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Audi R8 Spyder Facelift Spied With Giant Exhausts, New Face

The mid-life refresh is finally going to make the Audi R8 as beautiful as it should have been from the beginning. However, these latest spyshots make us a little sad.
Audi R8 Spyder Facelift Spied With Giant Exhausts, New Face 7 photos
Photo: CarPix
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Seeing a fully built Spyder model means Audi is almost done with the development. The R8 facelift is going to come out, go on sale and then disappear into legend. How? A German supercar with as much power as a Lamborghini. How has that failed?

For one thing, the R8 didn't look as good as the Huracan. Thankfully, they are getting rid of the ugly blades at the front while giving all three of those grilles the same mesh treatment. Also, the central hexagonal grille is wider, looking a bit like the one on the A7.

Designers have also added more prominent ground effect elements and increased the amount of mesh over the rear bumper. This Spyder model boasts a fixed wing and oversized exhaust tips.

While some magazines are still saying Audi is developing a downsized 2.5-liter or V6 version of the R8, we see no indication of that here. In fact, they might be pulling a Lamborghini on us. The 640 HP version of the 5.2-liter V10 from the Huracan Performante would make more sense for the German supercar, given it would grab headlines and cost more. Remember, the last generation R8's facelift also brought more power and, famously, a GT version.

Honestly, we would never object to a 2.9 TFSI version of the R8 as long as they add some excitement to the way the car drives. But in the era of the hyper hatch, you just can't call a 450 horsepower R8 that does 100 km/h in 4 seconds "super."

Considering the R8 went into production in 2015, we believe this facelift can soldier on past the end of this decade. Who knows, maybe they can do another facelift after this one, because we honestly don't want an automotive world without a mid-engined Audi.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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