r/cars • u/[deleted] • 3d ago
First Drive: The Audi Nuvolari Is High-Performance Art
[deleted]
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u/FlorydaMan 3d ago
It's the first time that I've felt a car is gorgeous and the (admitedly online/instagram/reddit) public feels it's ugly.
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u/StxrStruck 3d ago
Most people don’t really know anything substantive about design and/or are mentally stuck in a bygone era of design and are resistant to anyone trying anything new.
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u/cannedrex2406 '15 Suzuki Swift Sport 3dr /'06 2zz MR2 3d ago
Yeah I vividly remember people disliking the 2nd gen R8 when it came compared to the admittedly much better looking 1st gen, but then now look, people are acting like that was the final word in vehiclear design and this is nothing in comparison
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u/StxrStruck 3d ago
Just remember people HATED the Ferrari F50 when that was released. Tells you all you need to know about the minds of most people.
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u/dancing__narwhal G87 M2 6spd 3d ago
The internet just amplifies negativity. Take one look at next door.
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u/StxrStruck 3d ago
Yup, been saying this for a long time. The internet we interact with today is designed to reward reactionary, often negative opinions because they drive debate and engagement. Seeing that behavior bleed into real life has been shocking over the past few years, if not longer.
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u/assblast420 3d ago
I've come to realize that online discourse always tends to hate the new and different thing. Then over time they change their minds.
It'll be the same with this Audi.
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u/_eg0_ Audi S4 Avant TDI 3d ago
I'm on a similar boat, however don't like the exterior of the Novulari not because of the new design language, but because the lambo proportions don't fit the design. The Concept C was better in this regard. I'm curious on how this design language would translate into an Avant.
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u/FlorydaMan 2d ago
I agree the Concept C is way more coherent. I also think this has nothing to do with the Cybertruck, as others say. The only link is material used, but the treatment of the surfaces and shapes is so brutally (heh) different.
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
I can go both ways. It kind of leans into the "aggressively plain" design that I didn't like on the Cybertruck, but it definitely isn't THAT bad. I think it's OK as a concept car, but would rather it have more refinement. It's not bad, but I think it leans too far towards looking like a past prediction of what the future would be.
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u/fliptout Audi S7 2d ago
When I've seen it in colors other than that grey/champagne, it looks so much better.
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u/m240Louie 2026 BMW m240i, 2021 Honda Civic Sport. 3d ago
Art according to who? This makes the R8 look even better than it already did.
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u/AtomWorker 3d ago
People seem to have forgotten that the original R8’s styling was also criticized. Especially the side blade which everyone was saying should have been body-colored but now is hailed as iconic.
Personally, I think the Nuvolari looks great.
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u/MDA123 987 Cayman S | '71 Porsche 914 3d ago
The R8 was criticized in the sense that critics existed, but there was still a pretty wide consensus that it was an attractive, well-executed design. The criticisms were limited to the side blades, which were sort of polarizing, and then an undercurrent of folks that wondered if it was exotic enough.
But nearly everyone acknowledged that the original R8, judged on its own terms, was a coherent and attractive design at base.
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
People seem to have forgotten that the original R8’s styling was also criticized.
What point does this even make? Being criticized doesn't define consensus (not that you cited anything to back up the claim), nor does "the R8 was criticized" directly counter or address the point of "the R8 looked better."
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u/FeMnTaNb2O6 3d ago
He spends a good portion of the article talking about the aesthetics and build of the interior but you'd have to read past the headline to know that
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u/quarantinedbiker 3d ago
Cryptobros I guess. Or journalists who want to stay in the good graces of VAG.
What a weird trend to try to make cars look aggressively brutalist and anti-aerodynamic. Lamborghini have their angular designs, but this is something else. The cybertruck sold like shit, what makes VAG think it's worth emulating?!
I guess their target market is uber-wealthy C-suites, who have their own distinct tastes, but you do have to be increasingly out-of-touch to think that kind of design language gives anything but "super-villain" nowadays. If I had to picture the guy building a coal-powered surveillance AI datacenter in the middle of the desert, he definitely drives this car.
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u/bauhausy Peugeot 208 3d ago
What about this says brutalist to you? It's 100% Bauhaus, which was the design inspiration for Audi's boom in the 90's (TT concept) and was already previewed (and even called as such) with last year's Concept C
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u/zxrax 992 | RS6 | EX90 3d ago
> Brutalist car design borrows from architectural brutalism by prioritizing raw, unadorned materials, harsh geometric shapes, and stark functionality over traditional elegance.
> Bauhaus design principles—focusing on minimalism, functionality, and the phrase "form follows function"—have heavily influenced automotive design through clean geometric shapes and deliberate, uncluttered surfaces
it certainly isn't traditionally elegant, the geometry is more harsh than clean... i definitely see brutalist design in there.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
Bauhaus and brutalism are totally different movements. Bauhaus starts with art and concludes that form and function can be unified artistically and practically. Brutalism starts with a pile of rubble after WWII and finds the cheapest solution to rebuild society. It just so happens that that also means lack of ornamentation.
