2017 Audi R8 V10 plus: The best junior supercar we’ve tested

Back in 2015, we spent a few very memorable days with Audi's first-generation R8 V10 plus. Built on the bones of the Lamborghini Gallardo—Audi bought the company in 1998 for $110 million—it refined the lairy Italian wedge into something a little more German. In essence, the R8 was Audi's answer to cousin Porsche's 911 Turbo, a 200mph supercar you could drive every day. But that R8 was old news when we drove it, and the Gallardo was no more, replaced by the much more modern Huracán.

As you might expect, the Huracán in turn lent its platform and engine to a new R8, and, after what's felt like an interminable wait, we finally got some seat time with it. The tl;dr? The new R8 was well worth the wait.

A 10-cylinder heart

This generation of R8s all come with a 5.2L V10 engine, one tuned to produce 540hp (403kW) or, in the case of the V10 plus, 610hp (545kW). The latter—fitted to our car—is basically identical to the Huracán's engine. It's hand-built in Hungary and these days is notable for being one of the very last naturally aspirated supercar power plants. Almost every competitor to the R8 (and Huracán) have gone for forced induction: the Ferrari 488, McLaren 570S, and Ford GT all use blown V8s or V6s. But the engine here is no dinosaur. It uses both port- and direct-injection, both systems juggled by the car's electronic brains depending upon the drive mode and what kind of load the engine is under. It's even able to deactivate one bank of cylinders for better fuel economy when cruising.

That V10 is a peach of an engine, revving out to 8,700rpm with all the wonderful attendant noise that entails. Peak power arrives at the top of the rev band, between 8,250-8,700rpm. Away from the race track, exploring the upper end of the tachometer is something you do in tiny bites, a few seconds at a time when the road ahead is empty and well-sighted. Peak torque—413lb-ft (560Nm)—comes along at just 6,500rpm, and the R8 is perfectly happy to saunter along in traffic at engine speeds barely above tick-over.

Power is sent to the wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, with closely-spaced gear ratios between third and seventh, all the better for track driving. (The standard R8 gets a different set of gear ratios, with seventh being an overdrive.) But for all its high-performance tuning, the R8 is remarkably docile when left to shift for itself in D. In fact, around town, it's as docile as something like a Golf GTI. The drivetrain is usually rear-biased, but depending on conditions, the car can actually send all 413lb-ft of torque to the front wheels. (In addition, it does some clever torque vectoring in the corners.)

That's in large part down to the algorithms and processors that govern the R8's behavior. Unlike the original R8 V10 plus—but in keeping with every other current Audi—a number of drive modes are available, each of which remap the steering (if you ticked that option), throttle pedal, electronic stablility control, and the quattro AWD system. (Over in Europe, the R8 is also available with adaptive magnetorheological dampers. But for the US, we get conventional valved units that aren't adjustable.)

Accessed by a button on the steering wheel, "Comfort" dials everything back, while "Auto" lets the car decide what to pick based on your driving style. "Individual" lets you pick and choose, and "Dynamic" is where the fun really starts. A separate button turns on the sports exhaust, while yet another button accesses "performance mode," which in turn has settings for dry conditions, rain, and even snow.

Curves, creases, and edges

The new R8 is a much more angular beast than the model it replaced, and its aluminum body panels give it a rather insectoid appearance. It incorporates a few visual cues from the (now dearly departed) R18 Le Mans racer, like the LED headlights and wheel arches; no big surprise since the same design team worked on both. One of the biggest changes compared to the previous R8 has been the change to the side blades. Previously, these were one-piece affairs; now, they're interrupted by the car's belt line.

Visually, the car gives you a few clues that it is the range-topping model—the side blades, rear spoiler, and rear diffuser are all made from naked carbon fiber.

Under the skin is a spaceframe chassis, mainly aluminum, but with some carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for good measure. Audi says that the new R8 V10 plus weighs 33lbs less than the old car (15kg), but it's also 40 percent stiffer. The suspension is also all-aluminum, with double wishbones front and rear.