See the new Audi R8 Spider in action in our new spy video below. Our scoop specialists caught the R8 cabrio on test at the Nurburgring in Germany and you can hear the R8 V10 driven in anger as development drivers continue their shakedown tests ahead of launch at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show.
Stateside colleagues at Car And Driver report that the R8 Spider will be available initially only with the 5.2-litre V10, not the 4.2 V8 although the smaller lump could be added in future to keep sales ticking over.
If accurate, that would point to a price tag easily in excess of £100,000. The 5.2 V10 coupé already costs only a few hundred quid short of one hundred big ones in the UK. It’s easily the most expensive Audi ever sold here.
Audi R8 Spider: the soft-top
As our latest spy photos prove, the new R8 Spider will have a fabric roof. There’s plenty of disguise around the rear screen/deck area, so perhaps Audi has some clever packaging and styling solutions up its sleeve.
But like on its Gallardo soft-top sibling, it’ll be fully automated. On the Lambo, you press a button, the engine cover pops up and motors do the rest. As our photos prove, the roof mechanism won’t interfere with the R8’s pop-up rear spoiler.
At a stroke, this new model will become easily the most expensive Audi on sale. And with some justification: the regular R8 is one of the very finest sports cars money can buy – and the V10 model will boast a very promising 518bhp and 391b ft.
The coupé is knocking on the door of the supercar club: 197mph and 0-62mph in 3.9sec aren’t to be sniffed at. But here’s an idea, Audi: why not launch an R8 with a more affordable engine? We reckon the S4’s supercharged V6 could be just the ticket in Audi’s mid-engined beauty…
Scroll down the page to the video player below to see the Audi R8 Spider in action