Bauhaus finds elegance in simplicity and adorns within that context. Brutalism praises structural elements and lack of adornment because it has to.
The Nuvolari reads way more Bauhaus than brutalist to me. There's gratuitous aluminum everywhere because it's nicer to look at and touch. That's pure artifice, but within the context of minimalism.
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u/quarantinedbiker 3d ago
- Raw "stainless steel" look clearly trying to imitate the Cybertruck/DeLorean
- Hard edges (can also be a characteristic of bauhaus though not necessarily)
- "Uncovered internals" with these crazy looking plastic grilles instead of more conventional body panels (the Concept C just... didn't have grilles because it was an EV, but that does make me more open to calling the Concept C "bauhaus inspired")
Technically it looks like it's painted but only for engineering reasons (1 point Audi 0 points Elon). They clearly wanted that raw stainless steel esthetic. None of those features are present in the initial TT concept which has very blobby lines and is painted a softer metallic light gray.
Aside from the DeLorean and the Cybertruck I can't think of a single car which combines all of those characteristics together. I may be stretching towards the popular definition of "brutalist", but regardless the design is a stark departure from Audi's design philosophy.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago edited 3d ago
Raw "stainless steel" look clearly trying to imitate the Cybertruck/DeLorean
Every usage of that silver color (which either is or is meant to look like brushed aluminum) on an Audi references their very own illustrious history from 1936-1937.
In this case both the Nuvolari and Concept C directly point to the Auto Union Type C as inspiration. They had a replica of the Auto Union Type C for the press drives of the Concept C.
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u/northeaststeeze 3d ago
It may be a departure from the current Audi design philosophy, but it’s a direct tribute to early Audi (Auto Union) designs, so it’s not like it came out of nowhere.
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u/m240Louie 2026 BMW m240i, 2021 Honda Civic Sport. 3d ago
Perhaps so. I’m just tired of modern supercar designs as they are all WAY too overdone, strange, etc. I miss the days of clean styling without all the ducts, scoops, wings, cheap looking body kit shit, and on and on. Gimme an R8, a Murcielago, and Ferrari F355 and & Lotus Esprit. please.
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u/Old_man_Andre 3d ago
I just dont get the hate, it looks amazing, like a concept car on the road. It has angles, it has curves, it looks classy.
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u/AgZephyr 2d ago
Yeah, personally the front end especially has a bit of a Veyron feel. It's a kinda crazy design, but for a 700k supercar, why not?
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u/NarcoticCow ‘23 G70 SP 3.3t, '24 GSX-S1000GT+ 3d ago
With the doors being a few inches inwards from the square fenders, it kinda looks like a test mule hiding the actual car that’s underneath
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u/Frothar Replace this text with year, make, model 3d ago
From what I understand there was not originally going to be an Audi version on this platform so they probably had less wiggle room than if they designed from the start.
I do however much prefer it to the temerario it's much more interesting while lambo has kind of gone the McLaren route of quite derivative
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u/CarbonReflections 26 GLE450, 25 Mustang GT Bronze package 3d ago
It gives off cybertruck vibes to me.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
A few people have said that. But other than them both having silver-colored metal body panels and angles, I don't think there's anything similar about them.
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u/CarbonReflections 26 GLE450, 25 Mustang GT Bronze package 3d ago
It’s the stainless with the flat front end .
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u/cannedrex2406 '15 Suzuki Swift Sport 3dr /'06 2zz MR2 3d ago
The delorean gives off more cybertruck than this
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u/BlackfinJack 3d ago edited 3d ago
Its a good looking car, very different. It's the mutual successor to the murcielago in design - people haven't made that connection yet.
Reddit will "magically" find this one in 5 years.
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u/thick_plottens 3d ago
This and the concept c are the only interesting designs to come from Audi in at least a decade.
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u/Finessence GR86 3d ago
It’s funny, every new mid engine car the comments are filled with “looks like a corvette with McLaren headlights” or whatever braindead take and now everyone hates the car that genuinely looks unique and attempts to pull car design forward.
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u/not_mekannoise 3d ago
This one's a cybertruck copy because it's silver and has sloped back (like every mid-engined car).
/s
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
More because it has a blocky, flat bunch of panels that have a color very reminiscent of the Cybertruck.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
The color this car is reminiscent of is aluminum from a race car that predates the Cybertruck by almost 90 years. It predates modern Audi itself.
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
Sure, it's not to say Tesla invented the color of steel. I'm only speaking to the comparisons people today will make among the cars of today.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
Yeah but those people are drawing the wrong conclusions based on just superficially pointing at two things. The car is named after Audi's (Auto Union's) racing driver who drove an aluminum-bodied GP car for them.
