The wife and I have been considering a second car for quite some time now. Every time I mention the R8 - her eyes open wider, and her head perks up a little bit.

She used to have this reaction when we discussed 911's (996/997). As cheap and affordable used 911's are, it's hard to turn them away - for a dual purpose daily driver for her, and a track toy for me.

What I really want is a second GT-R (2012 Black Edition - 530HP, 0-60 in 2.9secs, better MFD, better balance, brakes, etc...). But for $100k (including all two options, destination fees, taxes, etc...), we start to get into R8 territory.

As soon as I mention that, my entire family becomes interested in the conversation. All of us are taken by the R8. It is not as fast as the GT-R, and I could still track the Nissan. The only issue I have is that she wants the R8, and she requested the R-Tronic transmission. I haven't been pleased with the Audi automatic transmissions in the past.

Could somebody give me a description of their car (specifically R-Tronic)? This would be a second car, and I would not be daily driving it - she would, when she is by herself (or with one other child). Thoughts? Is it daily drivable? Etc...?

I've been trying to look at too many different cars lately (driven most of them - but I haven't found an R-Tronic R8) - to include a Viper GTS, AMV8, 996/997 C2/C4/Turbo, 355, C6, C6Z, etc...

I haven't driven the new Jag XKR (the wife doesn't show as much interest in those as she used to), but I love the new look (and performance - at least on paper).

I don't want to pay that much for a used car. I was hoping that I could find a used R8 for about $80k. Am I smoking crack? Or would the low cost of a car like that be offset by the high maintenance?

Please help. All opinions are welcome.

 

I don't even see them under $105k or so.

Did a search and lowest I can find is $95k.

 

I've been shopping for an R8 and have been following R8 prices very closely for the last year. $80k is likely unrealistic. R8 prices started going down last winter, but rose (more than average) when summer started.

Over last winter/spring/summer, these were the best deals I saw:

* An '08 R-Tronic 10k Gray/Black car was offered for $94k in SoCal
* An '08 6MT 6k Gray/Tuscan car was offered for $95k in Utal
* An '08 R-tronic 15k White/Black car sold for $94k in NorCal
* An '09 6MT Silver/Black car was sold for $100k in Arizona
* My local dealer offered me a Silver/Gray 2k 6MT car for $99k (I declined...but probably should have taken it)

More recent data points:

* An '09 6MT 12k White/Black car was offered for $103k OBO in CT
* An '08 6MT 16k Gray/Beige car sold for $90k

Most dealers are asking $100-110 for an '08, and $110-120 for an '09...the price range between dealers on compariable cars is huge.

R-Tronic cars (while being an additional $10k option when new) typically sell for less on the used market for reasons that are not particularly clear (the transmission has proven to be highly reliable).

Over the summer, I've been willing to spend up to $100k on an '08 and up to $105k for an '09. Now that it's winter, I'm dropping my price expectations by $5k. I've been looking for a very specific car (under 10k, Silver or white, with black interior, with carbon sideblades, either 6MT or R-Tronic), so this has been a particuarlly frustrating car search experience given the limited number of cars.

Prices should continue to drop through the winter; more V10s and the upcoming V8 spyder should also help.

 

Incidentally, per my extended test drive, I can't see any reason why the car cannot be a daily driver. My plan for the car is to be my summer DD. Also, maintanence on the car is fairly minimal.

 

I was looking into used R8's before I bought my C63 and was trying to find one in the $80k ballpark also. I quit after about 4-5 months. Like the previous poster said, with the introduction of the spyder the prices could drop a little for people trading in for them. An R8 would be a great car as a daily driver and track car.

 

Thanks for the advice. emissary - it seems that you and I were on a similar search. The wife likes the silver with black interior w/carbon blade in R-Tronic.

I think I'm going to try and wait for prices to come down a bit more (based on what you guys said about the R8 V10 and the Spyder).

 

I am curious about the R8 resell too, did a quick search within 500 miles, most 09 for sales has very low miles. Do they just sit in the garage? ; D. Mine is 09, DD except on weekend. It has 10k + miles on it. Very easy to live with. Good luck with your search.

 

I'm also "kind of" in the market (also looking at 2010 Turbo's) and the only 2010 V10 I've found was for $140K. I'm interested only in the V10 models so 09 or 10 in the $120-130 range...

I think $85K is more of a reasonable figure for an 08, but they are usually in the high $90's.

 

Or buy a V8 and Supercharge it? Was going to sell my 2009 V8 for V10 but for half what it would have cost me to do that I had Stasis supercharger installed and now have more power than V10

 

I just bought my 2010 V10 in October and I could not find anything below $140K and that was for a 6MT the SA transmission is more.
If it is a low mileage car $140K is low market.

 

The $140k I was referring to had 4kmi and rtronic. I know r tronic was a $ option but with resale it doesn't seem to make a difference. Can you list your msrp mileage and what you got it for? If prefer please pm me thanks. I'm hoping to get into a v10 by march or so

 

My best suggestion is for you to look at the r8talk.com forums under classified. You will see no cars in the $80k range, most are high $90k+ as of right now for v8 models.

I've been looking at these cars for quite some time and the best price I saw was a brand new v10 R8 for $2800 off mspr which puts the price at $159k (new car).

Used ones for the v10 are in the 140-150k range while the v8's are roughly 100-105k range.

Anything in the $80k range I would really think twice either in terms of a salvage title or high miles. I don't see them realistically falling into that price range at least til mid 2011 at the earliest....

 

i was looking at used r8's as a dd but couldn't find anything that seemed reasonable when compared to used porsches. Like already stated if anything was in the 80's it would have probably high mileage, or a salvage title.

Good luck on your search though

 

A few recent price points to get this discussion going again: over the last few weeks, I made a couple of cash offers on R8s:

* I offered $95k on an '08 advertised at $99k
* I offered $105k on an '09 advertised at $117k

Both offers were rejected and the dealers failed to counter beyond the advertised price. Both cars are still for sale.

Anyone else have any actual offer/selling price points to share?

 

Strange how the R8 resales higher here and much lower in scale in the UK. I guess they are keeping the supply low here in the states. My opinion is that if you don't keep your cars long get a standrad manual. This is because i predice the S-Tronic will be lower in value when the DSG version comes out.

I have owned a GTR and had driven a R8 V10 and i can tell you that the R8 is much better as a daily driver than the GTR. It's super quiet, comfortable ride, comfortable seats and like a A8 that is more difficult to get into. If you get the R8 your GTR may be the "2nd" weekend car. You'll see what I mean.

***oops** Sorry, didn't realize this post was from November which you may already made the purchase.