"Why are those people staring at us?" my girlfriend asks. We're just trying to get some fruit, albeit from the popular Farmer's Market at the Grove in Los Angeles, but the facts don't change: The two of us are just doing some grocery shopping and people won't leave us alone.
"Ignore them" I tell her, "the poor don't deserve our attention." By the time my head stopped ringing from the smack to the head, we had miraculously found a parking space, exited the car and were sipping tripple iced espressos.
When returning to the car, bags in hand, we were startled by a group of teens surrounding the R8. "Great car!" "I saw this at the auto show!" "Is it fast?" My replies were pleasant and I didn't bludgeon or threaten any of them with the cane I had been carrying due to a knee injury. (I did make various threats to children playing, upset that they were on the lawn.)
I just wanted to put my groceries into the absurdly small frunk (front trunk), go home and go to bed. This wasn't Cars and Coffee, this wasn't Hot Import Nights; it was simply a hot Wednesday night where I happened to have a car and some coffee.
And this brings me to my thesis statement: Supercars are dumb.
Before you get your Countach poster all in a bunch, follow the jump.
I guess it's the New Englander in me speaking, but I prefer things to be functional and understated. The other day I saw a hammer made of titanium with some carbon fiber stickers on it. Earlier that very same day (which explains why I was in the hammer aisle) I built an Ikea night table with, literally, a penny, the allen wrench that came with the thing, and a can of tuna for a hammer and, when placed on its side, a level. Not only did it handle the task of securing finishing nails into a piece of fiberboard, it was also delicious! And currently the empty can is being used to hold spare change. Can the fancy-pants hammer do that? No, it's nothing more than a shiny expensive unitasker.
Such is life with the Audi R8 and in my experience, virtually every supercar. Sure they do what they do very well, but the cost of ownership is absurd. No, not the financial cost, but the emotional cost. Gone is your privacy and, to an extent, your dignity. Driving the R8 is phenomenal. Driving the R8 also makes you "that guy." The guy who has a supercar is not to be envied. The guy driving the supercar down Sunset is the guy with an ego problem, not a passion for cars.
Growing up I lived next door to a rock star. He ditched "the life" and moved to a quiet town to start a small farm. I never understood the decision. He had fame, fortune and to steal a quote from Futurama, "access to the depths of sleaze that those things bring." It wasn't until driving the R8 that his life path made some sense; He didn't need the attention.
Kudos on the R8, Audi, but my sense of self worth is just fine, I'll have an Rs4.
I'm just not desperate enough to own a supercar.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
03:20 PM, 08/14/08
Like most supercars, the R8 is an impressive statement of engineering skill and ego, often by one or a very few visionaries.
As Mike points out, how many people really __want__ all that attention? Apparently enough to make R8 and other small-run vehicles (Ferrari, GT-R, etc) sellouts for entire model years. But even superstars want out of the light (One famous rock guitarist cchewed me out because I had the cheek to ask him, after an exhausting concert, if I could contribute some more art to his projects - he just wanted to be left alone !!).
A lotta cars out there are better as cars than the R8 (one asphalt roadway hill in Oregon that Jeeps and Subarus devour would demolish an R8). But if R8's your vision, and bucks and wait-in-line patience are ample, mo power to ya! ;-)
abyss says:
03:22 PM, 08/14/08
Super cars are just like super models...they're sexy, envied, publicized, and drooled over...but best when left in your dreams. When you finally meet one, they are expensive, moody, unreliable, and egotistical.
7driver says:
03:40 PM, 08/14/08
kurt,
Ferrari has a pretty good presence in club racing, so they aren't completely all for show. GT-R isn't quite what I'd consider a supercar.
allenychung says:
03:43 PM, 08/14/08
Until I get the chance to own one, I'll still be drooling over the R8.
vdo says:
05:04 PM, 08/14/08
Very nice post. It reminded me why I ended up buying a 1989 Carrera in marine blue with no turbo wing instead of 1989 328GTB in red. There's nothing more fun than having a blast on your way to work, to the supermarket or to a restaurant in a cool and low attention grabbing car.
huyracing says:
07:03 PM, 08/14/08
See this is why the R8 doesn't make sense. It is a decent car to drive, so you want to drive it. It is also a reliable car that isn't too expensive to maintain, so you want to drive it. Problem is it attracts too much attention and is far too expensive and rare of a car to drive it daily.
