Top Gear - Spanish trip

[Quadracer]

I just don't get the R8 and why it appeals to people with a £100k+ to spend. But there again I don't get the whole Scooby thing either and I have mates obsessed with them.

 

[original guvnor]

I think you need to drive a 12c JJ

Have you? I've test driven three cars circa 100 miles in total and they are way to fast for the road, and they're a bit rough and ready, nothing like the fit and finish of a Porsche 991 IMO "all that glitter's isn't
always gold" (and I had a holding deposit on a car in May)

No but every review I've ever read of it says it goes around corners like nothing else and has the best ride quality and manners of all super cars. I think it would corner much quicker than an R8 could.

Aren't all super cars way too fast for the road? You could argue your 991s is too fast for the road. A 0-100 in 6.2s (12c) versus 8.7s (991s). So are we saying something around the 8s mark is the dividing line? In which case the new GT3 will be, the 997 turbo is, the GTR is and the R8 V10 will be getting close.

As for fit & finish - I've not seen any criticism of the fit and finish in the long term reviews being conducted by EVO and Autocar yet. A bit bland and functional? Maybe, but it's not supposed to be cosseting nappa leather and massaging seats is it?

I just couldn't get my head around spending over £100k on an Audi. It's like spending over £100k on a BMW. The R8 has the same mass-produced rep-mobile underpinnings of every other Audi. Aside from what they've borrowed in V10 from the Gallardo. For my £100k I'd want something with a lot more pedigree. I could get a 360 Challenge Stradale for that.

 

[Anonymous]

Panel gaps on some 12C's interior of a 991 is way better in fit and finish

I do take the point spending over £100k on an Audi as I'm a bit of a badge snob like a lot of people.

Also my front runner for the replacement is the new Mac P13, so I live in hope for all the 12C issues to be resolved before then

 

[craig3.2]

Yes, it was a very good episode.....and I too would take the McLaren then the Ferrari, as the R8 is just too "ordinary2 to drive; it doesn't have any sense of occasion, and you could as easily be driving an A6, unfortunately.

Clearly you haven't driven an R8 then... :roll:

At least not one in lary colours and bucket seats...

In the real world it is also a helluva lot slower than the 12c and 458.

Unless your name is Sebastian Vettel, you would never dare get close to the limits of the 458 or the 12c on the road.... however in the R8 you probably would :evil:

...and believe me some of the angles the R8 can pull in the corners without losing it are quite shocking.

Juniourjet, hate to burst your bubble but I have driven both a v8 and a v10 r8 on more than one occasion on roads and tracks at Oulton park, Thruxton , East fortune airfield and Knockhill race circuits,etc etc., in anger, so to speak and was totally under impressed by it, even though the v10 was better, still not as involving or as a sense of occasion as other such cars...that is my opinion and you have yours, as other people will have their opinions of the r8 AND MANY other sports cars, so don't go saying things like I havn't "driven" an R8 before.

I have also driven many other supercars as well as semi-pro racing in race specced hatchbacks back in the 90s, etc., when I was in late teens/early 20s, so my opinion is a valid one.
As is Original guvnors when I can understand what he means by the r8 not being as fast as the 458 0r 12c, given how these cars are often hailed for their superior handling.....even topgear recently said the 12c left the 458 and subsequently the r8 in its wake....its not the 1st time this has been said by motoring journalists/tv/press.

Each to their own op though.
Even the Lambo driver (A lAMBORGHINI EMPLOYEE) at Goodwood FOS said the Aventador is a far better car to drive, and the Murcielago, in HIS op, was "a Nightmare to drive"...I have never enjoyed driving a car as much before or since as I did enjoy driving that Murcielago lp670 round Thruxton a few years back........so each to their own

 

[tomscott]

Another Mclaren vote here. What a great car for a first effort from a British factory and company.

I used to park next to an R8 V10 at the station and I'm sorry to say in the flesh it isn't very dramatic at all. It looks a bit like a slightly stretched TT. I don't doubt it's a great steer but in this company it's way out of its depth. In the real world it is also a helluva lot slower than the 12c and 458.

+1

but its certainly on the bargain super car list being nearly 100k less than the rivals are the other two 100k more car?