The trend is an understandable one. Take a car that is low and sporty and raise up the ride height so it can be fast and sporty on rough roads or off them entirely. have been caught up (), , but there’s one notable absence and I don’t understand it.

That is, of course, the consummate all-purpose, all-wheel-drive . The whole point of being for the Audi R8 was to bring mid-engine style and design down to Porsche 911 pricing, with added usability from driven front and rear wheels. It was priced like a sports car, you could use it like a GT car, and it looked like a supercar. A hit.

Audi has been making the R8 for roughly one gazillion years (production started in 2006, back when you could get your R8 with three pedals and eight cylinders) and in all of that time never once did it start selling people a real all-road capable R8. That is, one that has a ride height high enough to take a speed bump without slowing down, and with skid plates front and rear strong enough to take the consequences.

Audi did, of course, play around with the idea of a lifted R8-style car, showing the 2013 concept, a light rework of the . Did this car get put into production? No.

What’s more, I can’t even seem to find a single safari-style R8 online. You’d think some YouTuber would have made one by now, but all I can find are people doing or .

C’mon y’all, the ! Just click it and order some parts. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

It all just makes no sense. Even the most casual observer in America associates Audis with all-wheel-drive, and any young car nerd will recall rally cars. What am I missing?