R8 factory tour - how good was that !

[Greg P]

Well,

This morning I was at Neckarsulm Audi Forum whilst on a road trip though Europe and took the factory tour with my wife and 2 kids 14 and 11. There was just the four of us and the guide Lars Ruoff.

What can I say - it was bloody great, even after watching the National Geographic Megafactories documentary on the same subject around 3 times to date.

What's more surprising was that my wife (who unfortunately isn't a car nut) REALLY enjoyed it too !

Tour lasted around 1hr 20 and just can't recommend it enough to all you R8'ers out there - lots to see and all those questions I had about my vehicle answered.

Found out current production is just 17 vehicles per day across all R8 models with around 50% production going to the U.S. Most of what was on the line was destined for the U.S as it happened. Production has been cut right back to keep residuals strong (I read that as demand isn't as strong as it was in the early days of the R8).They operate just one 10 hour shift now compared to 2 shifts in the early days when they made up to 30 cars per day.
Quite a few GT coupe's on the line but no GT Spyders as of yet.

Without sounding like I'm repeating myself - what a fab way to spend a couple of hours. Highly recommended.

Also found out that visitors to the line included: the Barcelona football team (apparently a certain Mr Messi didn't have too much to say on the day) and a certain Mrs Ciccone - Madonna's gone right up in my estimations if that was true.

If you're ever in that neck of the woods just do it.

[g-force]

I'm taking delivery at factory on t my 5.2 Spyder
whenever it is ready.I'll take the tour to be sure.

[v10]

I just moved to that neck of the woods... I plan to take the tour soon.

[harrison]

V 10, are you seeing plenty of R8s prancing about in the Stuttgart area ? I remember, when in Stuttgart in 7-'08 that there were very few R8s on the streets.

[Greg P]

V 10, are you seeing plenty of R8s prancing about in the Stuttgart area ? I remember, when in Stuttgart in 7-'08 that there were very few R8s on the streets.

Drove for 10 hours on german autobahns from Dusseldorf, down to Stuttgart and Munich. Didn't see 1 coupe or Spyder - saw a couple of Gallardos though .....

[g-force]

where exactly is the r8 factory in relation to Munich?

[FiftyPence]

Approx 2hrs or 285km NW from Munich.

[mofomat]

How does one go about organising this tour?

[gazza1]

Great tour and a must do if you are in Germany.

In and out of Germany over 6 weeks just recently,I only saw one Sepang Blue V10 Coupe at a service station i was at.

Nice German guy with his son..but got envious when he mentioned he had hit 317kmh on a stretch of autobahn just back a bit.

Tours can normally be organized through your dealer.

[BlkwdwR8]

I also did this tour back in March, and Lars was also my tour guide. It was an excellent tour, and I can't recommend it enough.

If you are ever fortunate enough to see it, do... it's worth the price if you're a car fanatic.