With a little less than a week to go before its official unveiling at the Frankfurt auto show, images of the Audi R8 Spyder have surfaced.
Audi is still not officially releasing information on the Spyder but based on our previously gathered spy information and close examination of the images seen here, we can say a few things about the upcoming convertible.
First the chocolate-colored (!) car seen here is the 5.2 model, powered by the same 525-horsepower V10 that motivates the 5.2 coupe version of the car. The "V10" badge is clearly visible on the front fender. Other trim details are carried over from the V10 coupe as well, such as the twin oval tail pipes, chrome-trimmed front grille, shiny black trim and -- wait, are those chrome wheels?! Maybe GM was so far ahead of the times when it fitted chromes to the ZR1 that they seemed to be behind. Either that, or the R8 Spyder merely has polished aluminum alloy wheels. Hard to tell.
We have no word as to whether Audi will produce a V8 version of the Spyder. Our earlier spy reports said no. But we expect that the 5.2 Spyder will be available with a proper manual transmission or the jerky R Tronic, just as on the coupe. All-wheel-drive will, of course be standard.
A few Spyder specific things to note: The windshield frame gets an alloy-silver look instead of body-color paint. This is consistent with Audi tradition. Also, the sideblades are gone. They're replaced by more conventional side scoops. And, sadly, it looks as if the engine-under-glass look of the coupe won't be part of the Spyder's style.
No word on when the Spyder will reach U.S. dealers but it shouldn't be more than a year and we would expect a price somewhere in the $180,000-200,000 range.
Read coverage of our recent four-day road trip in the Audi R8 V10 coupe.
anythngbutgm says:
08:23 AM, 09/10/09
Damn, that's beautiful
anythngbutgm says:
08:23 AM, 09/10/09
Damn, that's beautiful
firstwagon says:
08:38 AM, 09/10/09
Agreed. Huge improvement in looks over the R8 coupe.
dougtheeng says:
09:26 AM, 09/10/09
No surprise really. I'd take the coupe.
felonious says:
09:48 AM, 09/10/09
It looks way better than I had anticipated. I think I'll buy one with my fantasy $300k ($100k of which is going to a diesel-swapped Flex). :)
notabigdeal says:
10:28 AM, 09/10/09
for 200k i'd still get the california.
cz75 says:
12:38 PM, 09/10/09
Looks way better than the coupe and those ugly contrasting side panels.
estreka says:
01:04 PM, 09/10/09
I gotta say, it looks a lot like what I imagine an S5 widebody convertible would look like.
That chocolate color is gorgeous.
hondacura4 says:
03:54 PM, 09/10/09
Audi's overall design language, attention to detail, material selection and rich/bold color combination/contrasts continue to surprise me. The R8 coupe is gorgeous but the R8 Spyder is absolutely stunning!
hondacura4 says:
04:02 PM, 09/10/09
"Maybe GM was so far ahead of the times when it fitted chromes to the ZR1 that they seemed to be behind. Either that, or the R8 Spyder merely has polished aluminum alloy wheels. Hard to tell."
I think the Spyder's rims are polished or satin finished not chrome. I don't think Ive ever seen a rim from Audi that was chrome.
sabastian says:
04:08 PM, 09/10/09
It looks kind of...flat. I wish it had some more pronounced roadster bumps like the V8 Vantage.
nissanfanatic says:
05:13 AM, 09/11/09
I'm impressed with this "chocolate" paint job. I'm not too surprised with the overall look though. If i had to choose, I would still rather have the coupe.
zoomzoomn says:
05:26 AM, 09/11/09
:)