First long drive -- amazing

[Jeff]

My wife and I are on a brief couple-of-day vacation, which began with a six hour drive on US interstates that run through mountains with many elevation changes, endless curves, and high (for US) speed limits -- 70 MPH.

All I can say is, "Wow."

The R8's handling on all roads in all conditions (we encountered some rain) was simply amazing. Power was wonderful, and always there when I asked for it.

While our resort is wonderful, I find myself looking forward to the return drive.

[KfabR8]

The R8 makes for a wonderful road trip car!

I've done two long trips - 11 days, roughly 3800 miles each and they were fabulous. I have a few three day trips under my belt in the car too and they've all been a blast.

Yes, the R8 is a traveling machine.

[Jeff]

The return trip was as much fun as the outbound trip.

Overall faster (I'll refrain from posting the average elapsed speed, but suffice it to say that is was wonderful fun), better weather (less rain), and a couple of followers (leaching my radar detector and hoping I'd get popped before they would).

The longest duration follower was in a Chevy sedan ill equipped for the speed I was running, but nevertheless he kept on me for over 50 miles. Finally lost him during our lunch break. The second was a new A4 with four young guys in it who had their faces glued to the side windows as I passed them. They kept up for a long time and I must say it was nice to see another Audi in the mirror.

For the record, I-64 east of Lexington, Kentucky into West Virginia is a great drive.

[Davey_Dee]

Following people for 50 miles is pretty sad.

[VidaMusic]

I doubt he was 'following' Davey, simply on the same route, and rightly so, admiring the car as long as he could from behind.

[Jeff]

Actually, he was following.

I would occasionally speed up well into triple digits, and he would do the same. If I was able to get ahead and other cars intervened, he would make his way up and sit right behind me. If I slowed, he slowed.

It was rather annoying.

[SteveR]

I hate to admit it, but I have been guilty of radar leeching myself. It is not so much leeching the radar, as taking advantage of the lead car as an involuntary scout. When I have done it I stay as far back as I can and still keep the scout in sight, maybe 1/4 - 1/2mi or more depending on the terrain. At that distance, I doubt they even notice. If he was close enough that you could guage his speed changes, he was a leech noob.

If you were on 70mph highways, it sounds like you went west. Pretty safe and it sounds like a lot of fun. If you went east or south you are asking for trouble even with a good detector. I am very wary in Ohio, Penn, and in the south. The cops are such jerks in OH, giving tickets for 5 over and such, that I would not consider any job offers in that state when I was looking.

[R84ME]

I just completed a 2800 mile round trip to Monterey from Tucson and want to concur and add my 2 cents. When I left Tucson, I had 1200 miles, not fully broken in and I do things (most things) by the book. It's about 800 miles to Monterey and going there, I was in a hurry to get there. 12 hrs 20 min and 20.9 mpg. Now, I've never owned a F or L car but I've had plenty of BMWs and Porsches. The R8 is the most comfortable high performance car I have ever driven. Needless to say, in Monterey, and for the rest of the trip, I was exploring RPMs and full throttle starts I had never experienced before (Harry is my witness). It was more than overwhelming and I have a new-found respect for the R8's abilities. From balls-to-the-wall acceleration to those close to 1G turns, the car is unrelenting. It keeps giving and giving, and I haven't even had it on a track yet!

In short, Jeff, I agree with your assessment!

[HovyR8]

I do frequent commutes between Montreal and Boston and always fly. Since we have the R8, I never flew. The R8 is simply amazing on the highway and it's 10x more comfortable than our Cayenne with its (pain in the a**) bucket sport seats. Imagine; a supercar more comfy than a SUV.

[willyjp]

re the "radar leeching" thing

my wife, during a speeding stop in Washington state, had a WS Patrol officer tell her they always try to get the leader (as opposed to picking off one of the followers) of a group moving faster than the traffic (in this case, that was her!) because that, witnessed usually by the followers, tends to slow the whole group down; not that they won't take more if they can get them, but the leader is always their primary target with a fast group;

I thought that was interesting because sometimes I worry that, if I'm too far back, I'll get "picked off', but this guy said they go for the leader; FWIW