Audi R8 Spyder V10 Plus Review: Not The Best Supercar, But The One You Need

I don’t recall at any point of my drive in the R8 Spyder last year thinking “hmmmm, it could do with a little more power.” Upping the 533bhp output of the 5.2-litre, naturally-aspirated V10 any further is surely akin to heaping sugar over a bowl of Lucky Charms, and yet here we are one year on with - you guessed it - an even more powerful R8 Spyder.

It’s the £147,370 V10 Plus Spyder, good for - in line with the V10 Plus coupe - 602bhp. And good Lord, are those 600 or so horses a rowdy bunch. The optional sports exhaust fitted to our test car is worth every penny of the £1800 it sets you back - the way it ricochets the V10 shriek off trees, lorries you’re overtaking, any buildings in the vicinity and so forth turns your life into one big tunnel run.

It’s immense, but perhaps the most surprising thing isn’t the noise the engine produces, rather the noises it provokes you into making. Childish giggles. Whoops of delight. And when I gave my dad a brief ride in the car, screams of terror.

It’ll be a sad day when this engine is no longer with us. It lets out a glorious howl around 4000rpm when the exhaust baffles properly open up, while that last 1000rpm before the near-9k redline provides a swift kick up the arse as the 5.2-litre masterpiece truly comes on song. Not to mention a damn good wail. And yes, you do notice that extra 69bhp. The ‘boggo’ R8 V10 already feels stupidly quick, but there’s an extra sense of eye-widening urgency to the way the Plus propels you forward. Use launch control and you’ll see 0-62mph happen in just 3.3 seconds - a tenth down on the Plus coupe, and three tenths up on the regular Spyder.

It looks better too, thanks to lashings of carbonfibre inside and out. The carbon instrument binnacle is a particular highlight, and I’m fond of that cheeky lip spoiler which - if you don’t want to be too flashy - can be specced in body colour. The front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser are made of the stuff too, and you get some natty CF cladding for the side blades - although that last detail can be optioned on the base Spyder.

Finally, the Plus gets carbon ceramic brakes fitted as standard, and additional driving modes. Those are the main differences done and dusted, so I can just copy/paste the remainder of our V10 Spyder review from last year, then mosey off to have a skinny latte or whatever it is R8 Spyder owners drink, right? Well no, actually.

Something rather significant has happened since the first drop-top second-gen R8 arrived: McLaren has unleashed the - admittedly £17k more expensive - 570S Spider upon the world. While the R8 Plus Spyder gains over 100kg over its tin top brother, Woking’s ‘entry-level’ alfresco supercar has its kerb weight bumped up by just 46kg.

Its fancy ‘Monocell’ carbonfibre tub means that it needs no underbody strengthening at all - that weight gain is for the folding metal roof, and the folding metal roof alone. Plus, unlike the Audi, rigidity stays exactly the same. So, it’s just as mesmerisingly good to drive as the coupe version.

But with the R8, you do feel its extra weight in the corners. It’s still ludicrously grippy and exhibits very tidy body control even on the standard passive suspension (magnetic dampers are an option), but it just isn’t quite as eager to change direction as the coupe, and certainly not as darty in tighter corners.

Like all second-gen R8s it’s a little too keen to understeer, and even if you avoid the downright odd Dynamic Steering option, the R8’s rack is too light, and lacks feedback. This was highlighted further by my drive in a 911 Carrera 4 GTS the day before the Audi arrived at TeamCT’s super-secret out-of-town testing location (also known as my house), because no one does electric power steering better than Porsche right now.

The car’s flaws go further than dynamics, too. The rear bulkhead has been moved forward to accommodate the folding fabric roof, which means my six-and-a-bit-foot frame just about fits in, but anyone taller than that is going to feel cramped. And while Audi’s virtual cockpit is a neat piece of kit, it’s not as intuitive as you might think.

But, horribly predictable though this is, all of that stuff falls away when you put your foot down. Naturally-aspirated supercars, particularly ones that send shivers down the spine like this one does, are in short supply these days. And so what if it’s not quite as sharp as the McLaren or Porsche’s 911 Turbo cabriolet? It has no trouble thrilling you with every drive, whether you’re attacking your favourite back road or noisily ambling down to the supermarket.

Noise; silliness; compromises; making memories that’ll never budge from your hippocampus - that’s what supercars are all about, and the R8 V10 Plus Spyder delivers every damn time you push the big red ‘start’ button.