Talk me into not buying V10 R8 and keeping 997

neil_911 said:

It's a big TT, All the seats, switches, dials are similar or the same.

They aren't special enough, Or drive well enough. They're purposely slower than a Lamborghini, Just made as a posers first super car in my opinion.


Not much will beat the 911 range for being a car to use at the weekend, use every day, or use at the nurburgring.

Click to expand...

out of interest, have you owned one and thrashed it?
ive had a 993 and have a V8 R8, and what you posted makes no sense to be honest. the V8 R8 without the modern electric steering drives fantastically. the modern V10 beat other supercars including the Porsche up the hill at Goodwood, in a timed sprint.

i'm not sure what your definition of "drives well" is. I've had sportscars, track cars, fast road cars. its as good as anything on the road in terms of handling and go. that includes Imrans 650bhp 997 turbo i was loaned.
just saying .

A good mate has a (pretty rare) R8 GT, with the V10. It's a lovely car. About the only point I'd fault it on is its width, which you do become wary of on UK B roads.

We went over to the Ring in May in convoy and the cars - his R8 and my 996tt - were extremely well-matched, if very different beasts.



In summary, if you fancy it, try one. They are great motors.

ChrisT70 said:

neil_911 said:

It's a big TT, All the seats, switches, dials are similar or the same.

They aren't special enough, Or drive well enough. They're purposely slower than a Lamborghini, Just made as a posers first super car in my opinion.


Not much will beat the 911 range for being a car to use at the weekend, use every day, or use at the nurburgring.

Click to expand...

out of interest, have you owned one and thrashed it?
ive had a 993 and have a V8 R8, and what you posted makes no sense to be honest. the V8 R8 without the modern electric steering drives fantastically. the modern V10 beat other supercars including the Porsche up the hill at Goodwood, in a timed sprint.

i'm not sure what your definition of "drives well" is. I've had sportscars, track cars, fast road cars. its as good as anything on the road in terms of handling and go. that includes Imrans 650bhp 997 turbo i was loaned.
just saying .

Click to expand...

I nearly bought one, and I've driven one on a track.

It lacked feel, It's too "safe". The steering didn't feel right, the brakes don't have feel like a 911 does. The interior is really disappointing. I'll agree its an accomplished car, but it lacked fun.

It sounds nice, But yeah - not for me in my opinion....

Fair play if you liked it, I just didn't. Maybe the 911 heritage sways me more towards the Porsche brand into liking it more.

I'd extended drive or hire one for a day and then decide whether its worth buying (cheaper spending a couple of hundred quid on a hire). Life is short and if it appeals to you then buy it.

neil_911 said:

ChrisT70 said:

neil_911 said:

It's a big TT, All the seats, switches, dials are similar or the same.

They aren't special enough, Or drive well enough. They're purposely slower than a Lamborghini, Just made as a posers first super car in my opinion.


Not much will beat the 911 range for being a car to use at the weekend, use every day, or use at the nurburgring.

Click to expand...

out of interest, have you owned one and thrashed it?
ive had a 993 and have a V8 R8, and what you posted makes no sense to be honest. the V8 R8 without the modern electric steering drives fantastically. the modern V10 beat other supercars including the Porsche up the hill at Goodwood, in a timed sprint.

i'm not sure what your definition of "drives well" is. I've had sportscars, track cars, fast road cars. its as good as anything on the road in terms of handling and go. that includes Imrans 650bhp 997 turbo i was loaned.
just saying .

Click to expand...

I nearly bought one, and I've driven one on a track.

It lacked feel, It's too "safe". The steering didn't feel right, the brakes don't have feel like a 911 does. The interior is really disappointing. I'll agree its an accomplished car, but it lacked fun.

It sounds nice, But yeah - not for me in my opinion....

Fair play if you liked it, I just didn't. Maybe the 911 heritage sways me more towards the Porsche brand into liking it more.

Click to expand...

ive come from an older 993, so my carbon/leather interior R8 is way better, and its got the best B&O plus audison amp stereo i've ever heard. the earlier R8 has better steering feel than the newer R8 apparently but less speed.
maybe try one on track with the ESP turned off, they are fairly lairy lol!
the 997 turbo i had for a bit was ultra fast, nice, great brakes, but no better or worse a drive than my R8, all good.
:thumb:

What model 997.1 do you have? This will be your point of reference against what you measure the R8, and therefore quite important. I assume it's a turbo?

I have driven the V10 R8 & V8 R8 also owned a the last two incarnations of the V8 RS4.

The V10 R8 is a great car, if you should buy one or not depends on what you want out of a car.

If you want attention everywhere you go, an awesome exhaust note, an austere interior and a lack of driver involvement until your pushing on at least twice the legal speed limit (due Audi's insulating you from feedback) the V10 R8 is for you.

If you want to fly under the radar (most of the time), enjoy the actual driving experience and have that warm glow of limited depreciation then the 997.1 is for you.

