An R8 in this performance and price sweet spot would be very interesting.
The Audi R8 is often referred to as being the final bastion of the naturally aspirated supercar – at least at entry level. Oh yes, and its half-sibling, the Lamborghini Huracan. Both excellent cars, and we love them all the more because of that singular attribute.
That might be about to change, unfortunately, as Car and Driver has published a report citing sources that seem to strongly hint at the base R8 offering to go with forced-induction. In this case, supercharging.
The prime suspect to fill in the gap left by the outgoing non-Plus 5.2-litre V10 is the 3.0-litre supercharged V6 that’s found in the current Audi S4, in which it produces 264kW. That power figure, while the highest its been in a factory S4, is still a ways down from even the first-generation R8 with 4.2-litre V8 at 313kW.
We’re betting that, should this claim turn out true, that the V6 would be tuned to have an output closer to the 397kW of the current base R8. Perhaps somewhere in the region of 335kW.
The way it would work is that this new V6-powered R8 would become the new entry level variant, expanding the car’s appeal to buyers at a lower price points while still able to deliver very convincing levels of performance.
The S4’s supercharged 3.0-litre V6 engine has, as proved by the aftermarket tuning industry, quite a high reserve of untapped performance potential even with factory components.
It would also be interesting to see how this would expand the R8 into Porsche’s 911 Carrera territory, possibly even undercutting Stuttgart’s finest in terms of performance-per-dollar for a daily-driveable sportscar.
