How ‘high’ mileage press cars offer a snapshot into a model’s reliability

Some things are worth getting up early for. It’s funny how a howling V10 placed behind your head in a seductive body style that screams supercar makes it easy to get out of bed. And when said 5.2-litre engine is currently experiencing a fleeting stay of execution, any opportunity can’t be missed. Firing up the Audi R8 V10 Performance just as the sun breaks free of the horizon certainly causes a stir.

However, if you’re thinking this is merely a self-indulgent tale of a motoring fantasy fulfilled, then you’d be (partly) wrong. I’m sure you’ve already consumed the R8’s delights and why it’ll be missed via Editor Enright’s farewell celebration. However, one thing that struck me harder than this plot curve ball is the fact that when I glanced the R8’s odometer, I had to take a second look. (Read on for the second curve ball, this involves a mystifying, and tragic, bird spotting.)

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To those outside the motoring media, this figure isn’t going to be at all shocking. To be fair, you’ll be more intrigued as to why it’s a big deal. However, seeing a supercar still doing the press rounds with 12,000km on the clock is an oddity. Not that there’s little regard for mechanical sympathy within the industry, but you have to assume that those kays were clocked up with a big slice of ‘spirited driving’. The very R8 I’m referring to also competed, and impressed, at PCOTY in 2021. Yet, it isn’t showing any signs of it.

This is where myths of hard driving get somewhat debunked. Keep in mind that the servicing and upkeep of press fleets is far more meticulously controlled than that of the average owner. Yet, it is also an interesting study into reliability. Or, moreover, the fact that it’s often tough to detail in a new car review. While there might be reports of issues with certain makes and models, unless it happens to us when the car is in our care it’s hard to comment first-hand. That’s what our Garage section in the mag sets out to achieve.

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The R8 isn’t my first taste of a relatively high-mileage press car. To be fair, the LC500 in question had transitioned to the Lexus on Demand program when I got behind the wheel, but the bright yellow example used to do the media rounds. Apart from some slight discolouration in the white leather and brake discs that needed machining, the stunning V8-powered two-door coupe ran as if it was fresh off the production line. In reality, it had 22,000km-worth of journo and customer kays on the clock. It’s impressive just how tight and new it felt.

Two more examples are the Ford Mustang Mach 1 and the Toyota GR Yaris Rallye. The former amassed 10,000km and the latter 15,000km. It’s important to note that the little three-pot Toyota accrued most of its odo reading while in the MOTOR garage. Ironically, it even went along as a support car for The Great Alpine Trial feature in the December 2021 edition of MOTOR, in which it covered 1900 faultless kilometres. However, since returning from PCOTY 2022 we found out that some of the plumbing for the airbox had come loose and a little bird somehow met its end atop the plastic engine cover. Under-bonnet temps must get high, because the poor thing was very well done.

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Ultimately, the best we can do is report on what actually happens to us. Hearsay doesn’t cut it when it comes to box-fresh product and, to be fair, mechanical issues are rarer than you’d think (please don’t let Murphy’s Law ring true...). Alternatively, if you’re after a hero model from the past and want to know all of its issues and vices, then Icon Buyer within the magazine is a great place to start for context and history. And if none of that takes your fancy, then reading a piece of automotive escapism on the Audi R8 will have to suffice.