My new '08 - initial impressions

[Timbo]

Hi all, just got my R8, it's an 08 R-Tron V8, thought I'd share my initial impressions.

This car is a replacement for my much beloved NSX, which gave me 7 great trouble-free years. We NSX geeks waited and waited thru many false starts for "the next NSX", which of course never came (alas, there's another "next NSX!!" but i ain't waiting anymore .. so the R8 seems the most logical alternative, all things considered - quality, rarity, comfort, performance, and best of all being an exotic that you can bring to any old Audi dealer instead of needing to find a specialty shop, which pretty much don't exist up here.

First - what a presence this car has. No one knows what it is, though a few kids have informed me "dude that's the Iron Man car!" Low, wide, rare, super cool looking, clean and futuristic, like liquid metal.

Great engine - 100 ponies per liter, 8k redline, sweet ripping sound. I couldn't quite justifiy the cost for V10 - this one's plenty fast for me.

Handling, braking, comfort - all there in spades. Hi-tech surprises keep jumping out - for example I love the reverse camera, how it shows your trajectory and beeps as you approach the thing in back of you. Space age headlights, auto wipers/lights, great Nav, on an on it goes.

Nits:

R-Tronic - this will take some getting used to. Non-sport mode is awful - slow sluggish shifts that make everyone seasick. So I just hit sport every time, and that firms it up. Downshifts are always great - love the perfect throttle blip! Upshifts are still a little slow when at a leisurely pace. Experimenting w/ throttle lift to smooth it out. Is there a TCU upgrade, or some way to disable non-sport mode altogether? The local Audi dealer said no.

Car has literally zero radio reception, or sometimes just 1 station which cuts in & out every few seconds. A quick search here reveals the "R24 ariel" as the likely culprit. Still under warranty so not worried.

Turning the car sharply at low speeds feels like a 4WD truck, where the car "sticks". Hopefull this is normal (?)

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All in all, a very worthy NSX successor, presses all the right buttons, a super hi-tech Teutonic rocket!

[kthacher]

That turning issue is normal. Especially with cold tires.

[SebringSilver]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum (and to R8 ownership). I owned two NSXs in the past as well, and it took a long time to find another car that could do what that car could do.

[RS4Cab]

Surprised the radio has not been fixed yet? Once I did the fix it worked great

[mngolfer]

There is a very old recall on the radio. The dealer should not have sold you the car without it done. There are two R-tronic upgrades you should also have done. Most people only drive the R-tronic in manual mode. Auto mode is "not so good".

[R-Ocho]

how much did you end up paying for your r8 if u don't mind me asking. I'm currently in the market for one as well.

Thanks

[blackspyder]

Current Recalls...

[Timbo]

Thank you guys -

mngolfer - what are the R-tronic upgrades? And why does Audi Stratham not know about them?

R-Ocho - cost: "the going rate" .. rather not say the exact number but yeah was surprised at how little they have dropped since new. However don't forget to account for options, which drive up the price quickly. For example my car has "enhanced leather" which bumped up the sticker by $5500! Wow, i woulda rather had all the carbon.. oh well. Anyway , it speaks to a car's quality if it holds its value, and this one is holding up nicely.

blackspyder - thanks, though I don't think any of those issues apply to my car.. is that a page anyone can access?