Audi R8 takes on Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911 Turbo

Car and Driver put on a good versus article that take put the new 2008 Audi R8, 2007 Aston Martin Vantage, and 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo to the test against each other. They have an interesting digression into the world of what to call these machines -- are they sports cars? supercars? superdupercars? exotics? While interesting, it takes us away from what we really care about -- how do the cars perform?

The best news? The Audi R8 takes home top honors. Pretty impressive for a vehicle just coming to market!



Here are a couple of excerpts from the article:

Where the Porsche is purposeful, the R8 is playful. And if the Audi can’t quite match the headlong rush of the 911 Turbo, no one could call it slow. The direct-injection 4.2- liter V-8 delivers 420 horsepower at 7800 rpm and 317 pound-feet of torque at 4500. The output tends toward peaky and lacks the Porsche’s immense tidal wave of torque, but the gearing of the six-speed manual gearbox is well matched to the V-8’s power characteristics, yielding consistent 0-to-60 runs in the low-four-second range—4.3 in this test—with the quarter-mile flashing by in 12.8 seconds at 112 mph.....

.....What’s the magic formula here? All-wheel drive? Yes, but without the inherent understeer that goes with most all-wheel-drive cars, other Audis included. In this application, the torque split is biased toward the rear—never more than 35 percent to the front tires. Also, with the engine sitting longitudinally behind the cabin, weight distribution skews toward the rear of the car—44.1/55.9—but not so dramatically as in the Porsche. The 104.3-inch wheelbase (almost a foot longer than the Porsche’s), a dimension dictated by the mid-engine layout, helps enhance the stability index, too, and is a plus in ride quality that’s amazingly benign for this kind of car.....

.....But most of this short list is stuff that would, with familiarity, become transparent or at least acceptable to an owner. Audi has achieved something exceptional: a user-friendly sports car with supercar attributes and everyday drivability.

[Source: Car and Driver]

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