What is it?
The Audi R8 has long made a name for itself as the everyday supercar. When the first generation hit the streets in 2006, critics said it wasn’t special or exciting enough to rival the likes of Porsche, with its subtle styling and an interior arguably not far off a well-specced Audi hatchback.
However, more than a decade of progress has proved that theory to be false. The R8 has an interior tall people can actually fit in, an ergonomically spot-on interior and surprisingly decent luggage space — but with more than 600bhp and a screaming V10 engine, it more than holds its own in the supercar segment.
What’s new?
With this not being an all-new model, just a mid-life refresh, there’s not a great deal new to report. Easily the most obvious change is to the styling, with the R8’s face given a fairly major overhaul. It’s clearly the same car, just with a sharper, more aggressive look.
There’s also new nomenclature. We’re testing the V10 Performance Quattro model, which is the high-performance version formerly known as V10 Plus. Meanwhile the ‘entry level’ version is now called V10 Quattro. All variants are more powerful and faster than before, too.