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Virtual Adviser's™ opinion
Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 2-door cabriolet body style within the same 'Sports car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the Porsche and 4 x 4 in the case of the Audi). The first one has a Porsche-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 430hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 430hp engine designed by Volkswagen.
SafetyUnfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the sports car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, Audi R8 offers a considerable difference of 11% more metal.
ReliabilityManufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Audi does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Porsche with an average rating of 3.7, and models under the Audi badge with 4.2 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as 911 rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.
Performance & Fuel economyPorsche is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.2 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 304 kilometers per hour, 4km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be 911, averaging around 9.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (29 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 48% difference compared to Audi R8!
Verdict
Audi appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Audi R8 offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Porsche offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Porsche. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.