Forget its crummy R-Tronic transmission for a second and it's clear that the 2008 Audi R8 hardly puts a contact patch wrong. Props to Audi's engineering staff for sweating the details.
Oddly enough, though, not everything about the R8 adopts the endlessly fussed-over mechani-cool character that pervades every one of its crannies.
Here's what I mean. Fire the direct-incted, dry-sumped, variable-everything V8 when its stone cold and the R8 idles lumpily, spitting and cracking like a Nextel Cup car. Just a few seconds later, the composure that has been so carefully fettled by its creators flips on and the R8 immediately snaps into a glassy smooth idle.
It's a contrast that I dig.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor @ 21,794 miles.
cah11705 says:
04:53 PM, 10/ 6/08
my first thought seeing that picture was "did inside line get a bugatti?"
they have such similar look from that angle!
carfreak8394 says:
06:59 PM, 10/ 6/08
^^ You're right!
dragonflight says:
08:46 PM, 10/ 6/08
^^ +3
dougtheeng says:
06:04 AM, 10/ 7/08
^^+4
How high can we get this count?
tryan says:
07:43 AM, 10/ 7/08
Wouldn't that similar appearance make sense? Same parent company, similar design language...
My GTI seems to fire up the same way after sitting all night, though I'd never compare the sound of the R8's 4.2L V8 to the 2.0T. =)
Come to think of it, my relative's 928 used to fire up that way, too, maybe just a consequence of the engineering tolerances.
hondacura4 says:
12:10 PM, 10/ 7/08
The E46/E36s BMW M3s are quite chatty when started cold as the valves tick for a few seconds.