centurion
Well-Known Member
I test drove the Audi R8 today courtesy of my wonderful sales exec. It was the gray one, S-tronic and Magnetic Ride.
I won't touch on design, just the driving experience.
S-Tronic - for those uninitiated, the S-Tronic is a robotized manual, basically a manual transmission, clutch and all, acutated by a robotized system. It is not dual clutch. S-Tronic formed the heart of the experience of the R8 drive, unfortunately. The S-Tronic has normal and sports mode. Within both you have auto and manual. As per normal the transmission will be auto by default until you hit the paddles or try to shift by your own using the stick, then it goes into manual mode.
Most of my drive was in manual mode. But a word on Auto mode. In auto mode, it will upshift and downshift for you. You cannot predict this without looking at the tach all the time, and even then, it depends on road grade and slope. In a word, Auto mode was ATROCIOUS. When it shifted it shifted with a big jerk, and you can't reduce the jerk or eliminate it with throttle off technique (see under manual mode) simply because you can't predict when it will shift.
Now on manual mode S-Tronic. In Normal mode, it shifts very very slowly, much slower than a manual transmission by hand. It SLURS the shift with lots of clutch slip, and is basically unworkable.
So one has gotta use Sport mode manual shifting to have a good compromise. In Sport mode manual, the shifts are much faster than normal mode. Faster than you can shift by hand. Now if you keep the throttle down when shifting, you will get almighty jerks. Really makes you look like a beginner driver. So you need to off the throttle at the same time that you're shifting, and the system will be beautiful. You can achieve TRUE smoothness.
In manual sport mode, it will not shift up for you. But it will shift down. This shifting down is when you feel screwed up. Once it shifts down, you lost track of what gear you're in. Combined with the huge torque of the engine, you really can just putter around in 3 or 4 even, so you really don't know what gear you're in unless you're looking at the display in front. And that's what happened - I spent a lot of the drive just trying to see what gear I'm in.
Overall, steptronic may be easy for auto guys to test drive the R8, but it does the R8 injustice, because the true nature of the R8 might be revealed so much better if only they had a manual car for test drive. Granted, that's like 2% of Singapore population, but if one wants to take on the Porsche and Lotus crowd, they gotta bring in the manual.
Suspension primer - this car had a adaptative suspension, Magnetic Ride. The magride has 2 settings i think - sport and normal. There's no immediate difference between both which you can immediately discern (unlike 997 and 987 PASM which you can discern immediately) but both are OK. The car was holding the road better in Normal mode and there's no discernible roll under hard cornering even in normal mode, so I left it there. Like Porsche, you can put your car in sport mode but still have normal suspension. You put sport, it will turn magride hard, but you can press magride again and you get sport+normal.
How'd it drive in traffic? Much better than any 2 seater. It handled in traffic like a BMW, mercedes or Lexus would handle. Apart from slightly firm suspension, which is good, the car just putters around in great luxury. The steering is nicely isolated from road bumps.
How'd it handle at speed? Wow I say. Getting a little bit off the crowded highways, only then the R8 could be let loose. OK I did mash the accelerator, I did all the throttle tricks. Downshifting, the computer blips for you INCREDIBLY well. You feel like a champ! The blipping works at ALL speeds, slow or fast, and it's ... incredibly good. BMW SMG2 is a FAR cry from this even in the top 2 modes (5 and 6) IIRC. In the corners, this car has superior ride+handling balance compared to Cayman and 997 C2 and C2S, GT3, don't know about the turbo, at 80% (I think). NO I did not have the balls to take the R8 to 100% of the car, because I do not know the limits in such a short drive. But the cornering was utterly FLAT at 80% - like Cayman in hard suspension mode, and more flat than cayman in normal suspension mode (PASM equipped Cayman that is). The grip was unending. There was NO understeer at 80% - not even detectable. There was no hint of oversteer, the confidence at 80% was SUPREME. You feel like god. You feel that you can take 30 km/h more in a 3rd gear corner.
How does the steering feel? You feel more than 99% of the cars of the road, I think, but it ain't no Porsche or Lotus steering. Obviously you feel more than a BMW or Mercedes, and for sure more than the normal Audis, but you don't feel the small little ruts on the road, you don't feel the tendency to microsteer any corrections, simply because you can't feel to that detail.
Engine - the engine was incredibly revvy. You downshift stupidly, the rev just shoots up. Doesn't complain. It can take like 200 more HP than it's doing now. It's unburstable. It's satin smooth. There's no gurgling, it just revs and revs, up and down, uncomplaining. You can hardly hear it actually. The torque is crazy good compared to even BMW 330. It's smooth power all the way. Past 5K rpm it doesn't scream like a naturally aspirated flat 6 Porsche engine. As I said, it works the same, like a supreme virtual machine, unburstable, at any RPM.
Did I connect to the car? Here's the sad part. I did, but only during those times where I was at speed through the corners. That's not too often, in normal driving. In normal driving, the car was utterly ... boring - besides the fact that everybody looks at you. The steering feel conspired with the S-Tronic to make this car like unexciting, I guess. In a 997 or a Boxster, you hear the engine you feel the road you shift and the car has character. You feel the brakes, and the transmission you can almost feel the cogs meshing together. You can hear every complaint the engine gives, without feeling that it's noisy. All this is missing in the Audi R8. It's a gentleman's GT I guess.
Will I buy it? I must admit that I'm not filled with lust for the car, the same as I was filled with lust with the Cayman the moment I drove my friend's one, then bought one within 1-2 months. But I must dream about this car, or drive a manual version, only then, can I really commit on dumping half a million bucks on this car.
