One more new owner?

[rawg]

Hello, just got a Red 2008 R-tronic from Minnesota a few days ago. Glad to be a member of this forum with the "correct car" to match, lol.

I'm sort of in a bind about whether to get the car at the dealer in Minneapolis (I'm in Vegas) this Wed or Thursday and drive it home (1600 miles) or have an auto transport pick it up this Thursday or Friday. Any comments would be appreciated.

By the way, I've never driven an R8, much less an R-Tronic (I guess its another auto trans of some sort) so any input about "starting the car" is treasured, lol.

Again, great to be here









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Audi Q5 Ibis White 2010 Prestige
Audi R8 2008 Red R-tronic (new to the family)
BMW 328i Coupe 2007 Monaco Blue

[KfabR8]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the R8!

Get a plane ticket, fly out, pick it up and enjoy the drive home! - and go around Kansas, my God that state goes on forever and trees are scarce.

Driving it home will give you the opportunity to get acquainted with the new ride, get acquainted with the attention it will bring and, if all goes correctly, stick a perma-grin on your face.

The R8 is a great travel car. Out on the road it's smooth, supple and very comfortable. I've done cross country drives four times now in mine and each time it's been a pleasure.

If you're into road trips, even remotely, you should treat yourself to this particular drive.

[ianerrid]

...By the way, I've never driven an R8, much less an R-Tronic (I guess its another auto trans of some sort) so any input about "starting the car" is treasured, lol.

The R-Tronic is not an auto, it is a robotised single clutch manual - all you need to know is lift a little during upshifts if you don't want the head snap. Only other thing before you drive, is a low speed and lots of lock you may get a judder/skip but it's normal, just the diff lock doing it's thing.

Have fun, and welcome aboard. If I had your opportunity over again I would drive it home and have fun - first day is awesome!

[mngolfer]

If you fly to MN to pick it up I will meet you at the airport in my R8. PM me if you decide to fly and pick it up. I know your car. It has twice as many miles as I have on mine, but it is in great condition.

I would take I80 and go through Denver and pick up I15 into Las Vegas. I made this trip in March. The mountains are great with your car. If it gets cold, not expected, take the southern route. Summer tires in winter driving is more than you want. Winter tires in winter conditions make the R8 a blast as many on this forum can attest.

[OEMplus.com]

Fly & Drive, no question about it. Will be ~ same price as transport and much more fun!

[the_buch]

Congrats and welcome. We'll look foward to some of the photos you take on your ride home :-)

[randombloke]

ian's post is spot on for the things you need to know about the r-tronic - audi dealers should print that off and stick it to the steering wheel on delivery!

only other thing is that if you are at rest in the car with no gas and no foot brake for a few seconds it will ping and go into neutral. when that happens, just press you foot on the brake pedal and select a gear using either the paddles or gear stick to set off.

it does take a little time to get used to it like everything else, but it's worth it in the end.

starting the car is dead easy - climb in, press foot on brake and turn the key and it will fire up. knock the gear stick to the left to engage auto mode, knock it again to engage manual mode and off you roll.

[NVRL8R8]

Congrats!! Not many cars can pull off the color red i.m.o., but the R8 certainly does. My top 3 color choices for sure.

[mngolfer]

If he calls me and I pick him up at the airport I can show him how to drive the R-Tronic.

[the_buch]

One more thing to check before you head for the airport :-) I recently purchased my car in California, and it turns out if I had picked it up there I would have had to pay California sales tax even though I was exporting it. Might be worth checking if that applies in MN?