Technically, Audi’s freshly minted 2017 R8 will make its North American premiere at next week’s LA Auto Show, but examples of the mid-engine supercar are already making an unofficial appearance on US roads.
This black beauty was spotted several thousand miles away from the City of Angels, all the way across to New Jersey, with Carscoops reader Ken H. plopping out his camera and taking a few shots of the new R8 while sitting at a gas station.
“Found this 2017 R8 fueling up in Saddle Brook NJ,” Ken told us. “The gentleman driving the vehicle could only tell me he was testing it and could not figure out how to check the mileage which he needed to record. Car looked spectacular!” That it does indeed…
The second generation of Audi’s most exotic ride will go on sale in the USA next spring in two versions, a standard -if you can call it that- 5.2-liter V10 model rated for 540PS (533hp) that reaches 100km/h in 3.5 sec, and the V10 Plus with 610PS (602hp) and a 0-100km/h (62mph) time of 3.2 seconds. Both come with a standard 7-speed S-Tronic twin-clutch transmission driving all four wheels.
Thanks to Ken for the pics!
Correction: a previous version of this article wrongly referred to the new R8 as a 2016MY