Audi R8 - The Oilburner!

The Audi R8 has been a huge success story. We get a fair number of emails and phone calls every week asking if we have an Audi R8 for sale (and I do mean every week - the R8 is still in huge demand), and it’s easy to see why. This is such a good car to drive, and it’s built like an Audi, not your average temperamental supercar. Great build quality; great handling; good performance, and it seems bullet-proof. What more could you want? A bit more power maybe?

I wrote about the upcoming SR8 late last year. The SR8 is the R8 Audi are due to put in the showrooms later this year. It’s the 911 Turbo killing mean machine we want to see, with a huge V10 and mid 3 seconds 0-60. But, much to everyone’s surprise, Audi have announced that there will be an Audi R8 V12 TDI for sale in 2009 - the world’s first diesel supercar.

The R8 TDI gets a 6.0 litre, twin turbo with almost 500 bhp and a huge 740lb ft of torque. With that amount of torque it won’t need to accelerate - it can just move the earth beneath it! But it will offer around 4.0 seconds 0-60 (a good 1/2 second quicker that the petrol version) and a top speed ‘in excess’ of 186mph. No slouch. But in reality, I think it’s the way that performance will be delivered that will be most astonishing. With that amount of torque its mid-range shove is going to be nothing short of stunning. And it’s reckoned to average 24mpg. That’s TT territory with Porsche performance. I’m still amazed at what diesel engines do now, and this seems incredible. And don’t think you can order up the dsg box and paddle-shift in this baby. That amount of torque would shred the box, so it’s going to be manual box only - a good thing. It’s by far the best option on the R8 anyway.

There appear to be a number of cosmetic tweaks on the R8 V12, but these are probably upcoming changes across the range (which will, within the year, encompass the original and the V10 as well as this V12 TDI). My only reservation with this car is on the handling. The R8 is a very well balanced car. It has a lot of poise and handles very well. Will the inevitably heavier diesel block play havoc with this? I can’t believe Audi would let it, but I’m sure it has, and probably continues to be, a problem. But Audi usually get things very right these days, and I’m sure that by the time we get our hands on this it will be well and truly sorted.

At this rate, Audi are going to corner the ’sensible’ supercar market completely. Look out Porsche!