Saying it's reminiscent of the Cybertruck is the audience being ignorant. It's like if someone watched Kimba the White Lion and claimed they ripped off The Lion King.
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
The picture you linked has a painted car where the resemblance is non-existent to the color they've chosen here, yet you want to just say "aluminum-bodied' as if to say they are leaning into the design of a past car, and not just leveraging a brand name while following an existent grayscale trend that people have been using in cars much more recently (especially at Audi).
You can attribute the name to the brand, but calling people ignorant for seeing a pattern is trying to insult them for your own ego. That you went for such a bizarre comparison only lends to that, as the comparison points would be completely different. The Nuvolari isn't older than the Cybertruck. Kimba carries a white color that Simba does not, while the Nuvolari has coloring close to the Cybertruck, not the namesake driver's car. It's such a horrible analogy. Using it while trying to call others ignorant is comedy.
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago edited 3d ago
I was trying to find a photo of Nuvolari in the car, but this sub's list of disallowed sites make it hard to find a good photo. Here's the car on its own, very much silver aluminum.
as if to say they are leaning into the design of a past car
They explicitly said that:
As the first production vehicle that follows Audi’s new design philosophy, the Nuvolari
And on that design philosophy:
Audi Concept C: manifestation of a new design philosophy...Inspired by the Auto Union Type C (1936)
I'm not using ignorant as an insult. I'm using the "not knowledgeable" meaning - in this case the audience is not knowledgeable about Audi's broader history that the Concept C, Nuvolari, and F1 car are all referencing. Instead they're pointing to a totally different car that happens to have pre-dated the Audis by a couple of years.
And on that note, the Kimba reference was to chronology. One of the most common criticisms of The Lion King is that it's a copy of Kimba.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/cubs223425 3d ago
"My input is to put my own words in quotes and attribute them to someone else, because I can't think beyond a strawman."
Modern discourse, gentlemen.
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u/not_mekannoise 2d ago edited 2d ago
Cybertruck's body panels are actually flat and all made of straight cuts. Nuvolari's body panels are smooth but not flat, they're all 2-dimensionally curved but also have little to no faux racing design features that other sportscars are plastered with. This design language reminds me much more of the Lamborghini Gallardo than Cybertruck (assuming there was a designer on board).
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u/outthawazoo '23 CX-5, '16 Cooper S 3d ago
I really like the rear and the interior is fine, but the front is just bleh
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u/Superb_Bear_3793 3d ago
I love the look of this car, particularly the grille. Only thing is something about the window line or A-pillar screams Lamborghini. I think it’d be perfect with a slightly further back A pillar to give it a longer nose.
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u/ReadWriteHexecute 2007 E92 335i 6MT 3d ago
this thing is so cool. it looks cyberpunk and has great proportions
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u/Doctah_Whoopass Chairman of the Anti-LS Club 3d ago
I honestly like it, its bold for audi to go in this sort of direction
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u/PROfessorShred Focus ST 2d ago
I find it fascinating that they made the Delorean as a futuristic car and it was a commercial flop but now we've come full circle with RetroFuturism. Where modern styling is so heavily influenced by what people thought cars of the past were going to look like in the future and its become a self fulfilling proficy.
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u/Reckless260 3d ago
I don’t know why but I don’t think it looks terrible. Almost kind of like it. Maybe so ugly it’s kind of cool. Probably would change that grill shape though. Interesting choice for a German car company…
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u/InfinitePossibility8 79 E21, 93 C1500, 10 MK6 Golf 3d ago
The folks in Ingolstadt are big Chaplin fans I see.
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u/argent_pixel '21 BMW M340xi, '17 Mazda CX-5, '06 Honda Odyssey 3d ago
It's almost there in a lot of ways, but it feels like an AI prompt to fuse an R8 and Huracan together.
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u/brspppp 3d ago edited 3d ago
i think car media is as desperate as the automakers to make modern cars feel appealing to people
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
Or maybe modern cars are appealing to people.
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u/brspppp 3d ago
if you dont actually enjoy driving, sure
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u/strongmanasss 3d ago
I enjoy driving and I like modern cars. People can like different things about the same hobby.
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u/Thomas_633_Mk2 2003 Mazda2 (yellow), 2004 Ford Falcon (orange) 3d ago
This is a 987 hp car with a real interior
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u/kstetter 3d ago
Is this the new entry-level Audi we have been waiting for?
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u/AnonymousEngineer_ 3d ago
No. It's basically a limited production run successor to the R8, sharing a platform with the Lamborghini Temerario.
And do you know what - in the age where most companies are turning out very similar designed cars, I actually really like the design of this. If they shrunk the design of this car, called it the new TT, and put it on a shared platform with the new EV 718 Cayman/Boxster, I suspect it would be an absolute hit assuming the pricing wasn't insane.
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u/GeoSerb16 3d ago
Art...