quantimouse

Well I will break it to you, the RS4 does it in 4.3, Audi is known to underestimate. The R8 will blow a 997S out of the water, there is no doubt about that. Its probably somewhere between a 997S and the Turbo. We'll have to wait to know exactly where.

quantimouse

Who says $130k? You're going by strict exchange rate? That is not correct. Global corps do clever things like shorting currencies to cover the cost of exchange rates.

The RS4 debuted here for much less than the initial exchange rate of its German price.

The R8 is probably going to be in the $95k-110k range fully loaded.

quantimouse

But the 911 is an exception, so let's not refer to it as if it is the norm.

texas911

The Audi RS4 isn't that quick. No Audi is that quick, considering what they are packing.

quantimouse

Well that is a bit simplistic since Audi basically helped build the Gellardo. The powerplant in the R8 is pure Audi engineering, no Gellardo there.

quantimouse

Uh, it is. I know because I own one. Road & Track put the car at 4.3, so did Audi Driver. Other mags put it at 4.5 and 4.6. The difference of course can be put down to temperature and elevation.

The RS4 is that quick, and with the R8 being several hundred pounds lighter and mid-engined, its going to be a much more track-oriented car.

10 GT3

R8 is intended to have 2 versions. The first is the RS4 sourced 420 hp V8. They still have now announced the price, but it could be as little as $80K. Their intention is to sell it against the 911. If they come in higher than a comparable 911 then they will probably have a hard time like VW did with the Phaeton. The second version will be a 500 hp version of the V10 from the Gallardo and the new S6/S8. I suspect with the additional weight from the bigger engine it will match the power to weight of the 997 Turbo.

The V8 with 420 hp will weigh in at 3500 lbs. When Audi originally gave the pre-production specs they estimated 3200s, but it is up to 3500 lbs in the production specs they are currently posting for ROW. Given this, I would expect the V8 R8 model to have similar performance to the non-X50 996 Turbo since they have the same power to weight. The manual model could click off 0-60 times in under 4 seconds.

RaceCarDriver

Looks like Lime Rock. I was there that day.

Driveby

Before I entertained that car I would look at a Skyline GT-R; although not German and not premium brand. At least I could count my $50K in cash as I wait in the service bay behind a Sentra.

Pics 1
Pics 2

phantomias33

I expect the GT-R to be a fabolous car and hopefully a great bang for your buck. From those pictures, it looks like it could be the next revolution in the Ford Mustang line-up. Not saying that's a bad thing, but there does appear to be a resemblence.

Alan Smithee

CNN. Didja read the link in the original post, or my post that you responded to??

I am well aware that MSRPs here do not necessarily correlate to pricing in other markets due to currency hedging and local tax laws.

Edit: Apparently CNN made a correction to reflect what we all expected; ~$100k for the V8, ~$130k for the V10.

quantimouse

I had an email exchange with the author of that CNN piece on the R8. Nice chap.

I believe I mentioned exchange rates to him as well. Anyway, he promised to modify the article to call more attention to the correlation between the R8 and the RS4 engine. He went quite far on a limb to say the only other sports car offered by Audi was the TT. Of course that is a pretty ridiculous assertion when you have the RS4 and the S4 that beat the pants off of it, sedan not withstanding.