How much premium would you pay for the V10 version?

[ekool]

We dont really have any pricing information yet, but I'm curious how much the V10 version would be worth to you over the price of the V8 version.

[Sunny Ohri]

It all depends on the market and availability. Actually one of the biggest things for me would be the look. I owned a Mercedes SL500 Sport and then got the SL55 less than a year later. I loved the motor, but I did not like the fact that both units were virtually identical on the exterior except for a badge. I would pay extra money for the 4 slats in front and 5 slats in back V-10 with the tu-tone paint job.

[ekool]

The sound and performance are another reason to pay extra. Even if people dont know, there is alot of satisfaction from both of those things, IMHO.

[Paul]

Already driving around in an RS4 with the more than likely V8 that will be used in teh first R8's I can say that the sound of the 8 snarling it's way through the rev range to the red line with the Sport button pushed is a fabulous sound as the gears get left behind ... 1 ...... 2 ... that's it I'm already at the speed limit leave the accelerator ... 3 4 5 6 ... now when can I take to the track to really see what this engine will do!

I've not had the pleasure of driving a V10 and can't ever recall being in a car powered by a 10. So, I can't testify as to the sound of one. However, I suspect that it's going to be rather nice ... especially with a short exhaust system seeing as the engine will be nearer the tail pipes than a front engined car.

[ekool]

A V10 can sound good or bad, it really depends on alot of things tho. The Viper V10 does not sound good at idle or low rpm cruise. However, at mid throttle to WOT it sounds excellent.

The Gallardo however seems to sound good EVERYWHERE -- so I have the same high hopes for the Audi R8 V10.

[BigQid]

It will certainly be more than a $10,000 difference between the R8 and R10, if that is what the V10 version of the R8 is to be called. Look at the 911 C4s. It costs just under $90,000 but the 911 Turbo is about $120,000 base price. The R8 will probably be halfway between the price of the 911 C4S and $100,000 and the R10 would be at least $30,000 more expensive. I would pay that because it undercuts the Lamborghini by $45,000. On the other hand, the R10 would have to improve upon the performance of the current Gallardo, which the R8 is based on. Right now the 911 Turbo has been hitting Carrera GT like numbers in the magazine and the Gallardo is not worth an extra $50,000 in comparison even with the Lamborghini name. The R10 needs to at least be on the same performance level as the current F430 so that its not at the back of that pack of supercars. Who would want to drive the least super supercar?
I do see a series of problems with the R8 getting the performance that it needs to stay competitive. The first is that if the R10 performs the way that it should, then either the Gallardo or the Murcielago will become irrelevant. The Gallardo should be faster than the 911 Turbo and the Murcielago could try to stay out in front of the Ferrari Enzo and Carrera GT, but that seems doubtful. The next generations of those cars might have better than 700 or even 800 bhp, go from 0-60 in under 3 seconds and 1/4 mile in under 11. The other problem is that Porsche owns a huge piece of VW which owns Audi and if the R8/R10 is too successful it could hurt Porsche. Not all the people who buy Porsches are Porsche purists. Some of them buy the Porsche because it gets great performance for the money and its a good looking car. Some of those people could be drawn away to the Audi products. I see how Porsche could demand to use the platform to build its own mid-engine V8/V10 car, since the engine of the 911 can't get much bigger than 4 liters and its already 3.8. So basically Audi has at least two forces holding it back. This could all easily be sorted out if they recognize that Porsche's main focus is performance, Lamborghini's main focus is beauty, and Audi's main focus is understated, pragmatic, utilitarian luxury. In the case of the R8 and R10, the luxury is performance.
You should repost the poll in denominations of $10,000.

[ekool]

The R8 name should stick with the car, even if it has a V10 or Diesel. In fact, when the car was first announced they didnt even mention the V8, just the Gallardo based V10 detuned to have less horsepower.

[Paul]

The R8 name should stick with the car, even if it has a V10 or Diesel. In fact, when the car was first announced they didnt even mention the V8, just the Gallardo based V10 detuned to have less horsepower.

I agree R8 will ermain the name of the car ... regardless of its powerplant ... there were early rumours ... even agreement amongst many enthusiasts and journos ... that the obvious name would be R9 ... because it would sit at the next obvious number in the Audi naming system ... but it would also occupy the number between the R8 (racer and limo) and the new R10 diesel racer.

It will be interesting to see what they call any lightweight / high performance model ... will it be RS8 ... which will confuse all the company directors into thinking they can now have an uber powerful limo ... or will they go with RS R8 ... only time will tell I suppose.

To me it would have made lots of sense to go with R9 ... although I know Audi has drawn on the racing heritage of the R8 in it's build up to the release of the R8 ... although they have shown it with the out of the blocks competitive R10 ... more than they are the R8 racer ... if they've even put the R8 racer and road car together ... which I can't recall reading about.

Still ... what's in a name ...

[ekool]

I've added a new poll, to see who would choose the V10 or V12 TDi over the V8 at a $15k premium. I'm curious to see if the V12 TDi would be a popular option... I'd go that route!

[yacoub]

Less than $5k more.