2014 Audi R8 to drop manual gearbox

2014 Audi R8 to lose manual gearbox

It’s at least two years before the next generation Audi R8 arrives in 2014, but if reports from CAR are right then Audi’s next sporting flagship will do without a manual gearbox altogether.

With all that’s on offer in the current R8 apart from the manual ‘box being the rather poor R-Tronic ‘box, that may seem like a recipe for sales disaster for the R8. At the moment, you’d have to be a one-legged R8 fan to opt for the R-Tronic (or American), so irritating is the jerky R-Tronic.

Thankfully, as we reported back in July, the Audi R8 is about to get a proper dual-clutch S-Tronic instead of the R-Tronic when the facelift happens in 2012. Which is what it should have had from the off. A good DCT ‘box will make the manual ‘box all but redundant, apart from to a handful of Luddites who cling on to manual ‘boxes even though DCT ‘boxes are now so good.

We’d also expect the current V8 and V10 lineup in the R8 to be abandoned in 2014, to make way for two versions of the new Audi / Bentley V8. Sad though it will be to see the V10 in the R8 go the way of so many other big cylinder count engines, there is little sense clinging on to the thirsty and emitting V10 when the new twin turbo V8 can deliver up to 600bhp.

There’s even a chance we could see the new V8 arrive in the facelifted R8 in 2012, sporting its own take on the new V8 we’ve already seen in the S6, S7 and S8.