You remember your Aunt Agatha, don’t you? Purple rinse, lipsticky teeth, fledgling beard - that one. Well, she’s just left you 76,725 in her will. And since you’re not one to ignore a rather heavy handed hint from the forces of destiny, you’ll spend it on an Audi R8.
So what exactly do you get for your 76,725? Well, first of all you get to wait. Audi UK has been allocated 450 R8s this year, with deliveries starting in July, and 750 in 2008. But as it has more than 1,000 customers on the waiting list, any orders placed now aren’t likely to be fulfilled before 2009. (The UK will actually be getting a disproportionate number of R8s: only 3,000 will be built per year, largely by hand, at a rate of about 20 a day.)
That will give you plenty of time to read the brochure, and if you’re anything like the other people buying R8s you’ll find it hard to resist some of the options. The average price of the cars being ordered now is around 90,000.
And then, when you’re old and grey, you get your car. And, by crikey, it will make you young and virile and athletic and cool and everything you ever wanted to be. No, really, that’s what it feels like - that’s how good it is. Even those whose tastes are a little more hardcore admit that it’s a splendid thing. And it’s bang on target for the type of driver who’s a bit intimidated by Ferraris, a bit uncertain about the Porsche 911’s image and is, in any case, rather keen on the idea of a car that merges Audi TT with Lamborghini Gallardo.
Read Article