How Much Does It Cost to Rent an Audi When Every Audi Is a V10

The white R8 Spyder waiting at the Burbank Airport curb costs $795 a day, and the black R8 coupe costs $895. That's the whole answer to how much does it cost to rent an Audi from us, because those two cars are the only Audis we run. Both carry the same 5.2 liter V10, a $1,000 deposit, and 100 miles a day.

Most makes come with a ladder of trims and a dozen prices. Ours is two 2017 cars based in Orange County, $100 apart. So the real choice isn't which Audi to book. It's whether you want a roof over your head when the V10 wakes up behind you.

Why the Audi rental price has only two numbers

We don't run an RS sedan, an e-tron, or a Q8. The Audi R8 is the one Audi that belongs in an exotic fleet, and it earns the spot with its engine. The V10 behind your seat is the same 5.2 liter engine Lamborghini puts in the Huracan. It's naturally aspirated, meaning it breathes without turbochargers, so the throttle answers the instant your foot moves.

That engine makes 540 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque. Quattro, Audi's all wheel drive system, puts all of it on the road. Sixty comes up in 3.5 seconds in either body. The coupe tops out at 199 mph and the Spyder at 197.

Pull away from a flower street in Corona del Mar and you'll hear why people book it. East Coast Highway through the village is slow, and the V10 hums at 25 like it has nowhere to be. Then the road opens up toward Crystal Cove. The revs climb toward an 8,250 rpm redline, and the note gets harder the higher it goes, where a turbo engine would go flat.

The part nobody tells you is that this engine is on its way out. The R8 GT was Audi's send-off for the car, and nobody is building a naturally aspirated V10 for the road again. So part of the Audi rental cost is paying for something that won't be sold new much longer.

Spyder or coupe, and what the extra $100 buys

The $100 between our two R8s buys a roof. The Spyder at $795 has a fabric top that folds in under 20 seconds. Its rear window also drops on its own, with the roof up or down. That window is the trick. Leave the roof on for the freeway, lower only the glass, and the V10 comes straight into the cabin.

The coupe at $895 is stiffer, and it reacts a fraction quicker. You won't feel that on the first pass down a road. You feel it on the second, once you know where the corners are. The coupe also has a shelf behind the seats for soft bags, on top of the front trunk. The Spyder gives that shelf up to its folding roof.

Height matters more than people expect. Seat travel in the Spyder is shorter because the roof mechanism sits behind the seats. If you're tall, ask us to check the fit before you book.

Color changes how each car reads at the door. The white Spyder with the top down looks like a good day out, and traffic tends to wave it in. It's the R8 that goes out for proposals and wedding exits. The black coupe over a black cabin reads serious. Roll it under the lights of a resort porte-cochere on the bluff in Dana Point at night, and the valet sees the outline first. The side blade, the low nose, and the diffuser do the talking before you've opened the door.

How much does it cost to rent an Audi for four days or a week

One or two days are at the full daily rate. From the third day on, the discount is automatic and it comes from length, not from asking. Here's the ladder that sets every rate.

• 1 to 2 days, full daily rate
• 3 to 4 days, 10% off
• 5 to 6 days, 15% off
• 7 to 13 days, 20% off
• 14 to 20 days, 30% off
• 21 to 27 days, 40% off
• 28 days or more, 50% off

So a Saturday and Sunday in the Spyder is $1,590. Four days in the Spyder come to $2,862 after the 10%. Five days in the coupe come to $3,803.75. A full week in the coupe is $5,012, which works out to $716 a day. Book the Spyder for 28 days and the Audi daily rental price drops to $397.50 for a V10 convertible.

Four days is the length that fits a trip inland to Temecula. Leave the coast on a Thursday and spend Friday on Rancho California Road between winery estates. Park the Spyder at the end of a vineyard row with the top down, and the photograph takes care of itself. Just remember the rule for wine country. Whoever drives between estates is the one who skips the tasting.

Two weeks is a safe booking window for either R8. The Spyder tends to book out faster than the coupe in warmer months, so lock the dates early if the roof is the point.

The deposit, the miles, and the insurance check

Both R8s carry a $1,000 security deposit. A security deposit is a hold on your card, not a charge, and we release it once the car comes back the way it left. It covers small things, like a curbed wheel. Real damage is your insurance's job, subject to your deductible.

Insurance isn't part of the rate, and we don't sell it. Your own policy has to extend comprehensive and collision to a rental car that isn't listed on it. That's called non-owner vehicle coverage, and it can't carry an exotic exclusion or a cap that rules the R8 out. Credit card rental coverage almost never helps here. Most card benefits exclude cars worth more than $50k to $75k. Before you get the keys, we call your carrier on a recorded line to confirm it.

The rest of the list is short. You need to be 18 or older, with a valid license and full coverage insurance in your own name. If you're under 25, the deposit may be larger.

Miles pool across the whole rental, so four days give you 400. Past that, both R8s bill $4 a mile. Say you run the coast south to La Jolla, take Torrey Pines Road past the gliderport, and drop down to the Cove with the Pacific filling the windshield. If the odometer shows 460 miles when you hand the keys back, the extra 60 cost $240. Tell us at booking if the trip runs long, and the miles get priced in ahead of time instead of billed after. Neither R8 goes on a track, since track use, racing, and off-road driving aren't permitted on any car in our fleet.

The Lamborghini with the same engine, and two Ferraris on either side

The Huracan is the car the R8 always gets compared to, because it's the same V10 in a louder body. Our black 2017 Huracan Spyder over a red interior is $1,195 a day, which is $400 more than the white R8 Spyder. It makes 602 horsepower to the R8's 540 and reaches 60 in 3.4 seconds. It carries the same $1,000 deposit and the same $4 mile rate. What the $400 mostly buys is the badge. At a light, the R8 gets a wave and the Huracan gets phones out.

The Ferrari Portofino is the other open car near this price. Our burgundy 2019 Portofino over tan costs $895, the same as the R8 coupe. It trades the V10 for a 3.9 liter twin turbo V8 with 591 horsepower, sends it to the rear wheels, and folds a hard roof instead of fabric. It also has four seats, which the R8 never will.

The Ferrari Roma is the way under. Our red 2022 Roma is $695 a day, $100 less than the R8 Spyder, with 612 horsepower and 60 in 3.3 seconds. It's a quiet four seat coupe with a twin turbo V8. It won't give you a V10 screaming past 8,000 rpm. It will put a prancing horse at the valet stand on Prospect Street in La Jolla for less than either Audi.

So the cheapest Audi rental we have is $795, and it buys the same engine as a car that costs $400 more. Book the Spyder if the sound and the sun are the reason for the trip. Book the coupe if the car has to look serious at the door, because the engine is the same in both and it's the part you're really paying for.