The 2009 Audi R8 5.2 V10

The Audi R8 has quickly become one of the best selling high performance sports cars on the market, and perhaps even in the entire history of Audi. It is easy to see why the car combines outstanding performance with a very attractive styling. When the car first came out it had a V8 engine and the performance was excellent. However in the highly competitive world of top of the line sports cars there is always room to increase the size of the engine. So starting with the 2009 Audi R8 it is available with a V10 engine. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in power and performance. It has also significantly raised the price but that doesn’t seem to have stopped people from buying.

The decision to put a V10 into the Audi R8 wasn’t a particularly difficult one. There was a big business going on with aftermarket tuners upgrading the power on the V8’s. This made it pretty obvious that there was a demand for a more powerful engine. Fortunately Audi had one available that they could install without having to build a new engine. The company also happens to own Lamborghini so they just took the engine that was being used in the Lamborghini and put it into the R8. The massive increase in power and performance soon proved popular with consumers. Despite a price of well over a hundred thousand dollars the car has sold well.

If there is one criticism of the Audi R8 5.2 V10 it is the transmission. There is no option available for a double clutch transmission. This is odd given that Audi were one of the first to use the technology. The problem is that they don’t have a transmission that would be appropriate used in any of their other cars and developing one just for the R8 would be prohibitively expensive given the small sales volume. So unfortunately while their competitors are moving towards the technology it is not available on the 2009 Audi R8. This may change in the future as presumably it will be necessary in the future to offer the technology to keep up with the other super cars but for now it isn’t available.

A big part of the reason that 2009 Audi R8 has sold so well is that it is more than just a high performance sports car. It is in reality a touring car and it is designed to be comfortable on long drives. There is a surprising amount of space inside for a car in its class. There are of course all the bells and whistles that you would expect on a top end car. The biggest problem that you may face with the Audi R8 is getting your hands on one. The factory is running at near capacity in terms of production and it really can’t keep up with demand. The decision to change the engine has made the car one of the best selling super cars on the market and this looks unlikely to change anytime soon.