R8 Battering Ram Vs AMG GT S Sex Bomb: Which Supercar Banana Achieves Driving Nirvana?

The middle of January is not a great time to be testing two horsepower-heavy supercars. I’m sitting in the driver’s seat of the new Audi R8 V10 Plus with precisely 602bhp beneath my right foot, and a stretch of tarmac ahead of me that’s trying to recover from a night of waterboarding at the hands of some particularly dark clouds.

The conditions should be playing heavy on my mind, but I’ve come to learn that the quattro all-wheel drive system built into this £135,000 Audi is surprisingly adept at turning standing water into grip, and, in turn, gut-wrenching pace. If quattro had been a thing in biblical times, Noah would have had no need for an ark.

With only the merest hint of throttle modulation I’m away and pinned into the back of my seat. The V10 howls as it spins up, pummelling power through the complicated AWD system, which constantly communicates the fact that it’s shifting torque from wheel to wheel. No car has any right to accelerate like this - especially in conditions on the fringe of unsuitable - and you can’t help but giggle as it does so.

The story isn’t quite the same in the Mercedes-AMG GT S. Having spent the best part of a week with all-wheel drive security, it takes a moment of butt-clenching oversteer to recalibrate my senses. Where the Audi’s throttle reacts with a naturally-aspirated whipcrack the moment you wiggle your toe, the Mercedes’ power comes in with a wonderfully old school turbo surge.

It feels as if you’re summoning grunt from deep within the belly of Affalterbach; take a moment of restraint to reassure the rears there’s grip to be had as the power comes in, then once you’re hooked up you can begin to explore the farthest reaches of the pedal’s travel. It’s here that the brave are rewarded as the engine’s deep growl takes over the cabin.

At its most basic level, the reason for bringing these two ludicrously expensive bananas together is quite obvious: if you want a two-seat supercar and have well over £100,000 to spend, they’d make two very obvious starting points. But when you dive into the numbers and spend a bit of time with the pair, they have polar opposite characters.

Let’s start with the indisputable facts. The Mercedes-AMG GT S is the least expensive of the pair, starting at £110k compared to £135k for the R8 V10 Plus (though the slightly more comparable 533bhp non-Plus V10 model costs £120k). The AMG also offers two cylinders fewer than the Audi - 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 versus 5.2-litre naturally-aspirated V10 - and gives away a hefty amount in the horsepower stakes, with 503bhp to the R8’s 602bhp. Officially, 0-62mph in the Audi is 3.2 seconds while the Mercedes-AMG is 3.8 seconds - in conditions this greasy, the R8 feels barely slower, but the GT S is a lifetime away from its on-paper performance.

That’s not where the Mercedes-AMG GT S’s charms lie, though. Where this long-snouted beast wins you over is in its beauty. It’s the way it makes you feel. Parked up next to the R8 it looks leagues apart in the prettiness stakes. They’re both lookers, but the Audi conveys sexiness designed by computer, whereas the GT S’s bulging hips and voluptuous curves look far more natural. I don’t think photographs do it justice; it has an almost disarming beauty to it.

The Audi on the other hand is clinical in its brilliance, caring not for emotional ties. The sharp lines on the exterior give way to an absolute education in interior quality. The Mercedes’ insides are claustrophobic, and while it looks futuristic in there I can’t help but feel that’ll make it date quickly, especially with the fingerprint-smeared piano black surfaces. The Audi’s minimalist style feels instantly more timeless and welcoming, and the Virtual Cockpit is a revelation, if a little inconvenient for a passenger.

Out on the road, and again the characters take divergent paths. I’m most intrigued by the Mercedes, as the AMG GT S is the spiritual successor to the SLS AMG. That car was something of a maniacal handful, so I’m expecting more knife-edged thrills here. Not so. The newbie is far more lethargic in its responses. The power delivery might be enough to bite you on the backside if you’re not careful, but remember it’s a surge not a spike.

The ride is far from leisurely, but coupled with the steering feel it’s like the AMG wants you to take it easy and enjoy the ride. Turn in is anything but pointy; it might just be psychological due to the outrageously long nose, but the time between turning the wheel and loading up the front outside tyre is an act best not rushed.

Instead, the way to make the most of the Mercedes is in the mid-range of the power band, with the turbo on boost and its delivery far more predictable. Slow in, fast out is the order of the day, and if you can find a rhythm you’ll disappear into a lovely hypnotic zone if you know the road well. That gravelly V8 will keep you tethered to reality, a welcome reminder not to take too many liberties.

The Audi R8 V10 Plus, on the other hand, is rather more akin to a battering ram. This is not a car you finesse, it’s a car you kick and abuse, and it makes you cackle as it soaks up everything you throw at it. This car is simply brutal. Aim it at the vanishing point, mash the throttle and suddenly you’re over there before you’ve had time to catch your breath.

And I promise you it’s not hyperbole. I took a number of people out for a ride - proper car guys who were used to fast cars - and the general consensus was summed up best by our staff writer Neil Winn, who said “I didn’t know a road car could be capable of going that fast.” This coming from a guy with a motorsport background.

What’s most impressive about all of this, though, is the fact that the R8 is not just a straight line hero, and it remains unruffled by whatever road surface you throw at it. On one section of the photoshoot location, a long straight invites you to really test the car’s ability to scroll through digits on the speedo. Long enough to accrue plenty of pace, there’s a not inconsiderable kink, most notable because the road becomes a moonscape as you enter the braking zone.

The GT S requires exercising the brakes well before things get messy otherwise it becomes desperately flustered; the R8 requires nothing more than commitment. Hit the brakes with gusto and a totally catchable squirm is about as close to disaster as things get. Once you learn its limits are well above your own, it’s easy to terrify your passengers.

The Audi’s trump card, however, is the fact it truly could be your daily driver. The Mercedes-AMG GT S is a drop dead gorgeous car that’s perfect for cruising around the fancier parts of town - take it for an eight-tenths Sunday morning blast and there’s enough theatre to excite.

But for sheer usability the Audi R8 gets my vote every time. Flick it into ‘Comfort’ mode and everything softens up, the exhaust dies down and it’ll quite happily mooch through rush hour traffic. Flick it into ‘Performance’ mode and everything comes alive; the V10 howls with the ferocity of a thousand angry, dying wolves; gears slam home in a fraction of a second, and corners are dispatched at speeds beyond your limits but well within the car’s.

The AMG GT S might be the car most likely to adorn bedroom walls, but as an engineering masterpiece, the R8 is the car that simply must be driven to be believed.

Many thanks to Velocita Cars for loaning us the Mercedes-AMG GT S.