeus993

I'll bite on this as just pre-covid I did rent for a day in Las Vegas a 2018 R8 / V10 and romped it up to Zion National Park and back. It is an EPIC car, with an engine note that trumps that of the 718 4.0, with a great electric top, a good double-clutch transmission and a superb cockpit. The only "off-point" is the heavy, AWD system, not unlike that of the Porsche TT.

The 718 is a lightweight, GT suspension and superb driving car. The top makes it a bit tough for a true daily driver.

Daily, one car to do it all, or 90% of it all? The R8.

The superb anyone carver, drivers car? The 718 4.0 Spyder MT.

pitt911

I had a 2017 v10 plus coupe and 2020 performance Spyder
also had a 718 GT4
totally different cars
both are great

catdog2

I had a 2015 R8-V8 gated manual, and sold it after a year of ownership; it had all the right pieces and specs but lacked the SOUL of a sports car.

Handled great and was poised, great traction and ride with the variables dampers. Engine sounded great and gearbox also nice action. But put it all together and it left me cold. Something beautiful but after a few drives felt like it had no sports car special sauce. How is that possible when it shares so much with the Gallardo/equivalent Lamborghini model I don't know.

At the time, it felt sooooo good to be out of the R8 and back into a 911 (991 TT). Although R8 has all the right specs and sounds it didn't gel for me and that was sad because I loved its looks and stance.

try to find members that write 'i currently drive an R8 and prefer it over my Porsche'... you may find more, i once had an R8 and it was a great car, well then why do you not own it anymore... hint!

baege

if you had pick one as your one and only pleasure drives road car, manual 718 GT4 or 2nd gen R8?

blraider97

I also had a 718 GT4 that I sold to buy an ‘18 R8 V10+…I needed to tick the V10 box at some point so I pulled the trigger but only kept the car for 6-7 months. If highway cruising and/or rallies are your thing then the R8 would be my preferred option but I would take the GT4 all day long for back road carving or the track. The V10 sounds amazing and the instant throttle response is great; however, it is a heavier car and you have to be going ridiculous speeds to truly push the car and experience what it can do. Driving around town in the R8 was fine and very livable but grew boring pretty quick given little opportunity to push the car. With any of the 4.0L Cayman/Boxsters, you can simply experience more of what the car has to offer in terms of performance without feeling the need to push it to crazy speeds. Not sure if this would apply to you, but my wife absolutely hated the GT4 with bucket seats but loved the R8 due to the more spacious cabin and no issues getting in and out. Another factor is depreciation. I was fortunate to own both cars during the chip shortage timespan and sold both for a profit; however, in a more normalized market the R8 might take a heavier depreciation hit if you plan to put any meaningful miles on it. Clearly if either is a keeper or you have f-you money then depreciation doesn’t matter but the market will normalize at some point.

Xisthos

Have both. Honestly find the R8 boring 80% of the time. The engine is epic, amazing and easily one of the best modern engines our time. The engineers made a superb job of the smoothness and engagement of this V10, as any V10 is a challenge as it is inherently unbalanced. However, the steering is dismal. This is for both feedback and weight. Sure the 718 isn’t atmospheric either but I would still prefer it every time.

The R8 is great on two occasions: When you are driving it quite hard and enjoying the chassis response and again, the engine. The other time is where you are just passively driving and letting the car effortless take you as a passenger in comfort.

TRZ06

Not sure if everyone caught the subtle RWD part, but the R8 RWD version drives different from the AWD version.

OP: The RWD R8 was a back up option for me if I couldn't secure a GT4 allocation. I did test drive one and I left very impressed. However I wasn't able to push the car much around corners. I can't offer much in the way of a comparison, but I will share my thoughts on it in no particular order...

1.) Visually it looks amazing, but the wheels are a little too inset into the fenders for my liking. GT4 stance looks much better. If comparing it to a GTS 4.0, then the R8 looks better though.

2.) the dual clutch is every bit as quick as the PDK and the logic (at least in traffic) was spot on.

3.) The RWD version (at least In the US) only comes with the fixed dampers, no MRC option avail. The ride was stout, but well damped.

4.) the + and - on the gear shifter go in the wrong direction.

5.) the black leather interior is not as rich looking as the GT4. Audi's black leather looks more like a very dark gray, rather than a deep black. Reminds me of a poor contrast HDTV with poor black levels when compared to looking at the black of a Porsche interior.

6.) With the C8 Z06 coming out very soon, the price on the R8 (even in RWD form) is a hard sell.

7.) Looking at various track times of the RWD R8, it is right in line with a PDK GT4, so you really will not be gaining much in the way of performance as a whole. I have given "the beans" both to a PDK GT4 and the RWD R8 and the R8 does feel faster in a straight line. It weighs more, but it has almost 100 lb. ft. more TQ than the GT4 and you can feel that.

worf928

Audi’s been perfecting the art of crushing the character of its cars for about 15 years now.

pitt911

will pick the R8

catdog2

hahahhaah couldn't have said it better... no character

Southpaw

This is a Porsche forum so you already know what people are going to say...

But IMO, the 4.0 is the only variant of the 718 I'd want but in this comparison, I'm still taking the R8. Very subjective but I prefer some HP and the sound in the V10. I also like the looks of the gen 2 R8. I don't even notice a 718 on the road since they're commonly seen. If you have to have a manual, then the 718 will give you that option. I know everyone has different things they look for in a car and you may not care about the factors above.

I see people bringing up other variants of the R8 but the R8 RWS is a bit more driver focused than other variants. Stripped down and RWD which is appealing as a backroad racer and that's the appeal of certain Porsche variants too.

Regardless of the brand, it's tough not to like a mid-engined, NA V10, RWD. That's unique in and of itself.

catdog2

No one is arguing that a normally aspirated v10 is a glorious engine. I have owned 2 m5 v10 and an M6 v10 and loved driving the R8 v10.

there is nothing like it, the point of this debate though is how will you feel in the morning?

meaning once you have had the Audi R8 v10 for a week to a few months of enjoying the v10, does the car feel like a keeper or just a box you had to check

in my case it's the latter, the R8 just never felt magical enough as any Porsche 911 or boxster/cayman feels day in and day out.. they are genuine sports cars that connect to your heart, the R8 never did, V10 or not, gated manual or R-tronic or S-tronic and I suspect whether awd, rwd or fwd lol...

i would take a 996 c2 over any iteration of the R8

Southpaw

I dunno....If I walked out to a 996 C2 or a base 718, I wouldn't think it's "magical" (you said "any Porsche 911 or Boxster/cayman"). I don't think I'd feel that's as special as a gen 2 R8. I'm taking the gen 2 R8 over a 996 any morning of the week. I know this is originally about the 4.0 718 and R8 and I made that reference in my original post. I didn't mention any 911 in that original post.

But as I mentioned, these are subjective opinions and if you feel "any" 911 is more special, then that's awesome as there are so many to choose from I say this in a genuine nature as I've owned a couple myself.

catdog2

@Southpaw I am not being hyperbolic here, honestly I have grown a lot as a result of my experience of owning the R8 and driving in day in day out... there is a difference between a weekend with a car and using it daily as a sports car...

as I said the R8 had the wow factor but it got boring quickly and I found mayself gravitating back to Porsche even though their are more common and have more pedestrian specifications, they just feel better in a long term relationship