rai

the way I see it is this can be viewed as the same price as a used F360 or used Gallardo. Or similar price to an Aston Vantage and in the ballpark of the 911S or Turbo.

One benifit for me is the dealer network is better than Ferrari, Lambo it Aston. I think the article said there are 260+ Audi dealerships in the US. I think there are less than 100 dealers put together of Lambo, Aston and Ferrari.

The R8 is not out of the realm of performance of a used F360 or used Gallardo and being new and an Audi should be cheaper to maintain but offset by more depreciation as its a new car.

steven975

are the full LED headlights an option in the US?

Fanman

I would take a convertible Carrera S, and save thousands or pony up a little more and go 911 Turbo and get that much more performance and luxury. For that price it should have had the V10, and 500 hp. What's with Audi these days ? Their cars have always been priced a few thousand below their BMW & MBZ counterparts, but now their performance models are all several thousand OVER the comparable BMW & AMG MBZ units.

rai

[QUOTE=Fanman,Mar 30 2007, 02:02 PM] ..go 911 Turbo and get that much more performance and luxury.

Bavarian Motorist

Hp is not always relevant.


The carrera weighs 3150 lbs... its power takes it a step further.



The Audi R8 is a GT car, though. Porsches are sports cars. All of them. Yes, they can be used as GT cars (which is what is so amazing about Porsche) but they are not technically GT cars.



The amazing thing about the gt3 and all Porsches is that, as edmunds.com says, "track worthy but not track bound."



This is a completely different car, though. Let's not compare apples & bricks.

bjohnston

Price is right, and the car looks (and drives, from everything I have read) fantastic. Sure, the racers aren't going to like it (I'm not sure it was intended for weekend track use, unlike the GT3 and Z06), but, for the rest of us, I can't see much reason to take a 911 over it. The Audi's design is leagues ahead of the Porsche, IMO.

Bavarian Motorist

How do you figure the design is leagues ahead? In terms of what? Style? Functionality...?

bjohnston

Look at the cars side by side (of course, I've only seen the photos). Which looks fresher and has more presence (of course, this is subjective, though)? The 911 shape has been around essentially unchanged since, what, 1963? Also, I would guess that the mid-engine functionality (read handling) of the R8 is superior to the rear-engine functionality of the 911. Hell, most say the functionality of the mid-engine Cayman is superior to the functionality of the rear-engine 911, right?

bjohnston

Oh, I should also qualify apples to apples when I say the R8 probably handles better than the 911. I would compare it to the C4S, not the GT3. I don't doubt that a more purpose-built 911 can out-handle the general use R8. See my first post re. comparing the GT3 to R8.

Bavarian Motorist

I like Porsche's designs and I dislike the r8's design. Matter of opinion.



I doubt the r8 will out handle a c4s, but this remains to be seen. This r8 may just be that good.



The reviews have been fantabulous (funny word)



Just the 911 is the benchmark and I'm not ready to dethrone it just yet.