Ten years ago, Audi made the rather delightful decision to stick a honking great V10 engine into the middle of its sublime R8 supercar. And now, a decade on and timed to coincide with the commencement of sales of the revised, facelifted Mk2 R8, it has decided to celebrate this ten-year, ten-pot brilliance with a special edition. Called the R8 V10 Decennium (that's Latin for 'decade', that is...), just 222 examples will be made and they'll cost, in their homeland of Germany, €222,000 apiece. For that, you get the 620hp/580Nm iteration of the 5.2-litre V10 FSI, capable of propelling the Decennium from 0-62mph in 3.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 206mph. You also get lots of bronze and black (gloss-black in places, carbon fibre in others) detailing, inside and out: the former on the 20-inch milled alloys, the engine's intake manifold and for the stitching in the cabin, the latter adorning the side sills, rear diffuser, front spoiler, side blades, door mirror housings, external Audi logos and badging, the interior inlays and the 12 o'clock marker on the Alcantara steering wheel. Various Decennium logos are splashed about the place, too, and there's Decennium stitching on the exclusive, bronze-coloured car cover that each and every one of the 222 lucky owners will get with their R8. Colour choices are Daytona Grey, in either matte- or pearl-effect finishes, and then five metallic shades, which are Suzuka Grey, Floret Silver, Mythos Black, Ascari Blue and Kemora Grey.
Matt Robinson - 28 Feb 2019