How One Man Racked Up $100,000 In Repairs For His Audi R8

Supercar ownership doesn’t come cheap. It almost doesn’t matter if you can save up the lump sum required to buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, because that’s just the start of your expenditure. You have to be able to keep the car going, and that can come at an almighty cost. As one reader wrote in to tell us, that’s precisely the experience they had of owning Audi’s halo model.

The story comes to us from Kevin, who happens to be a member of our fine website. As one of the perks of membership, he was entitled to a drawing of his car for his birthday, and he’d asked for a picture of his 2015 Audi R8 V8. He’d ordered it in Sepang Blue Matte Pearl, with a gated manual transmission and a brown leather interior. A lovely combination! And yet, he now had misgivings about choosing that car as the subject of his portrait. But why!?

Well, Kevin and the Audi had an interesting relationship that was anything but smooth sailing at times. He ended up racking up some mighty high bills and eventually parted with the car in incredibly disappointing circumstances. It’s a cautionary tale of what you should prepare for ahead of supercar ownership.

Taking Delivery

Having ordered his R8 in 2014, Kevin took delivery in February of the following year. The car lived in New York City, and Kevin found it to be an amazing vehicle. And yet, just a few months later, the traffic the city is renowned for would take its toll.

Kevin was rear-ended in traffic by the driver of a minivan who wasn’t paying attention. From a glance, the damage looked minor, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. A huge repair bill was on the table for a car with just over 3000 miles on the clock. That’s just the way it goes sometimes because nothing on a supercar comes cheap.

The car was sent to Audi Manhattan for repair, with the final invoice hitting a mighty $44,069.98. Much of that was covered by Geico Insurance on behalf of the minivan driver, with Kevin stuck paying $6,387.65 out of pocket. “I don’t recall why I apparently paid $6K,” he says, but it’s easy to understand. 2015 was a simpler time. Inflation was stable, Kid Rock had just released Ain’t Enough Whisky and Anna Kendrick was captivating audiences on the silver screen in Mr. Right [Ed note: While I appreciate Ms. Kendrick’s style, that’s a terrible movie – MH]. Nobody was fretting over a few thousand dollars here or there.

In any case, Kevin was pleased to have his car back, and was enjoying it once again to great effect. And yet, the odometer would only rack up another 1,000 miles before turmoil struck again.

What happened this time? Well, Kevin tells it better than I could. “The parking lot attendant takes it off a lift to get a selfie, forgets it’s a manual, and lurches it into a concrete column,” he explains. The car was sent back in for another repair, once again in the realm of $50,000 according to insurance documents viewed by The Autopian. Again, by virtue of the lot attendant being at fault, the garage’s insurance covered the repair.

By this point, Kevin had only had the car for about a year and it had already been in for repairs twice. And yet, he’s able to take a light-hearted view of what went down. “There are apparently only two first-gen Audi R8 frame straightening jigs in America,” he says. “While mine was probably on the same one twice, I like to imagine it’s unique in having been on both of them.”

Happier Days

Bless the car gods, because Kevin finally got some respite. From 2016 to 2022, the R8 was able to mostly stay out of trouble. In that time, he went through three sets of Michelin Sport 4S tires and three sets of rotors and pads. The car also needed an idler pulley replaced and a clutch slave cylinder. Over this period, the car was rigorously maintained at the dealership according to Kevin, having had around ten oil changes during that time.

Update: Kevin tells us he also believes the brake slave cylinder went, which could have ruined the clutch by spraying brake fluid all over it. He also notes having to replace the magnetic ride shocks once.

You can fault us for this, but there’s not a lot to this story when it comes to the good times. Yeah, owning an R8 is dope. Kevin loved it. Of course he did. But you already knew that, everybody knows that. We’re focusing on the difficulties because that’s where the pain is. That’s what holds us back from owning supercars, almost as much as the price of entry. And that’s what this story is about.

