A THRILLER
EVEN THE RAIN CAN’T DAMPEN THE EXPERIENCE OF DRIVING THE 2018 AUDI R8 V10 RWS.
MADRID • On a cold day with relentless rain the thing you want most in a car, especially one with 540 horsepower, is traction. That is why Audi’s R8 has normally come with t he brand ’ s historically famous Quattro all- wheel drive, a system that will not only stave off the embarrassment and potential damage of a spin, but one that works as a silent driving partner, pulling the car more quickly through corners, whatever the weather.
So, why did Audi get rid of AWD for a special-edition R8 RWS — a “rear-wheel series” edition limited to 999 units worldwide, 60 for Canada — that sends power only to the rubber in the rear?
Perhaps it was simply to make the car more “pure,” as Audi likes to say. A midengine car with a V10 behind the two seats making 398.3 pound- feet of torque — all without the aid of a laggy turbocharger — is truly a remarkable thing in this day of forced combustion, and to dilute the experience with aids like AWD takes away from those with mad driving skills. Or perhaps it was to lighten the tone, to add a bit of hooliganism to a car with a reputation as a gentleman’s sports car.
Or perhaps it was to improve the steering. On that front, it is clear the tactic worked. While the electromechanical power steering is still shy with feedback, the steering on the R8 RWS is now as clear as an unspoiled glacial lake on a sunny summer day. Uncorrupted by the forces of torque, and lighter by about 50 kilograms because of the absence of transfer case and prop shaft, the R8’s front wheels are now free to do their thing, which is keep the trajectory of this thrilling car exactly where the driver wants.
Ideally weighted, the RWS steering wheel requires so little input from the hands, it’s as though it’s blessed with some form of artificial intelligence that reads the road with help from Google maps and simultaneous GPS, as though the eyes are now telepathically tied to the leather- wrapped wheel so that when you look where you want to go, the hands do only the physical part in getting there. Sublime is too soft a word to describe the experience. Understeer is absent and turn- in is spec- tacular, the flow of the road a singularly graceful, fluid experience. Backed by dampers that make the ride of the R8 utterly pleasing and a twinclutch, seven- speed paddleshift gearbox that shifts instantaneously, the RWS is as much a divine daily driver as it is a serious sports coupe.
Of course, 2WD means danger is ever- present, because the monstrous power of the 5.2- l i tre V10 or a flick of the steering wheel will force the rear to come around with ease. As the rear tires break loose, which they happily do in the soggy late winter of Spain, the RWS drifts through a cone course on an old air force base as if we are filming a segment for Ken Block. That is, until t he 1, 509 - kg car experiences some snap oversteer during a correction into a tail- wagging exit. Suddenly, the world rotates 180 degrees across the windshield. When the car finally stops its spin, the wipers are still sweeping away rain but the R8 is facing the wrong way. Stomping on the gas, spinning the rear tires rotates the car again, the roar of the V10 spinning up to 8,700 rpm behind the driver’s seat feeling like an injection of raw sugar into the body.
The car, of course, is not to blame for the spin, the fault directly tied to these hands, which did not respond quickly enough to the rapidly changing yaw rate, unbridled as it was with the chassis setup and control systems allowing controlled drifts in Dynamic mode, and ESC set to Sport to allow ample drifting.
So, yes, this car is certainly more pure, much less raw than the R8 LMS GT 4 with which it shares an assembly line of workers who put these versions together by hand at the Böllinger Höfe R8 factory. But it will still accelerate the coupe from rest to 100 km/ h in 3.7 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 320 km/h.
And is this not the purview of a proper sport car? After all, many a Porsche 911 comes without the aid of four- wheel power, and this in a car with a weight bias to the rear, unlike the 40/60 balance of the mid- engine R8. At $ 163,000, the R8 RWS is almost in the same money pool as a slightly used, two- wheel- drive Lamborghini Gallardo, but the R8 is new, limited, with a full factory warranty and better looking, not to mention being cheaper than a regular R8, which starts at $ 185,000. A Spyder variant of the RWS, sold in other parts of the world, is not coming to Canada.
Canadian cars, avail - able in either Ibis White or Mythos Black metallic, also get glossy black grilles and air apertures in the front and rear, instead of matte black finishes like the race car, or the RWS cars sold in other parts of the world. Distinguishing the RWS from standard R8s is an upper sideblade finished in gloss black, while the lower blade matches the body colour. A red stripe over the hood, roof and rear is optional.
Nappa leather sport seats ( heated and fully electric) are standard for Canada, as are black- tipped dual exhaust, 19-inch black, doublefive- spoke wheels and red brake calipers. On the dash is a small emblem that demarcates the number of the car in the 999- unit production run, any one of which will be a thrill to drive, even in the rain.