This is why I say get a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. Even if you are filthy rich, you'd leave it in the garage for most of its life, only taking it out for special occasions. For me, that would be mostly track days, but I would use it to show off too! I enjoy that kind of attention on occasion...
nuisance says:
07:43 PM, 08/14/08
Kurt, if its Asphalt, and the Subie can make it up, the R8 can too. Something about it having AWD too or some such.
Anyway, interesting article, even if I mainly enjoyed it because its spreads word about the versatility of a can of cat food around. Wouldn't of thought of that, would of grabbed a glove, and pushed down on my thumb REALLY hard if the wood was soft enough.
slickersdrip says:
08:27 PM, 08/14/08
Jeez, I grew up in Massachusetts, so I'm a bit of a New Englander myself... but as far as practicality goes, I'd get something that lasts for a long time, not IKEA that will fall apart and will be needed to bought again and again. :P
dougtheeng says:
06:15 AM, 08/15/08
The allure of the R8 will drop swiftly once there are a few more of them on the road. The people who are constantly oogling your vehicle are likely doing so because its so new.
Then again, there will always be a certain amount of interest; however, from reading these blogs I'm lead to believe that California is simply overwhelmed with supercars and a Ferarri is no longer a head turner.
I'd still take the R8. Complaining about attention because of your amazing car is like whining that you wallet is falling apart because you have so much money in it.
sgude says:
06:41 AM, 08/15/08
This post bothered me. I agree with dougtheeng, Mike: complaining about attention when you're driving the R8 (or any supercar) is silly. You're actually spreading the gospel of car enthusiasm. Some kid -- maybe in that group of teenagers -- saw you driving this car and in his or her head, said "One day, I'll have ..." It is the same way I fell in love with cars when I was a crossing guard during 5th grade (a red split-window Corvette always thundered past, every morning, as did a 911); as you snarled past in the R8, someone probably had their lust fueled for a lifetime.
It's not about attention or a sense of self-worth for me; it's about driving something I will always be interested in. Too bad it doesn't work for you.
rtharak2 says:
06:45 AM, 08/15/08
"I guess it's the New Englander in me speaking, but I prefer things to be functional and understated."
No, it's the New Englander in you speaking when you say you think that New Englanders appreciate things that are functional and understated.
(Sorry, but since Sox/Pats/Celtics, Bostonians have become insufferable.)
I agree on the R8. Too much attention could ruin the experience of what is an otherwise great car. But on the issue of supercar egos, think of the other side: if you bought an R8 because you think it's a beautiful machine and a blast to drive, wouldn't it get old if everyone who saw you assumed you had an 'ego problem'?
kurtamaxxxguy says:
07:22 AM, 08/15/08
Somehow forgot to mention that asphalt hill was 45 degrees, 500 feet high and riddled with potholes. Kinda like an uncivilized version of San Francisco. Smaller versions around here slow the tuners to a crawl.
Question about supercars: where can they be driven in USA to fully utilize their potential? Unless one has local racetrack or festoons vechile with radar/laser detectors, not that many places seem to exist. Where's the 2nd gen USA interstate "autobahn" road network?
casualobserver says:
12:15 PM, 08/15/08
"Somehow forgot to mention that asphalt hill was 45 degrees, 500 feet high and riddled with potholes."
Doubt it. 45 degrees would be a 100% slope. The steepest road in the world is about a 37% slope. Either way, the R8 can definitely make it up any smooth asphalt slope as steep or steeper than a Jeep or a Subaru can.
So then it's just about the potholes. And it's hardly news that off-road vehicles are better with potholes than supercars, or any other road cars. But that hardly makes them "better as cars", just better at a certain aspect of driving.
desmolicious says:
03:27 PM, 08/15/08
"Kudos on the R8, Audi, but my sense of self worth is just fine, I'll have an Rs4. "
I'm thinking an Rs4 will be attracting quite a few gawkers too...
Why not just settle for a nice, lightly used Volvo wagon? In beige.
johnmarco says:
02:47 PM, 08/18/08
This is where the 911 comes in. Drives like a dream and is so common that no one notices it. I think when people get a car like the R8 or GT-R they know what they're getting into, attention-wise, so they probably like it or at least are OK with it.
tryan says:
03:42 AM, 08/19/08
Desmo - A RS4 would certainly attract gawkers, but definitely a different demographic. You'd probably get people who KNOW cars and thus know the significance of a car like the RS4. They wouldn't just be reacting to the visual stimulus supplied by the styling of a car like the R8.
Case in point, a RS4 was parked at a local Dunkin', I pointed it out to my Fiance and she basically said "Isn't that just an A4?".