Auto News 5

The Audi R8 is a sitting duck, and Doug DeMuro bags it without pausing as he trolls through suburban Atlanta in search of exotic cars, turning on and aiming his Canon point-and-shoot with one fluid motion and nonchalantly banging off a perfectly framed image through his open window.

Shame on me for not playing with the fancy new Audi drive-select system while I had possession of the Q5. Joe DeMatio mentioned the system's ability to improve steering feel in his review of the Audi Q5 last summer, and the steering weight and feel were among my biggest disappointments in this Q5. I found the steering to require more effort than I'd expect from a crossover in this class. Perhaps a few adjustments through the drive-select system would have changed my mind.

Sport sedans operate in a gray area where practicality gives way to emotion. A thoroughly rational shopping list of the world's best examples would include the Audi S6, the BMW M5, the Cadillac CTS-V, the Lexus IS-F, and the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. But pragmatism, logic, and good sense are rarely the deciding factors when considering an irrational purchase like a $100K-plus, 150-mph-plus automobile. Instead, right-brain values come to the forefront - style, rarity, sophistication, glamour, equipment, image, and, yes, sex appeal. The aforementioned sedans are undeniably speedy and dynamically impressive - but at the end of the day, the M5 isn't much more than a 528i on steroids, the S6 is an A6 that has undergone a complicated heart transplant via Sant'Agata Bolognese, the CTS-V and the IS-F both have relatively humble genetic backgrounds, and the E63 AMG started life on the same assembly line as 75 percent of the German taxi population.

As our year with the Audi R8 nears its end, you might think that the seen-it-all, driven-it-all bunch at 120 East Liberty would have become jaded to its exotic charms. Think again. Even after a long, harsh winter and through a pothole-choked spring, the R8 continues to enthrall the staff, and its effect on bystanders is also undiminished.