Maisto Audi R8 V10 + Review

Maisto Audi R8 V10+ Review

Hello everyone. Till date, my blog has been more about my own experiences and thoughts. But today, I wanted to add more stuff to my blog and make some more interesting topics and things to talk about. For those people who do not know me personally, I am a small collector of Scale Model Cars. I currently have a collection of 32 scale models in 1:18 scale. With this post, I want to start my own reviews about these scale model cars that I own/buy.

My personal favourite car in the real world is the Audi R8. I already own 4 scale models of the R8. So, I wanted to start these reviews with my personal favourite. 

Let us start with a brief history of the Audi R8. It was launched in 2005 and sales started later that year. It was a first for Audi to enter into supercar business. They had a success with their Le-mans car, the Audi R8 during the early 2000's. The le-mans car used the TSI petrol engine, which is what you see in the modern Audi's and Volkswagens. So they released the Audi R8 sports car with a 4.2 litre V8 TFSI engine. They later released a variant with a V10 engine borrowed from the Lamborghini Gallardo.

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A fun fact about the original R8 was the daytime running LED lights. In today's market, every other car has this as a standard feature. But it was the R8 that first brought this into a production car. It was a distinctive feature of the R8 then. And also it is the official car used by Robert Downey Jr in the movies as Ironman.

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The scale model that is being reviewed here is the new Audi R8 V10 Plus that was released in 2015. 

This model is from the special edition series made by Maisto in 1:18 scale. This is the Audi R8 V10+ model in blue. They also make it in silver, red and white. The red colour comes with black wheel rims. 

 The front of the car looks a bit okay. You can observe the regular Maisto solid plastic bits for the grills. The headlights are bit disappointing as they are no where near to perfection. The Audi logo is a sticker. You can see a small Quattro badge over on the front grill, which adds some detail to the model.

The headlight does have the separating slat that is aligned with the slat on the grille.

 The front hood shut lines are too big as can be seen. The overall paint quality is decent and you can see some imperfections in the paint when there is a lot of light reflected.

 On the side, the blades as they call it on the real car are made of plastic with a kind of texture to replicate the carbon fibre. The overall stance of the car is good, though the wheel wells do not seem to house the wheels in a symmetrical fashion. A nice touch to have the fuel filler cap. Most of the time the fuel caps are just stickers, but not in this model. It also has the R8 logo on the fuel filler cap, a nice touch. The V10 badging on the side is just a sticker.

 The spoiler is exclusive for the V10 Plus. The tires are a little better detailed, though it might be different to the original car.

The diffuser and the rear grills are solid plastic as well with the mesh-like texture. The tailpipes are blacked out.

The tail lights do not have much detailing in them. The actual car has 2 vertical slats in the tail lights aligned with the two slats in the grills below. This clearly cannot be seen in the tail lights, though the rectangular shape of the lights inside it are a bit visible in the proper light.

 The hood, doors and the rear glass covering the engine open. On my specific model, I couldn't open the plastic glass. It was tightly shut and I feared I may break the plastic. The doors do not open too much. The whole hood opens, as in the original car.

The interior of this model seems to be done really well. The dials on the dash have enough detailing in them. The steering wheel also has all the buttons replicated well, including the start/stop button in red and the R8 logo on the bottom of the steering wheel. The stalks behind the wheel are also present. The center console is also well detailed with the climate control buttons hanging. The pedals are also well executed. The interior is one of the positives of this model.

 My personal favourite part of this model are the wheels. They are really well executed. Though the disc and caliper are a single piece like in every other Maisto model.

The engine compartment is also decent. The logos on the engine and the V10 badge are also present. It also has the strengthening bars above the engine.

On the whole, the model is worth the money. Also, there are only a few other manufacturers that make the new Audi R8 V10 scale models. iScale, Kyosho etc. But these are a bit expensive compared to this particular Maisto. It is a must-have if you are a fan of the R8. My personal rating for this model, 

Exterior: 5/10

Paint: 6/10

Detailing: 5/10
Interior: 7/10
Quality: 6/10   

Overall: 29/50

-Sushant Thotakura

All images are subject to copyright.
Images of the model by Sushant Thotakura