Can You Really Daily Drive a Supercar - And Would You Want To? (ft. Audi R8 V10 RWD)

I'm near the end of my time with the Audi R8 V10 RWD, and I ask the question - can you really drive a car like this every single day?

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[stephenwoodrow]

I daily drove my Exige 380 for most of last summer. I loved it and so did my chiropractor!

[chemw]

A year in to ownership of an R8 V8 I summarised my experience. May be of interest to some of you.

In the end I owned the car for 2.5 years and 30, 000 miles and total cost of ownership (including depreciation) was £14, 093. I'll let you be the judge of whether that's good value. But even as a daily driver every single mile brought a smile.


Show me the money
Let’s start with the costs. One year of ownership and about 6, 000 miles has cost £2, 250 (a health check, 4 new tyres, replacement rear brake light and a £875 service) plus road tax and insurance costing £1, 100 combined, plus fuel which I’d estimate has cost an eye-watering £2, 300. So £5, 650 all in. I’m clutching to the fact that’s less than £1 a mile, but it’s obviously a lot of money. And that’s without anything major needing replacing. The tyres I actually couldn’t find cheaper than the price Audi quoted. The rear brake light replacement was something like £230 and I felt Audi weaselled their way out of this being covered under the used approved warranty.

High running and maintenance costs are thankfully offset by very little depreciation over the last year. So overall, it’s probably been cheaper to run than if I’d picked up a brand new A3, which would lose a lot of value over the first few years.

No problems as a daily driver
For a wide, low supercar/sports car it remains an easy daily driver. Visibility is good, there is no scraping over bumps/ramps/inclines if taken at sensible speeds. I had more issues getting a MK1 TTR over bumps than I have had with the R8 – the front splitter gives great clearance for this type of car, and none of the horror stories I’ve heard around Gallardos and the need for front-lift for speed bumps, car parks and driveways. Manoeuvrable at low speeds, and easy to place when parking. Rear parking camera superb. Go easy on the peddle and it feels more like 200BHP than 430BHP, and power delivery is smooth however heavy you are on the peddle, making it a civilised car to drive when you need it to be. It’s wide, and the doors are wide, and I’m pretty wide too – so you do have to think a little about parking spaces, but it has never stopped me from going somewhere or being able to park once I got there.

It is thirsty though. Especially if you keep it a gear or two lower than it needs to be, to keep it in its peak power range and to get a howl from the engine. I’ve maybe averaged mid-teens. So get used to filling it up.

Sense of occasion
Time and familiarity with the car obviously means it doesn't feel quite as special as it did. But I still get exciting at the thought of taking it for a drive, I still take the long/fun route from A to B, it still makes me look back everytime I’m walking away from it. Dropping down low in to the seat feels great. The sound of the V8 remains something wonderful. More subtle, but (for me) far more special than trick exhausts on smaller engines. I love the ‘stealth’ look, in black – but admit that pretty much any colour makes the car look more special (and better to photograph!).


Dealership experience
The car was bought from the Audi used approved network and so has been looked after by Audi dealerships. They’ve been ok, but no stand out service. No more special than I experienced owning Toyotas or Peugeots.

Reminders you’re driving something a bit different
Struggling to source a tyre and find anywhere local outside of the dealer network able to change a tyre reminds you the car is relatively low volume and relatively unique. Halfords, Kwik-Fit, Black Circles, F1 Autocentres were all unable to help. And as far as I am aware not all Audi dealerships are set up to service the R8 (they need to be Audi Sport centres), and I struggled to find good independents familiar with the R8.

Community
Great online community via both r8talk.com and R8 owners club on Facebook, but a shame that there is very little in the way of R8 owners meets. I’m jealous of friends with Porsches and the incredibly active clubs, but obviously there are a few more 911s on the road than there are R8s. And just a little bit more history! But Audi forums like this are great.

Public reaction
I don’t like standing out. So I’d no desire to own this car to say “look at me, look at me”. It nearly put me off. The car does get noticed, but only in a positive way. I’m surprised by how many non-petrolheads know what it is, when they wouldn’t have a clue what model of Ferrari had just driven past. Public reaction has only been positive – I’ve had countless conversations at petrol stations with folk wanting to know a bit about the car, and no issues in traffic or being let out at junctions. Kids pointing and shouting "that's an R8" is lovely.

Interestingly the car gets very little interest or enthusiasm at car meets, which I don’t mind – I’d rather spend the time looking around everyone elses cars than talking about my own - but whilst the general public seem quite interested in it (and know what it is) the car community seems less interested.

and finally
I ended up owning my R8 for 2.5 years and 30, 000 miles and loved every single one of them. Highly recommended.

