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It's one of those days: the drops patter against the glass, the clouds want and do not want to rip open and allow the sun to penetrate, and meanwhile the heating is already running at level four. It is autumn, the whim largely according to the weather and the mood high by the late summer long track. Especially when one of the everyday life with its boredom is waiting: bills, Amtsgänge and on Saturday evening Günther Jauch - nix offense, Günni! How nice would a ride on a convertible be in the warmth? With a lot of horsepower and a sound that blows the autumn blues out of the cerebral cortex.
Hannover, 10 clock: Rain. Hannover, 13 clock: Rain. Hannover, 19 clock: Rain. The day does not want to pass and the view does not want to change. Gray in gray, easy to fall asleep. And so it finally happens that I nod in the middle of the work. But the nap has its good side too: I'm dreaming something fantastic that cuts off the bad mood with a hatchet.
Autumn Blues? Only V10 music helps
In my dream I suddenly find myself in a street cafe and in front of me an Audi R8 Spyder - a dream in blue. Using the remote control, I let the roof disappear into the elongated Spyder rear and marvel at the mid-engine design language. The short nose merges into a striking aluminum window frame and directs the gaze towards the rear. A small rebel slumbers here, who wants nothing to do with displacement castration, charging and boy choir tones. It dissipates its abundant heat through ten air outlets, some of which are clad with aluminum and carbon. Finally, a small tear-off edge at the rear, which has nothing in common with the slightly inappropriate tail unit of the V10 Plus in the closed version. Pure emotion - and that in an Ingolstadt town that usually comes in a gray single-breasted jacket, i.e. in Brioni fine twine.
I swing behind the valance, start the unit at the red start button, which is located directly below the impact pot, and I promptly get tight neck hair. What is possible in a dream ... The starter of the Audi R8 Spyder organizes briefly and awakens the ten combustion chambers to a noisy life. The 5,2 liter cubic capacity filled explosively with fine SuperPlus and almost tore me on my power nap. It gets even worse when I find the button for the exhaust flap control: Here the freely breathing unit roars aggressively through the four tailpipes and begs for the spores to be administered.
Of course I will not say that twice, but allow the athlete his warm-up phase. Passing by a few street cafés, you can catch a lot of thumbs and almost applause with the Ingolstadt opener - my dream will hardly have taken me to jealous Germany. The local exit sign is approaching and thus ends the warm-up phase: fire free!
Blessed with many skills, a talent stands out: the sound!
I wake the automatic with double plucking on the left rocker switch and activate the manual mode of the dual-clutch gearbox. The ten-cylinder barks the song of the speed and shows itself ready to start. So let's go: the gas pedal on the stop with the bottom plate and the tears of joy run horizontally towards the headrest. The thrust of the Audi R8 Spyder rips the car from standstill in 3,6 seconds to Tempo 100 and then on to 316 km / h top speed. But decent, as you are in a dream, I shake myself and do not try these speed ranges.
What is much more fun are the recurring tunnels on my route, which brings me my dream. And so I shut down at least two gears before each passage, until the - depending on your wishes - central tachometer indicates 5.000 revolutions. And again: full throttle! The sound spectacle smells of brutal bollernd at low speeds, over challenging rough in the middle range to infernal screaming at 8.200 revolutions just before the hard-starting rev limiter. A game that I play through again and again, until I suddenly awakened abruptly.
"Wake up! We drive on! "What? How? Where? Railroad? No, Audi R8 Spyder! The dream was just a little break for lunch and the ride reality. My copilot awakens me emphatically, after all, you do not drive such a car every day. Especially since he is something of a relic of the good days of engine construction, as one still obeys the old wisdom of "displacement is not replaced by anything more than by more displacement" obeyed. Today, people are stacking deeply - also at Audi - robbing the combustion chambers of their volume, chasing cylinders into the perennial hunting grounds of consumption, and even giving sports cars the start-stop silence at the traffic lights. Yes, everything is correct: we only have one world, it is only inherited from our children and the raw materials are scarce - especially as bloody contested. But why do the Ingolstadt cast the Audi R8 e-tron against this background?
Preferred terrain of the Audi R8 Spyder: The twisty serpentine track
Anyway, the Bavarian would say now. So we swing back into the carbon monocoque of the convertible, air the cloth cap and give us back to the pull of the V10. What stands out is the greatly reduced cockpit, which looks almost racing-like. A large screen in the center of the dashboard is missing, as well as a flood of buttons and buttons. What the optics do well, a little harms the operation. If only the automatic climate control were located in the middle of the vehicle, the control of the infotainment, which is realized via digital instruments, would be rather difficult. Luckily, there is the MMI controller and associated menu buttons in the center console, which makes operation a breeze.
So: Red start button pressed, and fire free. This time, it's a serpentine road into the mountains and down again - the true home of the Audi R8 Spyder. In extremely narrow bends you can feel the weight of some 1,8 tons, which is complemented by the quite large turning circle, but otherwise the Spyder found its playground here. The steering is full and direct, makes it possible to neat curves and rush through. The permanent, all-wheel-drive all-wheel drive wedged the cabriolet pattex-like with the asphalt and gives the driver a lot of security. So much so, that the finger ever slips on the race mode button to add some adrenaline to the game. And behold, it can also be poisonous.
Hanging up in curves, the Audi R8 Spyder pushes out over the front wheels and gives itself piously. Woe, you mean it too well with the speed and throws it with annoyance in the Geschlängel: The rear wedges happy, accompanied by the yellow flashing of the control systems and the brutal trumpeting of the exhaust system. If you want to go back on course, put the gas back on and let the quattro drive pull the load straight back. A pagan pass, but wants to be skillful.
Conclusion - Potential for Daily Driver
Yes, a Lambo or a Porsche Turbo S are faster. Yes, an SL 63 is more comfortable. No, no one combines the virtues of a pure sports car with useful strolling comfort as well as the Audi R8 Spyder. He pushes you into your seats so that it is splendid, dissects curves if necessary as if on rails, but doesn't knock your intervertebral discs around your ears on the boulevard. This makes it too good to be a shopping companion when shopping through the posh boutiques of St. Tropez or similar places, but it could end like this. 179.000 are not a stickle - especially since that is the base price. Nice things like the Bang & Olufsen sound system, which has two speakers in the headrests, are not yet included here. But one fact thwarts the potential to become a shopping racer: at most, a helmet and racing overalls fit in the trunk. No matter where it ends up, I'm trying to dream again. The base price does not count here, only the recurring sound spectacle of the V10 in the rear and the acceleration orgy it provokes. Good night!
Photos: Florian Roser