Photo: X-Tomi Design
The consensus around the internet seems to be that the all-new 2016 Audi R8 is ugly as sin, quite powerful and has a nice interior. That has to be the most conflicting batch of attributes an Audi has ever embodied. I mean, the A4 was boring through and through, end of discussion. You can also add "a nice convertible" to that list today because the first rendering of the R8 Spyder is out and we think it's a good one.
X-Tomi Design basically took the body of the 2016 R8, chopped the roof and added the rear decking of the old car. The result isn't half bad, while catching glimpses of the interior makes you forget all about the front end.
The R8 is the sort of car only an Audi engineer could love. There are two versions available at launch, the base V10 with 540 horsepower that's about as fast as the RS7 and the R8 Plus with 610 horsepower that's as fast as a Lamborghini. Audi has also detailed but not shown the R8 e-tron 2.0, which will have a twin-motor setup producing 462 HP (or 340 kW) and 920 Nm (679 lb-ft) of torque. It might not be as much as the Tesla Model S P85D, but the range of up to 450 km (279.6 miles) make up for this.
The R8 coupe will debut in Germany and other major European markets this summer, with prices starting at €165,000 ($187,491) for the standard model and €187,400 ($212,934) for the R8 V10 Plus. Add another €10,000 or so for the convertible roof and…. OMG that's a very expensive Audi.
We extensively tested the previous R8 Spyder and we can't say that we loved it. Taking the roof off the car made the body all wobbly and soft, so to compensate the suspension was a lot stiffer, which is great if you live in Germany and the roads are perfect, but really bad everywhere else. As a result, not a tear will be shed if they don't make another one.
Google News