Audi R8 V10 (2009-) Review

Overview

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Even though it has only just been released, the fact that Audi has put a V10 engine in its R8 supercar hardly constitutes news - the large space behind the 4.2-litre V8 motor when the car was launched in 2007 suggested strongly that there was more to come. Audi's steadfast refusal to deny that it had any more power up its sleeve was taken, rightly, as a tacit acknowledgement that, before long, the 5.2-litre V10 engine already in use in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4, would soon see service under the engine cover of the R8.

Perhaps the bigger surprise is that Audi has not taken the opportunity to put more clear air than it has between the extant and continuing V8-powered R8 and this new, ten cylinder model.

Despite endless speculation that it would be called R10 after its configuration and Audi's latest Le Mans winner, R8 it remains. Visually it stays so similar you need to be something of an aficionado to spot the new 19" wheels, the bigger rear diffuser, oval exhausts and now standard carbon-fibre side panels.

Don't expect big changes beneath the skin either, because aside from the engine, there aren't any. The suspension is stiffened to cope with its extra weight but is otherwise unchanged, as is its aluminium spaceframe structure, its brakes and its tyres. The way Audi puts it, these features were engineered from the start to cope with V10 power so, if anything, the V8 version was substantially over-engineered.

The R8 5.2 V10 FSI Quattro (to give it its full and fancy name) cost £99,575 which sounds like a sizeable leap over the £77,405 asked for its smaller-engined sister. In fact once you load a V8 R8 with the all goodies the V10 has as standard - carbon side panels, nappa leather, satellite navigation and LED lighting to name just a few - the like-for-like trade-up cost is less than £10,000. The marketing men at Audi say that seven in ten R8s sold from now on will have V10s in the back. On this evidence, we believe them.