I won't touch on design, just the driving experience.
S-Tronic - for those uninitiated, the S-Tronic is a robotized manual, basically a manual transmission, clutch and all, acutated by a robotized system. It is not dual clutch. S-Tronic formed the heart of the experience of the R8 drive, unfortunately. The S-Tronic has normal and sports mode. Within both you have auto and manual. As per normal the transmission will be auto by default until you hit the paddles or try to shift by your own using the stick, then it goes into manual mode.
Most of my drive was in manual mode. But a word on Auto mode. In auto mode, it will upshift and downshift for you. You cannot predict this without looking at the tach all the time, and even then, it depends on road grade and slope. In a word, Auto mode was ATROCIOUS. When it shifted it shifted with a big jerk, and you can't reduce the jerk or eliminate it with throttle off technique (see under manual mode) simply because you can't predict when it will shift.
Now on manual mode S-Tronic. In Normal mode, it shifts very very slowly, much slower than a manual transmission by hand. It SLURS the shift with lots of clutch slip, and is basically unworkable.
So one has gotta use Sport mode manual shifting to have a good compromise. In Sport mode manual, the shifts are much faster than normal mode. Faster than you can shift by hand. Now if you keep the throttle down when shifting, you will get almighty jerks. Really makes you look like a beginner driver. So you need to off the throttle at the same time that you're shifting, and the system will be beautiful. You can achieve TRUE smoothness.
In manual sport mode, it will not shift up for you. But it will shift down. This shifting down is when you feel screwed up. Once it shifts down, you lost track of what gear you're in. Combined with the huge torque of the engine, you really can just putter around in 3 or 4 even, so you really don't know what gear you're in unless you're looking at the display in front. And that's what happened - I spent a lot of the drive just trying to see what gear I'm in.
Overall, steptronic may be easy for auto guys to test drive the R8, but it does the R8 injustice, because the true nature of the R8 might be revealed so much better if only they had a manual car for test drive. Granted, that's like 2% of Singapore population, but if one wants to take on the Porsche and Lotus crowd, they gotta bring in the manual.
Suspension primer - this car had a adaptative suspension, Magnetic Ride. The magride has 2 settings i think - sport and normal. There's no immediate difference between both which you can immediately discern (unlike 997 and 987 PASM which you can discern immediately) but both are OK. The car was holding the road better in Normal mode and there's no discernible roll under hard cornering even in normal mode, so I left it there. Like Porsche, you can put your car in sport mode but still have normal suspension. You put sport, it will turn magride hard, but you can press magride again and you get sport+normal.
How'd it drive in traffic? Much better than any 2 seater. It handled in traffic like a BMW, mercedes or Lexus would handle. Apart from slightly firm suspension, which is good, the car just putters around in great luxury. The steering is nicely isolated from road bumps.
How'd it handle at speed? Wow I say. Getting a little bit off the crowded highways, only then the R8 could be let loose. OK I did mash the accelerator, I did all the throttle tricks. Downshifting, the computer blips for you INCREDIBLY well. You feel like a champ! The blipping works at ALL speeds, slow or fast, and it's ... incredibly good. BMW SMG2 is a FAR cry from this even in the top 2 modes (5 and 6) IIRC. In the corners, this car has superior ride+handling balance compared to Cayman and 997 C2 and C2S, GT3, don't know about the turbo, at 80% (I think). NO I did not have the balls to take the R8 to 100% of the car, because I do not know the limits in such a short drive. But the cornering was utterly FLAT at 80% - like Cayman in hard suspension mode, and more flat than cayman in normal suspension mode (PASM equipped Cayman that is). The grip was unending. There was NO understeer at 80% - not even detectable. There was no hint of oversteer, the confidence at 80% was SUPREME. You feel like god. You feel that you can take 30 km/h more in a 3rd gear corner.
How does the steering feel? You feel more than 99% of the cars of the road, I think, but it ain't no Porsche or Lotus steering. Obviously you feel more than a BMW or Mercedes, and for sure more than the normal Audis, but you don't feel the small little ruts on the road, you don't feel the tendency to microsteer any corrections, simply because you can't feel to that detail.
Engine - the engine was incredibly revvy. You downshift stupidly, the rev just shoots up. Doesn't complain. It can take like 200 more HP than it's doing now. It's unburstable. It's satin smooth. There's no gurgling, it just revs and revs, up and down, uncomplaining. You can hardly hear it actually. The torque is crazy good compared to even BMW 330. It's smooth power all the way. Past 5K rpm it doesn't scream like a naturally aspirated flat 6 Porsche engine. As I said, it works the same, like a supreme virtual machine, unburstable, at any RPM.
Did I connect to the car? Here's the sad part. I did, but only during those times where I was at speed through the corners. That's not too often, in normal driving. In normal driving, the car was utterly ... boring - besides the fact that everybody looks at you. The steering feel conspired with the S-Tronic to make this car like unexciting, I guess. In a 997 or a Boxster, you hear the engine you feel the road you shift and the car has character. You feel the brakes, and the transmission you can almost feel the cogs meshing together. You can hear every complaint the engine gives, without feeling that it's noisy. All this is missing in the Audi R8. It's a gentleman's GT I guess.
Will I buy it? I must admit that I'm not filled with lust for the car, the same as I was filled with lust with the Cayman the moment I drove my friend's one, then bought one within 1-2 months. But I must dream about this car, or drive a manual version, only then, can I really commit on dumping half a million bucks on this car.
