KEY POINTS:
In the movie I, Robot, year-2035 detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) has a penchant for iconic and/or exotic products from years gone by. He wears Converse All Star Chuck Taylor shoes, listens to soul music on a JVC CD player and keeps an MV Agusta F4-SPR motorcycle tucked away in the garage. Oh, and he drives an Audi R8 coupe.
Only back in 2004, when the movie was released, the R8 didn't exist and the futuristic celluloid supercar driven by Smith was called the RSQ concept.
According to the movie PR-blurb of the time, the RSQ was commissioned by director Alex Proyas specifically for the film and built by Audi Design in just 10 weeks.
That's ostensibly true, but Audi Design's contribution to the project had a strong element of "here's one we made earlier". In April 2003, when the RSQ deal was signed, Audi was also working on its Le Mans Quattro concept car.
The Le Mans, unveiled at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, was pretty much the
production R8. So remove the spheres from the RSQ's wheel-arches and those butterfly-style gull-wing doors, and what you are essentially left with is the year-2007 R8 - right down to the cabin architecture, with its jet fighter-style dashboard.
You can tell I, Robot is set in the future because nobody looks twice at the RSQ. Rewind to 2007 and the $260,000 R8 stops traffic more effectively than any Ferrari or Lamborghini.
It commands attention because it's unmistakably an Audi, and an Audi supercar is not something you expect to see. But beyond that, it looks amazing by any measure - not pretty, but rather hard-edged and techy.
There are running lights composed of 48 individual LEDs up front, a massive "side blade" of carbon fibre over the side intakes (that's a must-have $5200 option), and an engine that sits under a transparent cover and it's even illuminated at night.
Audi owns Lamborghini and, as you'd expect, there's some cross-over between the R8 and that other mid-engined, four-wheel-drive supercar called the Lamborghini Gallardo. But not as much as you would think - as only 15 per cent is shared.
The R8's direct-injection 4.2-litre V8 is lifted from the RS4 sedan, albeit with a different exhaust set-up that turns the throbbing soundtrack into a ferocious howl. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard, although for $12,000 extra you can specify the robotics-manual S Tronic. Either rockets to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds (RS4 4.9sec).
Del Spooner doesn't trust robots. Audi used to endow its quattro cars with a slightly robotic steering and handling quality, but this time its new performance car has a somewhat more personal feel.
The R8 is a proper supercar, with accurate steering, a beautifully balanced chassis and a drivetrain that feeds more power to the rear than the front. It's not quite as chatty and engaging as the similar-price Porsche 911 GT3 at low speeds, but for pin-sharp responses and cornering neutrality it's hard to fault - and such control and traction is never dull.
And the genius of the R8 is that there's virtually no opportunity-cost in ride and refinement. You could almost call the R8 cosseting on urban roads - and it certainly puts a few pseudo-sporting luxury sedans to shame. The only disappointments are the brakes. They are powerful but the pedal is devoid of feel, which makes smooth driving harder than it need be in what's otherwise a very useable car.
And a very special one. As is often the case with special cars, test-drive time was limited to just two- and-a-half days. So "my" R8 is gone now, and with it, the aura of cultural-icon superstardom that seemed to surround me when I drove it. On the plus side, I still have some nice Chuck Taylors.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
