Audi R8 - Attainable Supercar?

The new NSX is assembled at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville. Oh. We live about 30 mile away and this summer there was an autocross event in Springfield, Oh.

The NSX team, complete with huge hauler and crew, showed up. All kinds of exotic vettes and miatas in attendance.

NSX set the fastest time of the day, followed by.....Neon SRT with upgrades...hahahha.. Less than .02 second behind.

It was awesome.

 

As I understand it, you can only this year get the "good" model imported. Before that, if you did have it imported, and got caught by the wrong cop, it'd go to the crusher.

 

He's not talking about the 40 year old version. He is talking about the current production car.

 

What? There are lots of RHD GTR's in the states.

 

Now looking up R34's, Supras and 300zx's...guess who was a teenager in the 90's

 

Good luck with the Supra, after Fast and Furious a clapped out piece of garbage now sells for around $25k.

 

Ahhh...romanticizing of your youth. I can tell you if you have driven anything relatively good that modern that R34 will feel like a 90's Corolla. My hot rod El Camino was a good time when I was younger as well as my 54 Chevy Pickup. I would not want to go back to driving those for anything other than being a hooligan for a very brief period of time.

 

Yup. I'd do an LS swapped RX-7 modded like a race car, but those others are just too old. Do you realize those things only made about 300hp in stock-ish form. You can buy a new Camry with 300hp today.

 

You mean I should be lusting after an Inca Brown '79 VW Rabbit with a slushbox?

 

A current direct injection 4 cyl has at least 50-60 hp on my old '91 305 V8 Camaro. Can't imagine a back to back comparison on 25 year old cars of things like weight transfer, braking force, etc.

 

Yeah, but it's the old ones that are, like tooooaaaatally awesome mang. lol

 

porsche is run as its own entity. quality standard has been adapted from Toyota in the 90s.

our 2006 cayenne S is my wife's DD and you can tell LOL - 170k miles to date. and 3 things to fix: ignition coils, the old ones had cracks, Behr came out with a better version, no problems since. main driveshaft bushing, rubber went after 10 years of age, there is a quick replacement made out of 2 half shells, no need to remove shaft. valve covers leaking: did that last month, not a bad job, took me about 3h in total. legitimate repair after 13 years and so many miles. xenon bulbs and tires as usual. i did do a transmission fluid change and bought toyota type IV for $6 / qt instead of the porsche one where the quart is $75 (yes you read that right) (need 11qts). also installed a $150 solenoid refurb kit on the valve body to smoothen the shifts... was not necessary, but nice result.

it is showing its age now and i'm a bit afraid of having to replace it.
looking for panameras and macans but it will probably be a used pepper again.

 

Linking this to the Grand Tour subject, they tested the Testarossa and Countach around the test track and they were both slower than modern cars like a Focus ST. They looked cool in posters on my wall, but they are terrible cars by todays standards.

 

i had the opportunity to drive a white testarossa a couple years ago. at night. in the rain.

from the gearbox, to the lights to the overall feel of the car - i hated it. looked cool and sounded ok, but i was underwhelmed. my period correct reference was my 944S2. a way better car by my standards. not as exclusive "supercar" or powerful, but better handling and mainly better functioning in all aspects.

best thing was the uselessness of the rear wing on the countach. looked cool though.

 

I' m not saying I'd pass on a chance to run around in one for an hour or so but there isn't anything parked in my driveway currently that isn't better in every way but perhaps the looks and flash department.

 

I never really liked the looks on the Testarossa. It had the misfortune of being introduced alongside the 288 GTO at the Geneva motor show. When I opened that magazine, there was no contest. The Testarossa never recovered from that.

 

I always thought of the Testarossa as the "not really a Ferrari, American Ferrari"... maybe it was Miami Vice thing or all the kit cars or something else entirely, but even my kid brain rejected it.

 

YES.
Open up a Bentley. Everything is stamped VW/Audi. Look inside a Lamborghini clear engine hood and marvel at the VW/Audi stamped parts you can see sitting there. Take apart a Porsche, maybe 3 vw/audi parts nn the entire car. Hell, the old tiptronic auto trans is made and stamped Mercedes Benz. Still more reliable then Audi.

As for the Testarossa, ya'll are missing it. Its everything a Ferrari should be. Manual steering, hard as hell to turn without moving. Manual transmission and real clutch pedal, as god intended. A 12 cylinder engine that makes noises a proper Ferrari should make [F v8 ferrari's, sound terrible]. Engine in back. Everything about the car is right. Its glorious. I'd rather drive one then a 3xx or 4xx anything.

 

I'd take a F355 any day of the week over a Testarossa, twice on Sunday.