At $74,399, Could You Get Caught In This 2012 Audi R8 5.2 Quattro Spyder's Web?

Think about how you might spec an Audi R8 Spyder, and today's Nice Price or No Dice candidate probably checks all your boxes. We'll have to see if its price tag meets your needs as well.

In baseball, the batter gets three whiffs before being called out on strikes. If we apply that same rule to the automotive industry (and why wouldn't we?), we find that automotive designer and occasional car company mogul Henrik Fisker is down to his last strike, having two failed car start-ups marring his stats. Maybe we should instead apply cat logic and give him seven more lives, er, attempts at success.

The 2023 Fisker Ocean ONE we saw yesterday was the result of Henrik's latest strike: an electric crossover with decent range and some cool innovations. Unfortunately, it was also half-baked from the factory, with some significant software challenges and a few parts that, vampire-like, couldn't stand the sun. Originally priced at over $80,000 when new, our Ocean's $17,888 asking price demonstrated one of the steepest declines in value of any car in history. And yet, that wasn't good enough for the vast majority of you. The car's cons outweighed its pros—and that price—resulting in an overwhelming 89% 'No Dice' loss.

While Fisker has been thrown on the pile of defunct car brands globally, Audi appears to be doing just fine. That wasn't always the case; in the 1980s, the company nearly packed up its tent and went home after a scandalous segment on CBS's '60 Minutes' news program about the marque's safety due to "unintended acceleration" wiped out sales in the U.S.

Audi bounced back after the reports were proven specious. The VW subsidiary even went on to enjoy success on the track, winning a string of 24 Hours of Le Mans races with its Audi Sport GmbH-developed R8 LMP racer in the early 2000s.

Today's 2012 Audi R8 Quattro Spyder is named after that line of winning racers, although it appears too nice to take to the local gymkhana or on an amateur road rally. With just 21,756 miles to its name, it's also been wildly underused in any capacity and is all the better for that. Another thing in the Audi's favor is that it has a very sexy Italian cousin, the Lamborghini Gallardo, with which it shares a number of under-the-skirt parts and a familial exhaust note.

Like the Lambo, power for the Spyder comes from a V10 engine, here that being Audi's 5.2-liter direct-injected, naturally-aspirated mill making 518 horsepower and 391 pound-feet of torque. If your name happens to be "Lazy Bones Jones," you might prefer your R8 with an automatic transmission, which is available. For the rest of us, however, the six-speed Graziano manual with its handsome gated shifter fitted to this car should do just fine. As is the schtick for Audi, that sends the ponies to all four corners through a Quattro-branded AWD setup. 

Other perks here include Audi's Magnetic Ride adaptive suspension, factory alloy wheels, an aftermarket exhaust, and factory-upgraded leather and carbon fiber in the cabin. For those who like to live life on the edge, there's also a built-in radar detector in the dash, mounted below the Bang & Olufsen double-DIN stereo head unit. The capper, of course, is the Spyder's electrically-operated convertible top, which trades open-air motoring for the cool sideblade intakes of the coupe.

As noted, this is a criminally underused car, which should bode well for its next owner. Painted in what the seller says is "Phantom Black Pearl Effect" over a set of factory Y-spoke alloys, it looks, for all intents and purposes, as-new. Speaking of appearances, this Audi is offered by a used-car dealer that, for whatever reason, in the ad, has dropped images of the Audi at different angles and depths in the same dealership background image. It's more funny than disconcerting, and other shots show the car in the real world, lessening the impression that the ad might be a scam. Also, it should be pointed out that the dealer is spamming Craigslists across the country with ads for the car, but its actual location appears to be Dupont, Colorado.

Craigslist

Those pictures show the cabin in amazing condition, exhibiting no evident wear and tear on any tactile surfaces or apparent sun damage. Some pieces in the interior are kind of plasticky, but that's just Audi pinching pennies, and not the R8's fault. On the outside, the seller helpfully provides pictures of all four alloys, showing that none has any curb rash or brake-dust etching. Those pics also show the Pirelli P-Zero tires are from 2018, so they are overdue for replacement. Unfortunately, we can't glean any other outstanding maintenance issues on the car, and the ad isn't forthcoming.

When new, this R8 Spyder probably cost somewhere north of $170,000 once taxes and waxes were taken into account. That's a lot of cabbage, and it makes one wonder how people who spend so much on a car can just let it sit and gather dust instead of using it. This car's low mileage and obviously well-kept condition offer that richy-rich experience, but the current $74,399 asking price makes it far more accessible.

The question for you is whether that is accessible enough to make this an R8 for the masses. What's your take on this dealer-offered Audi sports car and that $74,399 price tag? Does that feel like a deal considering the car's specs and condition? Or is that too much for a car that likely still hasn't reached the bottom of its depreciation curve?

You decide!

Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Peter Ardbridge for the hookup!

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