Audi R8 review

A thorough re-do for the car that up-ended the way we think about mid-engined supercars. The original Audi R8 was useable, secure in the wet, beautifully built and untempramental – but still mad-fast and super-exciting. The new one has dropped the ‘basic’ V8 option. Now there are two V10 outputs, 540 and 610bhp. The body is lighter and stiffer, thanks to substititution of several large aluminium parts in the shell by carbonfibre. Extra electronics in the chassis extend the secure-versus-exciting contradiction outward in both directions. The cabin gets the TT’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’ fairy dust, but with a supercar’s driving position.