AUDI R8 RWS – CHEAP AS CHIPS

The crazy Audi R8 RWS (Rear Wheel Series) is due for arrival in Australia as of April. It’s a bargain all round with just $299,500 for the coupe and $321,000 for the Audi R8 Spyder V10 RWS convertible. Both cars are exactly $67,500 less than the quattro variants. Anyone with that sort of coin may well be inspired by the recent Bathurst 12-hour victory by the Audi Sport Team. Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor got the Audi R8 LMS GT3 home, but only 999 will score the R8 RWS worldwide for their own pads.

“The Audi R8 RWS is such an exciting car for us because it’s the very first rear-wheel-drive production car ever built by Audi. As a brand famous for quattro, or all-wheel-drive, this was a huge but exciting move for our brand in once again demonstrating our Vorsprung, or progressiveness, to consumers. It’s hard to imagine any sportscar-loving owner who wouldn’t be motivated by such a modern classic supercar,” said Paul Sansom, Managing Director of Audi Australia.

The production version shares around half the components of the Mount Panorama car, an exclusive factoid purely reserved for the R8 RWS. The car will clearly be a handful with a 5.2-litre V10 FSI engine that will blast out 397kW / 540Nm. A seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission joins the party and will send the R8 RWS to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds (coupe). If you have a death wish or can find a track with a straight long enough it will rocket right up to 320km/h.

An ‘Audi Space Frame’ helps keep the car as close to the track version as possible. It’s constructed from feather light carbon fibre and aluminium. A mid-mounted engine and the ability to drift like mad will clearly appeal to the richest end of the hoon market.

The ‘Ibis’ white paint job is standard although you’d have to go with that optional GT stripe design, right? The RWS gets its own distinctive looks over the quattro version – unique exhausts and contrasting colour body trims that include a matte black honeycomb grille. LED headlights and LED daytime running lights are standard as are rear LED lights and dynamic rear indicators.

Other typical Audi highlights include:

• MMI Navigation plus with MMI touch
• Audi virtual cockpit with 12.3 inch display
• Audi smartphone interface
• DAB+ digital radio
• Audi music interface with 2x USB ports and charging function
• Heated R8 sport seats with electrically-control height and backrest adjustment
• Black Alcantara/leather upholstery
• Automatic climate-controlled air-conditioning
• Door sills with aluminium inlays and R8 emblem
• Multi-function, R8 sport flat-bottom leather steering wheel with shift paddles
• Parking system plus; front and rear parking sensors with rear view camera

The R8 RWS will clearly only be available in limited numbers for the Australian market, so hurry up.