The R8 has many negatives, such as only having two seats, a large engine, poor fuel consumption, sky-high Co2 emissions and accompanying high VED rate, combined with a relatively high list price. But other than that, it is fantastic and absolutely brilliant.

The R8 has been available with an automatic gearbox since launch, but putting it bluntly, it wasn’t very good. The old 6 speed R Tronic gearbox  ‘snatched’ and was very jumpy and always felt as though it was really struggling. The gearbox was not smooth and it felt a little uncomfortable to drive and not up to normal Audi standards.

Audi have developed the well tried and trusted S Tronic automatic gearbox for the R8 now and it completely transforms the R8, from not being a very nice car to drive, into a superb machine and one that really cannot be faulted now. The 7 Speed S Tronic is now so smooth and effortless, you really cannot feel it change up or down the gears.

From the two engines on offer, the other being the 4.2 V8, the V10 is the engine to have. It is so powerful and more importantly, is the fact it produces a fantastic noise from both the engine and exhaust. When you start it from cold the throttle is blipped a couple of times automatically, without your foot being anywhere near the accelerator, often to the annoyance of your passenger or passers-by who think you are doing it to show off when you are not… it does it automatically… honest.

The R8 V10 is powered by a 5204cc petrol engine that produces a massive 525ps, accelerates from 0-62mph in a staggering 3.8 seconds and has a top speed of 193mph, where permitted, which in all honesty is hardly anywhere these days. The C02 emission figure is a huge 310g/km and the VED is £1065 for the first year and then £490 per annum, thereafter. During the time we had the car I did not go over the speed limit once, not a single time, especially on the motorway. I stuck religiously to 70mph, mainly in the inside lane, with other motorists not being able to understand why this supercar was going ‘so-slowly’. But in a car like this, it is just a pleasure to be driving it at any speed and if you go a bit too fast, you only attract attention and the wrong sort of attention. By driving it sensibly the average fuel consumption was a very encouraging 28.9mpg, much higher than the quoted combined figure of 21.2mpg. But I guess if you were to drive the R8 hard, then you would be lucky to get anywhere near 18-19mpg.

When you sit in the cockpit of the R8 you instinctively know it is a supercar, but at the same time it feels very much an Audi. You could literally get out of an A1, A3, A4 or any other Audi and know straight away where all the switches and knobs are, as they are all the same, in the same place and all look very familiar. The roof on the Spyder retracted in just a few seconds and was easy to use; by just pressing a button it was operated electronically and could be operated when travelling at low speeds.

I have always liked and enjoyed driving the R8, especially the manual version. This was, as mentioned already, mainly due to the old automatic version being too much like hard work and not at all enjoyable. But now the new S Tronic has made such a big difference, it will give the ageing R8 a new lease of life. 

The cost of the car we tested, with a few optional extras was around £125,000. It is an exceptional Supercar that looks fantastic, drives even better and is very special.

Martin Ward, Manufacturer Relationship Manager