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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, March 24, 2010 · 18 $ + FREE CHAMOIS Coupon required. Expiry: Apr. 30, 2010 Code: 5526 5 OFF with any oil change package 345 Speers Rd. (at Dorval), Oakville 905-842-9299 Valid at all GTA locations. Audi R8 Spyder impresses on every level Story and photos by Jim Robinson Metroland Newspapers Carguide Magazine NICE, France: Built for speed and guaranteed to impress doesn't begin to describe the 2011 Audi R8 V10 Spyder. From any angle, especially the rear with its deck-mounted twin exhaust ports, the R8 Spyder makes other supercars look somehow from another age. And that's the strange part. Except for the drop top, the Spyder is the same as the Coupe in most respects. In fact it is identical from the A pillar forward. But with the roof gone and the side blades deleted, the Spyder looks lower, more aggressive and, I have to say, it is one of the handsomest cars I have ever driven. Yes handsome, not pretty like an Aston Martin, but muscularly handsome. You will not go unnoticed arriving in a R8 Spyder. Yes, there are Lamborghinis that have a similar shape, and in fact, the R8 incorporates a lot Audi learned when it bought Lambo. But instead of Fantasyland prices, the R8 Spyder is going to start at about $190,000 when it hits Audi showrooms in the late summer. You may say 190 grand is a lot, and it is, but how about $323,195 for an Aston Volante convertible? So many things stand out with the Spyder, starting with the fittings. An example is the engine exhaust ports. Finished in a titanium color, they arc back with the openings glaring straight into the eyes of the driver behind you. Then there is the flat-bottomed steering wheel trimmed in leather that has just the right amount of tactile feel without being Audi R8 V10 Spyder 2011 At A Glance: BODY STYLE: Premium roadster. DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, all-wheel-drive. ENGINE: 5.2-litre DOHC V10 (525 hp, 390 lb/ft). FUEL ECONOMY: 13.9L/100 km combined. Tow Rating: NA PRICE: (Approx.) $190000 WEB: www.audi.ca tured nothing less than six piston monobloc aluminum calipers developed for the R8 by Brembo. In Nice with its narrow streets and chaotic traffic, the brakes were actually irritating. Sensitive with a sudden grabbiness, they came into their own flowing through the roads outside of built up areas. With any kind of speed built up, the brakes could be modulated all with the ball of the foot. In fact, once you got the feel of the torque flow into the drivetrain, it was possible to feather the brakes letting the huge engine braking and the tenacity of the AWD system do most of the work for you. David Booth drives a car like he drives his beloved motorcycles, going in nose first and holding off braking to the last second. Instead of giving me motion sickness, which I expected having endured his driving style before, his entry and exit to turn after turn was smooth and controlled with no failing of arms and expletives. There was no squealing rubber or the sensation of the rear coming around as the yaw Continued on page 19 Standing or moving, the 2011 Audi R8 V10 Spyder is a car that grabs your attention with its handsome styling and a thrilling exhaust note. sticky. Start the engine and it lunges into life with a bark that settles down to a gruff idle. Immediately, you sense there is so much on tap that you tend to move off gingerly - at first. But with leading-edge engine management, this 525 hp beast is actually a pussycat around town. But all pretensions of civility vanish when you start using the right pedal with intent. The 5.2-litre V10, besides 525 horses, has 390 lb/ft of torque routing power through a single-clutch six-speed Rtronic sequential transmission and quattro all-wheel-drive (AWD) with torque split to a constant 30/70 per cent front/rear. Top speed is limited to 313 km/h and it goes from 0-100 km/h in a mere 4.1 seconds. At low speeds the Rtronic is annoying. Being sequential, it gains pace until it shifts up and the revs drop down and build again in what is called "rubberbanding". At all times, it is better to shift with the paddles on the steering wheel. Because the torque is modest compared to the horsepower, it's actually a bonus because the power comes in linearly like turning on a tap. And then from around 4,000 rpm, the Spyder goes from fun to glorious. At the press launch in Nice, my driving partner (David Booth of the National Post) and I roared up and down the coast highway to St. Raphael passing through tunnels and sheer rock faces with the reverberation from the exhaust reminding both of us of F1 cars. Optional, and fitted to our test car, were carbon fibre reinforced brakes with specially developed cooling ducts and internal ventilation. As big as manhole covers, the fronts fea-