Eight years ago I shared an office with a bloke who was saving up to buy an early Audi R8, and was itching to pull the trigger. Values for the mid-engined Audi were dropping quickly, five years after launch the oldest examples were already around £40,000 - about half what they had cost new - and still falling. My colleague told anyone who'd listen, and many who wouldn't, about his plans to snap up the first half-decent example to fall below thirty grand. His biggest concern was whether this would happen before he got the deposit stashed.
I hope you managed it, Langy - but there was no need to rush. After half a decade plummeting like a depressed lemming the R8's depreciation curve has spent the time since looking like a topographical map of the Netherlands. Even rough-looking cars only dropped into the 'twenties very recently, but now we're starting to see much more attractive examples following them.
Our Pill is a 2008 manual coupe with evidence of plentiful spend and a recent dose of cosmetic tidying that makes it look enticingly fresh in the pictures. Beyond 91,000 miles - which the more conservative bits of the trade will regard as altogether too much leg - it's hard to see any obvious reason this one is currently the cheapest in the classifieds beyond the private vendor's enthusiasm to move it on.
Back when it was new the R8's problem was always one of marketing rather than engineering. It comes from the period when Audi was determined to put four-ringed flags on as many part of the map as possible, and it was almost completely different from anything the brand had done before. There were certainly plenty of hints - the first R8 concept was shown as early as 2003 - and the whole back-to-back-to-back Le Mans thing showed off plenty of sportscar ambition. Yet it's also fair to say the performance car world still struggled with the reality of the production version, which we drove for the first time four years later.
While an amazing car, it was also a slightly mixed-up one. The R8 sat on the same platform as the Lamborghini Gallardo, and shared a fair percentage of structure and componentry. Differentiation from the much pricier Lambo came with the fitment of a naturally-aspirated 4.2-litre V8 in place of the Gallardo's V10, basically a dry-sump version of the engine in the contemporary RS4. The Audi was also low and wedgy and even offered spectators the chance to ogle at the motor through a glass cover at the back, just like a proper supercar.
Which was the confusing part, because it wasn't. The R8 had been built to rival the Porsche 911 rather than trample on its Italian sister's toes, and parts of the experience felt like they had been deliberately downtuned. With 420hp the Audi's engine offered a significant power upgrade over the Carrera 4S, while being cheaper than the punchier 911 Turbo, but while it pulled hard and revved past 8000rpm it sounded strangely muted as it did so. The chassis was great, capable of both producing impressive grip and of playing in the margins of adhesion in a way few other Audis before or since have managed, but it lacked the cut-yourself responses of the dialled-up-to-11 Lambo. The Audi wasn't underwhelming - it was a hugely talented car in its own right - but it felt very different to what many buyers were expecting given the specs and styling. (The deliberate non-overlap between R8 and Gallardo grew more acute with the V10 version of the Audi two years later, a car engineered around a brief to make it feel as unlike its sister as possible.)
Other details didn't help the R8's case for specialness. Audi had deliberately given it a cabin that drew heavily from the corporate parts bin, the logic being that buyers of lesser Audis would feel better seeing 'their' instruments and HVAC controls in something so exotic, but many potential buyers struggled for the exact opposite reason. On the plus side the open-gate shifter for the manual transmission was unambiguously excellent, with a beautiful action that encouraged frequent use - although it wasn't enough to stop many buyers opting for the whizzier, bangier single-clutch 'box.
But the market struggled to digest the first R8s as early buyers sought to move on. Demand was high at first - over 800 were registered in the UK in 2008 - but the rapid fall in values doubtless played a part in discouraging potential customers more used to sturdier 911 residuals. Annual sales quickly fell below 500, and by the end of the first generation barely 200 a year were being sold in Blighty. Yet as prices slumped, so canny buyers began to realise just how compelling a prospect this German-engineered almost-supercar was; for awhile it was possible run one for several years and then get back what you'd paid.
Our Pill ticks plenty of the best choice boxes for an early car. It's a manual, which is definitely the preferable transmission option, it looks good in dark blue with the black side 'blade' and according to the vendor has recently had some paintwork to tidy up stone chips. They also report new shock absorbers all-round last year which - given the reference to a sport suspension setting - look to be the pricey adaptive items which are a known failure point. There are also new Pirellis at the front. Subsequently changed private plates deny us a look at the MOT history, but the available evidence is all positive, the cabin looking fresher than is often the case on early cars, although the driver's seat bolster shows some sign of a near six-figure odometer reading.
Before the "too sensible" mob pile in, there are indeed risks. The R8 might be less brave than something wearing a more exotic badge - including the Gallardo - but it ain't going to be cheap to keep in top order. Clutches don't last for too long even with the manual 'box, lower rear suspension wishbones can fail, necessitating a new hub carrier as well, brakes and tyres are expensive and predictably short-lived if subjected to regular hard use. Oh, and if the aircon compressor checks out - which it often does - replacing it is an engine-out job.
Yet even with those risks factored in a well-chosen early R8 still offers spectacular value. This is probably as close to being a everyday-viable supercar as it is possible to find. Can you think of a more attractive alternative for similarly brave money?
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