I've recently driven the just launched Lexus LC500 5.0 V8, makes an R8 look like a fat TT, and very plain. Try one of those as well if you have a Lexus dealer anywhere near you.

I've still not taken a 997.1 for a test drive but I have had the v8 r8 auto and I was really impressed.

Yeah all the audis are the same on the inside but I didn't mind that.

The engine sounds awesome even if it was just the v8, popping back on the downshift.

Has more driving potential and limit than I could ever need.

RJW1881 said:

What model 997.1 do you have? This will be your point of reference against what you measure the R8, and therefore quite important. I assume it's a turbo?

Click to expand...

I should have said, I have a 997.1 C2S. I suppose that I'm quite sentimental about my cars and I've had this for four years, seen it through engine rebuild and meticulous care.

I'm pretty monogamous with cars and it will be a hard day when I come to sell. It really has to be the right machine.

RJW1881 said:

If you want attention everywhere you go, an awesome exhaust note, an austere interior and a lack of driver involvement until your pushing on at least twice the legal speed limit (due Audi's insulating you from feedback) the V10 R8 is for you.

Click to expand...

Interesting, I kind of thought the interior of the R8 was generally considered more up to date than the 997.

RJW1881 said:

If you want to fly under the radar (most of the time), enjoy the actual driving experience and have that warm glow of limited depreciation then the 997.1 is for you.

Click to expand...

This is quite a big draw for me. Since I bought my 997 I've seen 0% depreciation (I don't drive it loads so mileage hasn't gone up very much at all). Saying that, I get the feeling that a 5.2 naturally aspirated V10 with a manual gearbox in the Audi will mean that it is unlikely to go down much in future either.

JFDI/YOLO - My turbo s went to make room for this...

chimp911 said:

JFDI/YOLO - My turbo s went to make room for this...

Click to expand...

That is cracking...have you got a topless picture :wink:

chimp911 said:

JFDI/YOLO - My turbo s went to make room for this...

Click to expand...

Turncoat. First you get the Fezzer to accompany the 997 and now sell out to Audi :what:

chimp911 said:

JFDI/YOLO - My turbo s went to make room for this...

Click to expand...

That's a definite move away from the humble 997.

Don't you miss the Porsche? You must miss something about it.

Only had it a couple of days before I had to travel back to Germany so I still need time behind the wheel to make a proper comparison. It's certainly very different to the 997 (and 430) but first impressions are that the v10 is spine-tingingly wonderful, and the convertible gives you the best opportunity to hear it sing, growl and howl :grin:

I'll definitely miss the turbo, it was (is) such a wonderful car, but after 6 years and 40 thousand miles it was time for a change - I'm certain I'll return to the Porsche fold, most likely in a gt3 of some sort, but for the time being I'll be working on my chest rug and tan 8)

StephenS1 said:

chimp911 said:

JFDI/YOLO - My turbo s went to make room for this...

Click to expand...

That's a definite move away from the humble 997.

Don't you miss the Porsche? You must miss something about it.

Click to expand...

To answer this specific point, yes I will/do miss it for a number of reasons.

I found mine to be hugely practical with 4 seats, decent luggage space, comfortable, modern interior, bullet proof build quality, reliable and (relatively) inexpensive to run, all of which should not be overlooked as I bought it to use as my only car and it so had to be able to perform the mundane tasks as well as the fun ones.

There are thousands of posts about the how good the 997 is to drive, and some of the things I will definitely miss include the insane mind-bending acceleration on full boost, it's unflappable poise long into 3 figures and just that signature feeling of weight transfer at the back when it hunkers down into a corner ready to catapult you out the other side :grin:

It always felt like a keeper to me and I couldn't imagine any other car I would rather replace it with, one that could match or better everything the 997 could do (as an only car), and I guess that is where you are right now. So why did I make the change?

I was fortunate enough to be able to get a 430 scud a couple of years ago which dialled the fun and excitement up to eleventy-stupid. There is no way it could ever be considered an outright replacement for a 997 as an only car, but I found that I was always reaching for those keys for all the fun days out and European tours while the 997 was left sat at home gathering dust. It was essentially relegated to all the mundane tasks, for the rain and snow, load lugging and shopping runs etc. and this just didn't sit right with me for a near 200mph sports car...:nooo:

I decided to get a daily snotter at the end of last year with the intention that the porsche could be saved from a life of hard labour, and instead share fun duties with the 430. Unfortunately things didn't quite work out that way as within a few days it was clear the 997 had now become completely redundant. With that revelation and my appetite for the exotic already whetted, it was only a matter of time before I'd be tangoed... :grin:

As to your quandary I would say this: If practicality/single car isn't a concern for you then just scratch that itch and go for the R8. It will feel very different to your porsche, and you will miss some of its characteristics, but there's no reason why you can't return to the fold in the future :thumb: