Classic pearls of the future - Audi R8 6-speed
05/22/2018
The Audi R8 has made its way to the Olympus of sports cars. At the latest after "Tony Stark" (in the movie Iron Man) ennobled it, it was known all over the world.
It was unveiled in September 2006 and the proximity to the Le Mans sports car was obvious. Built primarily from aluminum, the eight-cylinder coupé weighed just over 1600 kg, with an additional 60 kg when fitted with a ten-cylinder engine. The prices back then? The entry-level model cost EUR 113,500, the Spyder (later) and V10 engine were of course more expensive.
Initially, the R8 was available with a 6-speed manual gearbox with an open splitter gearbox and optional sequential R-Tronic (automated 6-speed gearbox), later a seven-speed DSG was added. For the successor model from 2015, the option of shifting manually and with a foot-operated clutch was no longer offered.
The automated gearshift variants were already popular in the first generation, meaning that only a small proportion of the 26,037 R8s built are likely to have had this attractive paddle shift. However, if you look at the performance of manually shifted Ferrari sports cars, then a similar trend is likely to start at Audi, if not already underway, making the open-shift versions more valuable than their automated counterparts.
The R8 was a good car anyway, but you should have a full coffers, because repairs are not cheap, but are certainly compensated for by the driving pleasure, especially if you are allowed to stir in the open gearbox.