So why mention the oil changes? In October last year, calamity struck with its greatest force yet. Having moved to New Hampshire, Kevin had a road trip in mind. “I decided to drive the R8 down to New York,” says Kevin. “I’m halfway through Connecticut, and as I downshift, I hear a sound resembling a chain snapping, and my engine dies.”

David Tracy might tell you that a timing chain is god’s gift to engines, but that wasn’t the case for this R8. Kevin was almost certain the chain had snapped, with awful consequences. Regular oil changes should prevent one from snapping for hundreds of thousands of miles, but it seemingly wasn’t the case here. “I am aware it is an interference engine, so I’m pretty sure what happened at this point,” he says. “Thankfully, I was able to coast safely the mile or two to an exit.”

Stranded, Kevin needed to get the R8 towed, but alas, it was a Sunday. Few tow companies were open, because cars never break on weekends, right? Those that were open weren’t willing to tow his car the 60 miles to Audi’s Greenwich dealership.

Eventually, a passerby told him to try a place called Mal’s Towing, which advised him it would be a three- to four-hour wait. “I say, ‘I’m not in a very strong negotiating position here, so sounds good,'” says Kevin. Once picked up, it took a further three hours to make it to the Audi dealership because traffic was just that bad.

Despite the disaster in the engine bay, Kevin wasn’t worried. “During all of this, I was saying to myself… ‘Thank God I bought the 10/100 drivetrain warranty.'” He figured that even if Audi kicked up a fuss, his insurance company would fight the battle for him.

Alas, though, the fairytale wasn’t to be. Kevin had asked for a 10/100 warranty—one that covered 10 years or 100,000 miles. Instead, he’d had to settle for the maximum offered, which was just 7 years or 84,000 miles. That had expired in February 2023, or roughly ten months before the engine grenaded itself. At this time, Audi had also confirmed the worst. There were metal flakes everywhere and the engine was quite dead.

Epilogue

Replacing the engine with a fresh V8 was a $50,000 proposition. In the immediate aftermath of the failure, he was pragmatic but disappointed. “Given it seems to be a complete POS, this is not an attractive proposition,” Kevin told us last year. “After all the travails of this vehicle, I think the universe is clearly telling me to give up and maybe get something else.” He expressed a deep love for the car but wondered if that was enough. “Despite it being a POS reliability-wise, I still love it,” he mused. “It is the best looking and driving car I’ve ever had, and there aren’t a lot of other options for gated shifters.”

Ideas of an LS swap or a V10 upgrade came and went; ultimately, Kevin couldn’t make a viable case for hanging on to the car. “I sold it to an R8 tech for approximately its Bring a Trailer value with an engine, minus replacement cost,” he says. “A good deal for both sides.” The new owner eventually sent Kevin a picture of the combustion chamber and piston once the engine was torn down, justifying his decision.

The engine was munted, as an Australian might say. That’s slang for wrecked or destroyed, and it certainly applies here. The top surface of the piston is mashed to all hell and has been punched right through, with the top of the connecting rod is visible through the carnage. You can actually see a valve embedded in the piston itself.

The head is chewed to pieces as well. It’s clear that the valves and piston collided, and hard—to a degree that would require a total engine replacement if you ever intended to use the car again.

Kevin notes that for all its merits, the car compared unfavorably to his C5 Corvette, which achieved 60,000 miles without issue. “This engine versus a Chevy pushrod V8 is a perfect metaphor for why Germany lost World War II,” he explains. Some might argue that a lack of key raw materials and poor military strategy played a larger role than unreliable advanced engine designs in Germany’s downfall, but it’s easy to understand Kevin’s point. Chevrolet can build a V8 that’s cost-effective, powerful, and long-lasting. In contrast, German automakers often only hit one out of those three.

We’re glad to hear that Kevin was able to enjoy the gated manual for a few good years before everything fell in a hot metal heap. As a rule, if you’re going into supercar ownership, do it with your eyes wide open. Have a pragmatic attitude and an open checkbook, because driving high-end metal comes with a hefty price tag.

Image credits: Kevin S