The Audi R8 was Audi's first mid-engine sports car
Waiting on your car repair? Here's a good one: the same company that builds sensible wagons with heated seats once decided to put a V8 behind the driver's head, just to see what would happen. When Audi announced US pricing for the R8 in March 2007, it called it "the first mid-engine sports car Audi has ever produced" and "the fastest Audi ever produced." It reached US showrooms that fall.
The Audi R8 4.2 FSI quattro by the numbers
- Engine: 4.2-liter FSI V8, 420 hp, mounted behind the seats
- 0–60 mph: 4.4 seconds
- Top speed: 187 mph
- Drive: quattro all-wheel drive, biased to the rear
- Weight split: 44% front, 56% rear
- US starting price: $109,000 with the six-speed manual, $118,000 with the R tronic automatic
The frame and body are aluminum, and every R8 was hand-assembled in Neckarsulm, Germany. Audi magnetic ride came standard. So did a nine-speaker stereo, which tells you this was a supercar that still expected you to drive it to work.
How to tell a V8 R8 from a V10
Two years later Audi added the R8 5.2 FSI quattro with a 525 hp V10, the same engine Audi used in its R8 LMS GT3 race car, at $146,000 to start. Audi gave the V10 the world's first full-LED headlights as standard, plus dual oval exhaust tips and V10 badges on the front fenders. The V8 launched with bi-xenon headlights and an LED daytime-running-light strip in each lamp.
That's how Darin's photo above reads: the silver coupe has the bi-xenon projector lamps with the LED strip, and a quattro badge in the chrome-barred grille. It's the V8, shot on a rainy day during one of Darin's Lamborghini Miami trips. If you ever want to win a car-show argument, now you know where to look.
Why the R8 turns heads
The big panel behind the doors, called the sideblade, is the R8's calling card. Buyers could order it in carbon fiber or body color. The cabin wraps around the driver, the engine bay was lit with LEDs, and the whole car sits low and wide without shouting. That's the R8's whole personality: a supercar with good manners.
Day dreaming in winter
Quattro is Audi's all-wheel drive, and Audi built the R8 with it from day one. If you own a fun car, it's probably right where it belongs this time of year: warm and clean in the garage. Leave it there. Our fleet is still out driving, and you can pick your dates.
Where to see a first-generation R8
Midwest Highline in Rockford, Illinois, lists a 2012 Audi R8 5.2 quattro coupe, the V10 sibling of the car in Darin's photo, at $89,900 (listed on their site Oct 22, 2026; the page says to call for availability). That's about $56,000 under Audi's 2010 starting price for the V10 coupe, before options. Tap the photo or the button to see it.
The honest part
Service, insurance and tire costs are pending until we find a source we trust. Our own rating is pending too.
Seller pick: Midwest Highline
2012 Audi R8 5.2 quattro (V10) coupe at Midwest Highline, Rockford, IL. Listed price: $89,900 (checked Oct 22, 2026). Sold by the dealer, not by us.
Sources: theautochannel.com · theautochannel.com · midwesthighline.com