We review the Audi R8 GT from price to economy and all its features
JUST two letters – GT – but they transform the R8 from a beauty into the beast.
The GT is for supercar owners for whom performance is far more important than posing.
Blistering pace ... Audi R8 GT
It’s the supercar that benefits from all of the engineering expertise and latest technologies that Audi have gleaned from their racing car programme.
This is an R8 that can be used as your daily transport but it comes alive on a race circuit, where its race-tuned 5.2litre V10 engine can be pushed to the max.
The GT has been on a racing diet of carbon fibre. They have used lightweight carbon materials, along with an aluminium chassis to reduce its weight by 220lb compared with a normal R8.
Those lost pounds are translated into blisteringly fast acceleration that throws your head back into the bucket sports seats. Forget 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds – try 0-124mph in 10.8 seconds.
Rather frustratingly, the GT stops at 199mph. Surely they could have squeezed the extra 1mph to join the 200mph supercar club?
And the speed is accompanied by a soundtrack of the most wonderful noise that provokes you into constantly down- changing the F1 gearbox paddles.
But it is the way that the GT clings to freshly laid race circuit Tarmac at the most ridiculous speeds that sticks in my memory. It takes you round bends you have no right to go around at such speed.
It is one of those cars that truly flatters the average driver – me – to such an extent that you convince yourself that you are much better than you are.
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Sadly, for me that ended in a spin, reminding me of the reality.
The GT is not only the fastest R8 but also the most exclusive, with just 313 on offer worldwide and 33 of those coming to the UK. Every one has already been sold. And that is despite a starting price of £145,645, which with options goes up to £159,000. But it appears that British buyers are happy to pay.
What to look out for when buying a used Audi R8 (2007-)
Cars with the R8’s kind of performance used to be high-risk, high-reward; often characterised by overheating, misfiring and being just plain hard work to drive.
So for decades we celebrated the relative ease of Porsche 911 ownership. Then the Audi pitched up and rewrote the rule book.
The R8 is beautifully built and, even more impressively, its astonishing performance appears not to stress it mechanically. The result is a car that is as easy to live with as a Nissan Micra yet as potent as a Ferrari.
Audi has issued just one recall since launch, which affected fewer than 500 Spyder models — check with your dealer if you are unsure whether the work has been completed. As with any big investment, check the car’s service history and provenance before you sign on the dotted line.