HIGH ROAD
GERMAN CON BRIO
Audi squeezes a Lamborghini V-10 into the engine bay of its R8 supercar. The result? Magnifico.
BY HOWARD WALKER
Think of it loosely as mixing a little Gewürztraminer and Asti Spumante. It’s what happens when you take an R8—one of the most gorgeous creations to roll on four wheels—and swap the Audi-built V-8 with a hot-tempered Lamborghini V-10 spark-ignition engine that is similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo V-10. Bellissimo! Why would Audi engineers do that? Because they can. The burgeoning Audi AG owns Lamborghini, so, in oversimplified terms, it was just a matter of Fritz calling up Luigi, ordering a batch of V-10s from the Lamborghini parts store, and modifying them to fit. It’s not as if the R8 was in desperate need of an injection of increased power. Its standard 4.2-liter V-8 has at its disposal a corral of 420 thoroughbred horses that can thrust the aluminum-bodied R8 toward the horizon with the urgency of the starship Enterprise going into warp speed. And it’s an absolutely intoxicating combo. Whereas the V-8 is all big biceps and aural muscle, the V-10 screams to an insane 8,700-rpm redline, hitting the high notes like Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma. For the stopwatch clickers, those extra 105 horses and two additional cylinders mean the difference between hurtling from standstill to 60 mph in a breathtaking 3.7 seconds instead of a slightly less breathtaking 4.4 seconds. Not that from behind the wheel you’re going to notice the difference; V-8 or V-10, your body is still going to be compressed into the back of the seat and your eyelids peeled back like you’ve been riding an F-16 on full afterburner. Of course, with the R8’s standard Quattro all-wheel drive, there are no smoke-belching burnouts as the rear wheels fight for grip. With all four 19-inch Pirellis grabbing at the blacktop like Velcro on velvet, the R8 just lunges off the line. Yet despite this over-serving of Italian horsepower, the R8 remains a pussycat to drive—albeit a cougar on caffeine. It’s happy to chug along in rush-hour traffic, or do the run to the grocery store. And unlike so many hard-core supercars, the R8’s suspension soaks up lumps and bumps like a Lexus. Its cockpit too is the height of civility. It’s easy to climb in and out without needing a course in limbo dancing, and there’s no shortage of leg- or headroom for the vertically enhanced. In true Audi fashion, the quality of the fixtures and fittings is breathtaking—the simplicity and clarity of the instruments, the tactile beauty of its salami-thick steering wheel and knurled-edged gear shifter. Gorgeous. Speaking of gears, you have the option of a six-speed manual shifter or a six-speed R-tronic manual-automatic. Unless you’re desperate for the car to do the shifting for you, stick with the manual. You can read a chapter of War & Peace in the time it takes for the automatic to change gears, whereas the manual has the click-click precision of flicking on a light switch. 
Audi’s latest iteration of its sensational R8 supercar—the new R8 V-10 5.2 FSI Quattro—gives the best of both. 
For those few sports-car aficionados who live by the mantra that too much power is never quite enough, the 525 horsepower from the Lamborghini V-10 is just what the good doctor ordered.
To have a little Italian soul in your Teutonic Audi will cost you $146,000 for the six-speed and $155,100 for the R-tronic, while the V-8 six-speed costs $114,200, and the R-tronic $123,300. Make no mistake, though; when the tachometer needle spins toward that soaring red line and you feel the punch of 525 Italian stallions, it’ll have you singing like Luciano.
Automotive editor Howard Walker can be reached at NIedit@naplesillustrated.com.
