Audi R8 Spyder 2019 UK first drive

This is the 2019 version of Audi’s R8 Spyder, which has finally touched down in the UK following its reveal last year. It’s got two seats, a convertible roof and a rather large naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 engine positioned just aft of the cockpit – all of which makes it sound like a rather thrilling prospect indeed. 

This particular car is the Performance version, which used to be referred to as the Plus, but a change in nomenclature has been employed as part of this facelift in order to align the R8 with the wider Audi Sport range. Anyway, where the Plus model’s V10 previously developed a mere 602bhp, it now churns out 612bhp. Torque has been increased too, rising to 406lb ft, which is delivered at 6600rpm. Yes, that’s six-thousand, six-hundred revolutions per minute, from a V10 engine, in a car with a collapsible roof. How are your knees feeling? A bit weak? Thought they might be.

Beyond the increased output from the engine, there are only a handful of changes that have been made. Audi’s engineers have subtly retuned the calibration of the suspension and steering, and it also now looks worse than it did before (to this tester’s eyes, anyway). Inside, the cabin is much the same as it’s always been, which is to say that the stereotypical description of it looking like a slightly larger TT still applies.

Easy to get in and out of, and spacious enough once you’ve lowered yourself down into the cabin. Our test car came equipped with the standard-fit bucket seats, whose torso- and hip-hugging bolsters are reassuringly supportive. The driving position is okay, if still some way off that which you’ll find behind the McLaren 570S’s dihedral doors. The R8 is just a bit too short on adjustability for my liking; I found the steering wheel didn’t quite offer enough in the way of reach, leaving my feet hovering slightly too close to the pedals.

That said, the V10 engine has a not entirely unsurprising ability to make you forget such complaints from the moment you press the large red start button on the R8’s Alcantara-clad steering wheel. Even at idle, the aggressive, sharp-edged timbre of its rumble informs you of the fact you’re sitting mere inches ahead of something very special indeed.

Bury the throttle on a straight bit of road and the result is every bit as dramatic as you’d expect. Acceleration is delightfully linear and impressively rapid up until 6000rpm, at which point it all becomes really rather absurd. Describing the accompanying soundtrack as electrifying would be underselling it somewhat, too.