New Guy here, HUGE decision to make:Keep my 911 Turbo or Trade for R8

[jay-three]

Hi Guys- Brand new here and I thought I'd ask for some opinions. I currently own a 2007 911 Turbo modded to 575HP. I have only had it since May 1st of this year. Before the Turbo I had a 2006 M6 and before that a 2002 911 Turbo. My dealer called me on Friday and offered me an '08 R8 with 1100 miles on it for sticker! ($125k) I am a mess trying to decide what to do. I absolutely love my Turbo. I did drive a paddle shift R8 on Friday. It is truly amazing inside and out. Arguably the hottest looking car on the road today. The power was nice, felt almost exactly like my M6. The one offered to me is a six speed which I must have, so thats good. I love the "luxury supercar" aspect of it, but that makes me nervous too. My M6 was just that, and it got a bit boring for me. It was a SMG so I just never felt fully in touch with the car. The Turbo is a blast...neck snapping power, a blast around corners and it is a beautiful car also. I have to make a decision soon, and thought I'd ask owners of the R8 as I feel I'd get the most honest opinions and maybe even one or two that have owned both. I don't want to do it and regret it, although I could probably make some dough if I wanted out anytime soon! Thanks for any thoughts on my decision...Jay

[bromers]

IMO keep the 997 Turbo

[Stewart W]

Hi Guys- Brand new here and I thought I'd ask for some opinions. I currently own a 2007 911 Turbo modded to 575HP. I have only had it since May 1st of this year. Before the Turbo I had a 2006 M6 and before that a 2002 911 Turbo. My dealer called me on Friday and offered me an '08 R8 with 1100 miles on it for sticker! ($125k) I am a mess trying to decide what to do. I absolutely love my Turbo. I did drive a paddle shift R8 on Friday. It is truly amazing inside and out. Arguably the hottest looking car on the road today. The power was nice, felt almost exactly like my M6. The one offered to me is a six speed which I must have, so thats good. I love the "luxury supercar" aspect of it, but that makes me nervous too. My M6 was just that, and it got a bit boring for me. It was a SMG so I just never felt fully in touch with the car. The Turbo is a blast...neck snapping power, a blast around corners and it is a beautiful car also. I have to make a decision soon, and thought I'd ask owners of the R8 as I feel I'd get the most honest opinions and maybe even one or two that have owned both. I don't want to do it and regret it, although I could probably make some dough if I wanted out anytime soon! Thanks for any thoughts on my decision...Jay

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Is this a daily driver?

[wedouglas]

Well, I'd say you'd be disappointed with the power coming from a modded 997 TT, but since you've already driven it, you know what to expect. I love the R8 and wouldn't trade it for a 997TT. The R8 is definitely better handling and rides much better than the 997TT. I got mine in April and have 8200 miles on it. Drive it daily and love every second of it. I've taken it on 300 mile drives comfortable and done everything from windy country roads, to downtown Chicago. The car is incredible.

Where do you live? Is it always nice or do you have to deal with snowy winter weather? You can drive the R8 in just about anything, but there are better cars for the snow and the performance isn't really important when it's snowing.

If I were you back in April, I'd say go for it. However, at this point, I'd pass on it for now and order a V10. I'm in MI, and it snows, so there is no way I'd buy one now. If I was in the sourth, that might be a different story.

It does have one thing going for it though, regardless of where you live, what time of the year it is, or what cars are faster. And that is the fact that it is totally unique and still very rare. 911, Gallardo, F430, M's, AMG,s... whatever. All are a dime a dozen these days, while there are only about 600 R8's in the entire US.

[Bodhii]

I have a 485 HP Porsche Cayman TwinTurbo and the R8. For me the R8 has all the power I will ever want for normal hiway and street driving. The difference in passing a car or truck on a hiway, is not noticeable. The R8 is plenty FAST! The R8 platform is SO strong that it can take huge amounts of more HP without any prob. But you will almost never notice the diff in HP, unless you want to track the R8. On the street they are both WAY fast! Only on the track do I really notice the diff in power between the 485 HP Cayman TT and the R8.

My advice, trade for the R8 now. You will be maximizing the trading value of the 911TT at the best time before the used Porsche values plunge even more, due to the World economic disaster. There are MANY MANY more 911TT's in this World than Audi R8's! The value of the R8 will last for a very long time. Especially if VOW (Volkswagen/Porsche) stops the production of the R8. I would guess that after a year, you could probably trade straight out from your future used Audi R8, and get an almost completely new Porsche GT2, anytime you wanted. Just my 2 cents.

[RB10]

Having driven both the R8 and 911 turbo, I would say, go for the R8, hey I did!! cant be giving you more honest advice than that!
the 911 obviously has more power and is possibly a more exciting drive, but as far as an overall package, the R8 definitely wins in terms of looks, exclusivity, practicality/comfort, and hey, its not exactly the slowest car in the world either!! you win all round!! cant wait to pick mine up on sunday!!

[20C4S]

R8 feels more special but i asked myself the same question before. if i can have only 1 car the 997 Turbo will be the car to have. however, i liked the R8 more just because it looks much hotter & i'm not a speed racer anymore. the turbo is a lot faster than R8 but too bad i can't drive it in the city near its limit. good choice on the manual tranny. i loved mine very much & it felt like a true exotic. the turbo will be easier to live with it though since it blends in with other cars on the road than the R8. good luck!

[800]

ummm ask the q on 6sp or renn then u will get the opposit answer.

I am here, and my advice will be get the R8!

[kthacher]

Maybe the following will be of some use. The Turbo is clearly quicker off the line and a great car, but after trying both, I would not trade. It is quite the experience to jump right out of the Turbo and then drive the R8 right away. The level of refinement in the overall experience of the R8 is striking in a back to back comparison like that. A colleague at work (ex Porsche owner) said that the Porsche's feel more go-cart like. I think this is an exaggeration, but it does explain some of the differences in feel that the two cars have.

That said, you are asking a bunch of R8 owners for advice - we are going to be biased.

http://forums.audiworld.com/r8/msgs/12500.phtml

[R8Taiwan]

If you can, keep both. If not, go for the R8. It's unique and if Porsche decided to ax the R line, it'll still keep more of its value than your porsche.....