Audi has facelifted and updated its R8 flagship for the 2019 model year, giving it a refreshed look, more power and greater dynamism courtesy of suspension and steering tweaks.
The exterior facelift is relatively subtle. There’s a lower and wider grille, bringing the R8 in line with more recent releases such as the Q8. It sees the slim headlights thrust further apart, and they retain a sharp-edged LED daytime running light signature.
A new front splitter and a wraparound front spoiler finish the fascia off, while the sides see new skirts and deeper air intakes, while the rear has a full-width honeycomb grille to aid cooling of the mid-mounted engine.
The exhaust tailpipes also change from square to oval, and receive a new matt titanium surround on top-spec Performance models. Finishing the visual tweaks to the exterior are fresh new colour options and 19- or 20-inch alloy wheel designs.
The new Performance model is essentially the previous V10 Plus rebranded, and both the renamed model and the standard car get a substantial power boost. The regular model sees power increase from 533bhp to an impressive 562bhp, while the Performance now packs 612bhp over the previous V10 Plus’s 603bhp.
0-60mph times drop by 0.1 seconds, to 3.2 and 3.3 seconds for the Coupe and convertible Spyder models respectively in standard form, and to 2.9 and 3.0 seconds for the Performance Coupe and Spyder – another 0.1 second improvement.
Audi promises reworked steering and suspension systems, improving stability and precision when cornering. It’s also retuned the steering to widen the gap between the car’s drive modes, meaning customers should notice more of a difference between the car’s Comfort, Auto and Dynamic setups.
The new model will go on sale in 2019, with the cost expected to rise slightly over the current model’s £112,525 asking price.