[bbkGT]

2018 GT3, 991.2, fortunate to get an allocation and spec’d it myself. As of yesterday it has 30, 000 km, 12 track days and is driven all year long in Alberta (yes, winter rubber) and Texas. It’s a thrill driving to Walmart or tracking it at MSR Houston or Castrol Raceway Edmonton. For those of us that love driving, in my opinion, the best way to get the most value from any car is to drive it a lot, and I do.

[markchip]

I had an early DB9 (as the 5th owner) as my ONLY car. Aside from spending a great many hours on my driveway with it redressing the multiple paint bubbles on EVERY body panel by hand with wet-&-dry and an airbrush, I would thoroughly enjoy it every single time I took it out! Admittedly being a disabled wheelchair user (and spending all those hours/days/weeks in maintenance!), I typically cannot claim to have made "daaily" use of it and James' comment about not driving your supercar every day for every purpose is especially valid in my case and this definitely helps keep up the "special" nature of your relationship. But that said, I still found myself ALWAYS wanting to spend/have spent more time behind the wheel!!!

[TMEstuff]

I think you definitely can. My only car for a number of years was an MR2 Turbo which is about as practical as the R8 & it was absolutely fine. Even got the two of us & a tent to Switzerland. I got a Celica GT-4 to replace it once I started a family :D

[LapoftheWorld]

My NSX was my sole means of transportation for something like a 3 year stretch. As quasi-supercars go it's definitely more practical than most, but beyond that you just get creative. I've gotten odd looks with a small stack of 8ft '2x4' lumber sticking out the passenger window....but the deck still got fixed.

[keirbourne]

The amount of times you've driven through Long Melford while testing a car, I'm surprised I've never seen you

[simmo]

I daily my 996 Carrera 2. I do a lot of miles and sometimes it does my head in and I think I’m going to get an auto modern car but then I have a drive on a clear dry road and love it all over again

[ezzabdel-hadi]

I was driving my 911 Turbo everyday for over a year. Enjoyed every minute

[liamschannel]

Whoever was daily driving a caterham is definitely a bold individual🤣.. great video as always mate😎

[dominicwalsh]

Working from home and with 12 months of lockdown, some of us drive so bloody infrequently that yes, "daily driving" (i.e. every possible excuse) my 650s DOES still feel amazing every time! I have a 4 door backup car for other journeys with multiple people, suitcases and for shopping. You're right about the 2nd car bit. If only to avoid the sludge, salt and such. Enjoyable video as always. thanks.

[mbrunocondello]

Top point at the end about the specialness!! Excellent content 👌😍

[TheJVCMan]

My XK8 is not a super car but it is a Super Car :) and the boy gets in the back as well. Bonus :)

[dalerollinson]

I experienced a top-of-the-range Mokka while in Sicily this Summer; quite the chore. Jumping back into my tuned M140i made for a total breeze getting home from the airport. I drove it in 'not thrilling, but let's get home swiftly' mode

[cybergeek]

I daily’d a 2009 R8 V8 coupe manual for a year. Found it OK to live with, however, the gearbox would end up being quite frustrating in or around town or in heavy traffic

[robertshunter]

Agree completely about the overhangs, as driveway transitions can induce cringes when you hear the scraping. I've also slowly crawled over many a speed-bump while listening to the floorpan scraping. I'm now at the point where I do require at least enough ground clearance to avoid the speed-bump problems.

[ApothecaryTerry]

The end of this video is such a fantastic point, perspective is HUGE. Also, the novelty of flashy cars wears off much quicker than the enjoyment of a good car. I sold my previous car after 2.5 years and 27k miles and genuinely never got in it without it putting a smile on my face. Due to lockdown I thought screw it I'll buy a Porsche and it's great, but I've done 3k miles in 6 months and that's about the limit of keeping the magic alive.

[Mungstein]

I daily drive a 1st gen R8 V10 Plus. Your points about 'specialness' and becoming too familiar with the car are very valid. As you say the R8 is such an easy car to drive that it's quite easy to just forget you're not in an Audi A4 or something more 'normal', especially if you leave it in auto and just let it do its thing. The times that I have enjoyed the car the most have been after I have had a courtesy car for a day or two and then got back into it. Suddently the specialness has returned and I've realised how amazing it really is.

[DanLMH]

Yellow car in the thumb, red car in the vid, damn it James! :p

[sportzntouring]

03:44 yeah, I was shocked by how low the insurance was for my R8! Of course, this was part of a multicar policy which results in a discount.. but still, I wasn't expecting it to be that cheap!