The R8 is Audi’s most expensive, powerful, and innovative car, but does it come equipped with butterfly doors?
Fresh off the production line, the Audi R8 does not have butterfly doors, but there are conversion kits that you can buy to install them on an aftermarket basis. However, this isn’t a common practice and most owners tend to keep the standard, traditional door system.
Read on to learn more about the Audi R8, its history, and just how powerful it is.
The Unbeatable Audi
While Audi might be a reputable and historical car manufacturer in its own right, none of its vehicles have quite the reputation of the R8. It’s the pinnacle of Audi’s engineering acumen and a testament to the innovation they’ve introduced to the motoring industry.
As a company, Audi has existed for well over one hundred years, having been founded in Germany, in 1909. It would take just one year for ‘Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau’ to launch their first car, the Audi Type A.
In 1920, Audi took steps to innovate and make monumental changes in the production of vehicles, presenting the first ever left-hand drive vehicle. This made it much safer to drive on the right, as was (and still is) the standard in many countries.
Throughout the last few decades, Audi has launched several new cars to an impressive reception every time. However, it’s their top-tier luxury sports vehicle that boasts the biggest and brightest reputation.
The R8 first entered the scene in 2006, launching with both positive reviews and fantastic sales records. It was the most powerful production vehicle Audi had ever launched, with a sleek, aerodynamic design, and rear-mounted engine.
It was reminiscent of a supercar, and it essentially was – at the highest level, the original R8 came equipped with a 5.2-liter V10 engine. The vehicle was praised by racing professionals as ‘the best handling road car today’.
Audi continued to lean on the success of the R8, giving it a facelift in 2012, and then creating a whole new generation in 2015. When the second-generation Audi R8 was launched, it blew fans away, with the vehicle adopting a more aggressive aesthetic, better technology, and a boost in power.
However, this newer Audi R8 also brought with it an increase in value, with the price tag now sitting at around one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, brand new.
Off The Lot And On To The Road
An Audi R8 has a seriously commanding road presence, both in how it looks and how it sounds. It’s an eye-catching vehicle, instantly recognizable, and widely appreciated, even by those uninterested in cars.
Thanks to Audi’s intuitive marketing acumen, a vast proportion of the R8’s popularity can be attributed to its constant showcasing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since the Iron Man movie launched in 2008, the Audi R8 has been the vehicle of choice for the titular character.
As the R8 has evolved, so too has Tony Stark’s collection, with each film boasting a new and improved version of the car. In Iron Man 2, Stark is seen driving the newly-released Audi R8 Spyder.
The reality is, this is an extremely impressive vehicle that brings with it an air of status and power. While it isn’t in the leagues of the Italian masters like Lamborghini and Ferrari, it comes pretty close.
Ultimately, it’s a production road vehicle and it lacks some of the opulent bells and whistles of the supercar range. For example, while many modern supercars come equipped with butterfly doors, the Audi R8 has traditional, horizontally-opening doors.
Also, most supercars today are built around a V12 engine, whereas the Audi, as we’ve mentioned, has a V10 engine. Although, let’s not undersell it – that still is an incredibly powerful engine.
At the top end of the scale, the Audi’s engine can produce just over six hundred horsepower and reach top speeds of around two hundred miles-per-hour. However, these figures are taken from the R8 Spyder Performance, and if you want to sample them, you’ll need to pay around two hundred thousand dollars for the opportunity.
It’s no secret that the Audi R8 has some stiff competition, so all these high-rated figures and the clever marketing is certainly necessary. In 2020, the Audi R8 was battling valiantly against vehicles like the Chevrolet Corvette, Mercedes-Benz AMG GT, and the Porsche 911.
While the Audi R8 might be more expensive than some of these vehicles, it definitely remains one of the most iconic vehicles in its class.