"Audi--Like My Belly Button?" Life with Four Kids and an Audi R8

Sometimes it’s good to be me. For instance, Audi wanted me to blog about its super, duper R8 sports car, so this kind person showed up at my house and handed me the keys to one. Holy kaw! Pinch me: am I awake?

This produced a stunning upgrade in my automotive image from a Toyota Sienna. R8 Coupe quattro MT6 specs: 420 horsepower, all-wheel drive (“quattro”), 0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds. Sticker price: $126,850 as delivered to me. (The Sienna is the car on the left in case you don’t know what a Sienna looks like.)

The coolest part of the design is that you can see the engine under glass.

Close up of the brakes. Listen to a demonstration of its ABS system here.

This will give you an idea of how low the low-profile tires are.

I love the back-up camera system—not that you have to buy a $125,000 car to get one.

It’s a family car too! After my daughter rode in it for fifteen minutes, this conversation took place:

Daughter: So is this a Honda?

Me: No, this isn’t a Honda. It’s an Audi.

Daughter: Audi? Like my belly button?

Me: No, that’s “outie.” This is an Owdee as in the union of Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer.

This is the only way to carry hockey sticks.

Because they sure won’t fit in the trunk.

There is ample space to carry a 13-inch Macbook, though.

This is the only thing I didn’t like about the interior: the gas and trunk release switches are somewhat hidden.

“Sure, honey, eat your ice cream cone in Audi’s car.”

Driving an R8 gives a whole new meaning to picking up some “fast food.”

You never have to worry about crushing the front spoiler if you drive a Sienna to the fast-food place.

I had to let Mike Boich drive it. After all, he gave me my first job at Apple.

The Dell’Aquilas loved it it too.

Will Mayall, my partner at Alltop. By the way, we do have Audi.alltop for those of you who want to follow all the news and blogs about Audi.

Sachin Agarwal, co-founder of Posterous. Now he’ll tell you that I am truly a value-add investor!

Craig Hosoda, sound and video expert. had a spin in it too.

We tried to attach a digital recorder to capture the sound of the exhaust, but it didn’t work because of the vibration. But you can hear what sitting inside the car sounds like here

Good news, bad news. After a mere week, my buddy came to take away the R8, but he left me a Q7 diesel.

Bye, bye R8! With four kids, it’s not something that I could use, but the day-to-day drivability of this exotic car was truly impressive. Couple the distinctive nature of its design (it’s far less pretentious than a Ferrari, not nearly as common as a 911, and not soul-less like Japanese sports cars) and its all-wheel drive, and Audi has a winner in my book.

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