| With the sunlight hours getting shorter and the weather | | | | Class 1 on the insurance level, the fewer points you |
| getting gloomier, the motorway is a dull and dreary | | | | have on your license for being caught tugging over the |
| place during the daily commute. In an ideal situation a | | | | tonne on the motorway the easier it'll be to get insured. |
| sports car would make the world of difference and it's | | | | So the real element, performance-wise, that makes |
| forgivable to daydream given the wealth of choice | | | | the difference is acceleration. Which one hurls you into |
| that the range offers. | | | | the back of your seat and keeps you there until you lift |
| It seems that every country has more than one | | | | your right foot off the gas? |
| sports-car manufacturer to its name now and some | | | | Well, let's look first at that poised monster the A8. Is it |
| which weren't historically associated with the range. | | | | an animal waiting to pounce? It is. This thing will get you |
| Take BMW and Audi, for instance. Once typically | | | | from 0-70 in under six seconds, five point five to be |
| associated with luxury and saloon cars, both have | | | | precise and do a quarter mile in under 13. Knowing that |
| offered up some formidable sports cars in recent | | | | you don't join the motorway at zero, let's put it another |
| times and Audi's new R8 is on a competing level with | | | | way: the V8 lurking beneath all that sculpted shine will |
| the BMW M6, or is it? | | | | get you from fifty to seventy in just two and half |
| There are many aspects to consider when judging a | | | | seconds, I think it takes me longer than that to |
| sports car, and they're not all related to the | | | | complete a sneeze. |
| performance. After all, when you buy a sports car you | | | | So, what of the M6? It may look like a on over-fed |
| want people to look at it with more than a touch of | | | | hot-hatch but it's hiding a naturally-aspirated V10 engine |
| admiration and the green-eyed monster. Especially as, | | | | beneath that blue-and white badge. This means that |
| if you're motoring around England, it's safe to say that | | | | even the lightest touch will send the rev counter up like |
| sitting in traffic jams won't be too unfamiliar. | | | | a racing car. |
| On a looks basis the Audi R8 is a clear winner. While | | | | Yet all those lucky motoring writers have said that it's |
| the BMW M6 is certainly sleek and boasts some nice | | | | easy to feel like you're sat in luxury saloon than a |
| five-spoke alloys, it is somewhat pedestrian. It' rear | | | | racing car, especially on the more gentle and |
| three-quarter profile looks worryingly reminiscent of the | | | | un-challenging roads. Like the motorway, then, which |
| 3-Series Compact and there's an inescapable | | | | even it's name brings to mind. Isn't the M6 the longest |
| sensation that you're looking at a plumped-up Peugeot | | | | motorway in Britain? |
| 406 Coupe. Not what you want if you're dropping | | | | Accounts of driving the Audi R8 have it surging out of |
| upwards of 80k on a motor. | | | | corners with a sense of almost violent urgency, |
| In sharp contrast, the Audi R8 is just that: sharp. It | | | | amazing speed and grip and leaving many addicted to |
| exudes a sense of powerful speed even just sitting | | | | it. Not having a spare 160k in my account, or even half |
| still. It's all ducts and intakes sculpted into a smooth | | | | of that to buy one, or being a motoring journalist with a |
| body that looks like some hunched-up predator waiting | | | | questionable hair-style it's unlikely that BMW or Audi will |
| to rip the road into pieces. Given that the R8 wades | | | | let me get a chance to test these cars for myself and |
| into your bank and takes just under 80k, it had better | | | | thus conclude the day-dream testing. |
| look like it's about to break every speed limit. | | | | With that in mind, and statistics being famously |
| The Audi R8 also boasts a higher theoretical top | | | | unreliable, I shall have to give the day-dreams on the |
| speed of 301 km/h to the M6's 250 km/h. I say | | | | grey motorway mornings to the Audi R8. A supercar |
| theoretical as it's highly unlikely that you'd get a chance | | | | needs to look like it's moving even if it's not. When you |
| to push the accelerator all the way to the floor and | | | | see it in your rear-view you want to feel a bolt of |
| keep it there long enough outside of a track day and | | | | terror that if you don't get out of its way fast, your car |
| keep you license. Given that these cars aren't exactly | | | | will be eaten. |