How I fell in love and joined the family

Congrats mate, was the 599 the black one with grey wheels at Continentals? We looked at that one before picking up another one they had just had traded. A red one with 7k on the clock.

You in Auckland?

Throw some pics up man!

 

Yeh we got a 599 - very happy with the front engine V12, esp. after coming from a Porsche (change of scenery).

599 is my Dad's, I'm in an E92 M3 (needs replacing)

We drove a 458 earlier in the week, WOW! What a car. Haven't driven a 430 yet but will do in the next week or 2 I imagine.

 

It was a great pleasure to read your "Ferrari experiance", thx a lot! Wish you all the best with your beauty, have fun!

 

Yeh it's ridiculous power haha. He had a 996 Turbo modded to 500bhp. Scary fast, especially with all the turbo's torque.

I'm considering selling the M3. In the process of engine replacement (ran 2 bottom end bearings). Considering swapping to RS4 except my partner hates them (the look) otherwise a C63 but not sure.

 

Congrats! My first drive was in an F430 as well, and that car / experience sold me on the brand.

 

Josh, congrats and I wish you good luck with the car.

Just out of curiosity, what are the issues with the RTronic gearbox?

 

Congrats

 

+1 to the above. Please take some time to get busy in the 360/430 section. There are some guys in there that want to see pictures of your beautiful machine...self included!!!

 

Epic 3rd post mate.

Good to hear you got your F-car even if it wasn't something on your horizon a week ago. I have always thought the R8 was a stunning looking car - but have never driven one, so am surprised to hear the ride wasn't so exhilarating. I have the Quattro A5 Coupe - and I must say it is a stunning looking car - but edge of the seat to drive? not so much.

Ferrari's have a soul. Do yourself a favor - go to the factory one day (you can now as you are an owner) and spend a day or two soaking up the atmosphere and spend time in the very building where your car was created, watch the ladies sewing the leather seats, watch the guys build a car from a bare chassis, your car went through those very same hands. Magic.

I have a black 360 spider, as the 430 is still a bit out of my budget, and a 308 QV, maybe one day I will sell both and get a 430.

So long and enjoy your new car - many happy miles.

Welcome to the family.

Dave

 

It's Monday

 

Congrats!! And I love NZ - visited once and thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever been. Even got a ride in a 355 spider through the countryside while I was there. Enjoy the new 430!

 

Congratulations, look forward to some pics.

 

Actually it's Tuesday now in NZ

 

Autoblog puts it this way: " . . . (b)ut getting that load to the wheels proved less than pleasurable.

Choose first gear through either the central-mounted transmission stalk or the "+" button on the steering wheel-mounted paddles, release the brake, and... nothing. After the transmission's computer takes a few seconds to think, the R8 begins to roll forward, doing its best Michael Richards impersonation – tactless and taut. When you finally give it some go-juice, the R8 jerks its way to speed under part-throttle, then finally smoothes out before you grab the next gear. Then the jerkiness begins anew. We're not sure if the transmission's reluctance to shift smoothly was a product of the gearbox alone or the hack that had driven it before us, but by week's end we found ourselves adapting to suit the tranny by a combination of lifting while shifting and applying the right amount of throttle pressure to keep things smooth. It worked, but for the $132,745 price of our tester, we want a car that accommodates us, rather than the other way around. Then again, we would've opted for the (no-cost) manual in the first place."

Review: 2008 Audi R8 - Autoblog

Jalopnik is a bit more visceral with their description of the R Tronic:

"This particular R8 was equipped with the R-Tronic automatic transmission, which (I found later) is pretty nice on the racetrack but fairly unpleasant in city traffic; in full-auto mode, it feels like someone who just learned how to drive a manual transmission is working the clutch and shifter, and I couldn't quite get the hang of the paddle shifters right away. The car seems to hesitate when leaving a stoplight, bogging down like you're about to stall it, so you give it some more gas, and then some more, and why the hell won't it go?... at which point some synapses click in the transmission ECU, the clutch grabs, and you blast off like some hoon showing off the new 396 in his Chevelle, and then you need to stomp on the brakes because the car is doing twice the speed limit before you have time to react, and you generally look like a schmuck. Just so I don't have to talk about it any more, I'm going to state this up front: If you're thinking of buying an R8, Jalopnik recommends that you get the 6-speed manual transmission."

Audi R8, Part 1

 

Guess he's enjoying it too much ...

 

I keep hearing of how dealers let people take the cars for a day or for over the weekend. Can someone please explain to me how you people pull this off?

 

You don't "pull" it off. Being an existing customer helps, and so does meeting their [arbitrary] determination of whether or not you can afford the car.