simarddominic

My kids are now self-sufficient...and I have an F-150 when I need space & utility.

I am thinking of replacing my E63S with an Audi R8 V10 2021 or 2022 if available. I also had the Porsche 992 911 Turbo S on my short list but I find the aesthetics and engine sound of the Porsche ordinary.

I would like to hear from those who have experience with the R8:

Performance ?
Is it possible to go on a weekend for 2 with this ?
Is it livable on a daily basis ?
I like to use my vehicles also in the winter, how does the R8, with the correct tires, in the snow?
Other opinions?

Thank you !

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

R8's can be daily driven in just about any weather condition. It's an Audi and a really good one. The frunk has okay space but you may be tight with the weekend bags. I have a friend who owns one and drives the hell out of the thing, he absolutely loves it.

bimmerconvert

Came here to say this. OTOH, if you want insane speed out of an equally daily-able car... a friend just got a Turbo S and it will walk just about anything not named Tesla Model S Plaid. I'm not a big Porsche guy, but my god can they move.

TheYellowCarGuy

I don’t have a R8 but it’s brother the Lamborghini. It’s totally doable for a weekend but not much longer. Drives great, sounds great, gets a bunch of attention. Very daily drivable, just have to keep awareness of the front end for scraping. R8 does everything better than the Lambo, so take that as a huge compliment for the car! I will add it’ll be slower than the e63s, so if you are all about speed it’s probably not the car for you.

superswiss

I extensively drove the R8 V10 coupe, spyder and plus a couple of years ago. I had a '13 RS5 back then and we had a service called Audi on Demand in San Francisco through which you could rent pretty much any Audi. I was taking all the R8s on my favorite canyon runs for a day to see if I might wanna replace my RS5 with it. The engine note is intoxicating and the straight line performance is awesome, but overall I had to pass. First off, I'm not a giant, but at 5'11" sitting in it was not very comfortable. Not enough legroom for me to sit comfortably. I had to have the seat all the way back, so I could no longer adjust the backrest, and I was still about an inch too close to the steering wheel for my ideal driving position, worse in the sypder due to the roof taking away even more legroom. I do 5-6 hours canyon runs regularly in my cars, and I was beat in the R8 after each of them. The suspension is rough, rougher and roughest in the respective settings. Comfort mode is pretty much an insult for regular driving, and the stiffer modes made it skip all over the road in the canyons, so Comfort mode was really the only useable mode. Mainly I didn't like the driving dynamics, though. The AWD setup is just weird. The moment you get on the throttle in a corner the front goes wide, and you have to push through that understeer before the rear comes around and then being a mid engine it tends to snap on you. It was overall a handful in the canyons and not in a good way. Public roads are too tight to fully enjoy it. It ended up being slower in the canyons, because to avoid the front end from going wide I had to stay off the throttle until pretty much the end of the corner, whereas with the RS5 and now with my C63 I can start powering out at the apex and rotate the car just like I want it. They are much more fun and enjoyable. The R8 stuck like glue if I dive bombed it into a corner and stayed off the throttle, but that's just not very usable on public roads. It was overall just not a car I would have enjoyed long term on public roads. It's not a road trip/GT car at all, either. There's practically no storage.

I haven't driven the current facelift, so perhaps they improved some of this. I heard similar complaints from Huracan reviewers, which is essentially the same underpinnings and Lambo fixed the understeer in the Performante. The R8 V10 Plus in the Performance mode was better, too, but still somewhat odd. It was surprising to me, but the center diff quattro with sport differential in the RS5 was a much better AWD system that put the power down and lets you steer the car with the throttle.

TDoug1

For what they cost they should outrun everything! Look at it this way, you can buy one RS6 Avant plus one E63s for what one cost....and that's probably without any options.

CALBenzo

I have a first-gen. MT 2010 R8 V10 that I have had more than 10 years now. My tuned E63S is probably quicker, but the R8 feels quicker when shifting gears which is way more fun!!! Many owners on R8Talk do use their R8's as a DD as they are very easy to drive, and ride fairly well (for a sports car). I think the
suspension for the E63S rides rougher!

For me, however, the car sits a little too low (although mine is lowered) and attracts too much attention as a DD. The doors are also very long so you have to be careful when opening them. The storage space is relatively small of course. I did manage, however, to fit two golf bags behind the seats! I had to take the woods out of course.

I have a 992 TTS on order for a Jan. 2022 delivery, but I am keeping the R8

simarddominic

Thank you very much everyone for your valuable comments and advice.

I bought my AMG over the phone before they arrived in Canada ! I concluded that I will have to try the R8 and 911 before pulling the trigger. So I'm going to plan a little road test trip to Montreal.

bimmerconvert

Reasonable, but to be fair, they're also faster than pretty much anything that retails for under a million.

I enjoy the reviews these guys do and I think they've done a good job in this video:

simarddominic

For me, for the little bump in speed between the two, sound and wow are win factors in favor of the Audi.

bimmerconvert

I agree on everything except the bump in speed. The Turbo S is a significantly faster car.

ska597

It’s all subjective, but in my humble opinion, I find the Porsche 911 turbo to be the better looking car, both outside and inside. What’s not subjective is that the Porsche is significantly quicker, handles better, is probably a lot more reliable. Not that I’ve researched this, but maybe the 911 Turbo retains its value better, too? The R8 sounds better, so there’s that.

I’d test drive both extensively if I were in the market for a car in that class. Just my two cents.

ocdbroker

The new Porsche 911 Turbo S is way ahead of any Audi. Highly recommend. Speed, comfort, handling, efficiency and reliability. And maybe even resale value. Been waiting a long time for my topless version.

raudiace4

I would 100% get a R8 V10 or V10+ if you can.

The Turbo S is faster, but the V10 sound can't be beat. If you get one the values are only going to go up since Audi is killing the V10 R8s after 2022.