So far the car is still living up to expectations with respect to performance. Remarkably agile in the twistys and blistering acceleration in-gear. Official figures quote 4.8s for 0-60 times but empirical testing indicates that this is more likley to be in the 4.2-4.4s range. What I can never get bored of is the torque, pretty flat curve through the range which feels like the car just keeps accelerating and never lets up. As I've said before doesn't 'feel' as fast as the Exige but this is probably more to do with the handling/suspension than the actual performance. So far fuel consumption is in the high teens/low twenties although I haven't really given it any 'spirited' driving yet but that would certainly take it down to the very low teens. Build quality as you would expect from a German manufacturer, excellent, and with the DRC hydraulic suspension the ride is firm without being crashy and exceptional handling through the bends for such a big lump.
Now for the downsides:
1. The Audi forums are nowhere near as good as this one with not as many technical experts around. I guess this is probably due to the car/technology employed whereas Lotus has a more DIY feel which encourages experience and technical learning. Too many people fixated on trying to determine whether or not their car puts out the 414bhp as quoted. All I know is that when I put the foot down very few other cars can keep up.
2.The DRC system has some issues which cause the dampers to leak oil, very expensive to fix however Audi has stuck a 5 year/60,000 miles waranty on them plus I hear that there may be a final engineering fix which will be free to all those affected.
3. The engine has known design issue both with airflow (difficult to get enough through the engine) and with the FSI technology which causes carboning up of the air intake side of the valves. There seems to be an ongoing debate with Audi on this as apparently it affects all FSI engines and what affects this will have on overall performance. Some guys have had the intakes off and polished and claimed a noticeable difference. I guess I'll keep an eye on this one to see where it goes.
So, in summary even with the known issues regarding the engine and suspension and the lack of 'tuneability' to get even more performance out of the block the car continues to bring a smile to my face when I drive it. So so far, so good although I hear that there is a new RS5 on the cards with either twin-turbos or a supercharger on it's way from Audi...............
Finally Audi stealers are just as bad, if not worse, than other dealers however persistance does pay off as a new set of front discs/pads (circa £1k through the dealer) plus a few days of running around in the stealer MD's car will testify. Just got to get them to agree to powdercoat the wheels now but that's a different story!
once done and I'll probably only take it back there for the next service to keep the warranty in tact and any warranty work.