Guide

Audi R8 Spyder vs Porsche 911: which to lease?

Updated September 2026 7 min read Performance & Prestige

The Audi R8 Spyder is ours — we hold it, prepare it and deliver it, on a three-month minimum term. Every Porsche 911 we list is arranged through a vetted partner. All of them are quoted on request. The R8 is a two-seat four-wheel-drive convertible; the 911 is a coupe, and which of the four 911s you mean changes the answer completely.

Which 911 do you mean?

The 911 is not one car, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is useless. We list four, all partner-sourced and all priced on request.

The 911 Carrera S is the 992-generation everyday one: rear-wheel drive, an eight-speed PDK, and two small rear seats that make it the most usable fast car in the catalogue. The 911 Turbo S is four-wheel drive with the same four-seat layout, which makes it the one that works in any British weather. The 911 GT3 is a two-seat, rear-drive, naturally aspirated car with a seven-speed PDK — a road-legal racing car with number plates. The 911 GT3 RS is the same idea taken further, built around downforce first and comfort last.

What is the Audi R8 Spyder, and what is it not?

The Audi R8 Spyder V10 performance quattro is a two-seat convertible with a naturally aspirated V10 behind your head, four-wheel drive and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. It is ours: we own it, prepare it and deliver it, and we carry the risk on it, so the figure and the dates are ours to confirm rather than somebody else's.

What it is not is a practical car. There are two seats and no more. The R8 is also no longer in production, which matters more than it sounds — the naturally aspirated V10 has no successor at Audi, so a lease of three months or more is one of the few remaining ways to spend real time with one rather than an afternoon. If you want the same engine in a coupe, the R8 V10 performance coupe is in the sourced catalogue and priced on request.

Does the roof decide it?

For a lot of people, yes, and it is worth saying plainly: of the cars in this comparison, only the R8 Spyder has a roof that goes away. Every 911 here is a fixed-roof coupe.

If open air is the reason you are leasing at all, that narrows the decision immediately — and if you want an open Porsche specifically, the 718 Boxster S is the mid-engined two-seat roadster in the sourced catalogue, again priced on request. If the roof is a nice-to-have rather than the brief, the 911s come back into play and the question becomes seats, drivetrain and how hard-edged you want the car to be.

Which is easier to live with for three months?

The Carrera S and the Turbo S, by a wide margin. Both have rear seats — small ones, but real, and enough for bags or short journeys with people in them — and both are set up to be driven every morning without ceremony. The Turbo S adds four-wheel drive, which is the single most useful feature on this page between November and March.

The R8 Spyder is a two-seat convertible, so its compromise is fixed: you get the roof and the V10, and luggage becomes a planning exercise. The GT3 and GT3 RS are the least suited to a term of ordinary use. They are firm, focused and loud, and the RS in particular is built to a brief that has nothing to do with comfort. That is not a criticism of either. It is a question about what your three months actually looks like.

What are the deposits, excesses and mileage rates?

The R8 Spyder holds a refundable £7,500 deposit against a card in the hirer's own name, carries a £7,500 insurance excess, and charges £3.50 a mile above the included 1,000 miles a month.

On the Porsches the deposit and the excess also match one another. The Carrera S, the GT3 and the Turbo S each sit at £5,000, and the GT3 RS at £10,000 — the highest of this group, which tells you something about how that car is viewed. Mileage above the allowance runs £1.75 a mile on the Turbo S, £2 a mile on the Carrera S, £2.50 a mile on the GT3 and £4 a mile on the GT3 RS. All of those figures are provisional while the insurance arrangement is finalised, and all of them are confirmed in writing before anything is agreed.

Are the driver criteria different?

Barely, and the pattern is not the one you would guess. The R8 Spyder, the Carrera S, the Turbo S and the GT3 RS all sit at a minimum age of thirty, with a full licence held for at least five years and no more than six points. The GT3 is set at twenty-eight, which makes the hardest-edged car of the group the easiest of the Porsches to qualify for.

That is because criteria follow the insurance profile rather than the character of the car, and it is a good illustration of why guessing at eligibility wastes your time. Tell us which car and we will tell you where you stand, at enquiry, before anything is agreed.

R8 Spyder or 911: how to decide

Take the R8 Spyder if you want the roof, the V10 and a car we hold ourselves. It is the only one of these that nobody else has to confirm, so the figure, the dates and the delivery all come out of one conversation, and over a three-month agreement that is worth more than it sounds.

Take a 911 if you want to use the car properly for three months: the Turbo S if it needs to work in any weather and carry the occasional passenger, the Carrera S if you want the purer rear-drive version of the same idea, the GT3 if you are going to drive somewhere specifically in order to drive. Take the GT3 RS only if you know exactly why you want one. Every 911 here is arranged through a partner, so send the dates with your enquiry and we will confirm the car and the figure before you plan around either.

Common questions

Can I lease a Porsche 911 for three months?

Yes. Three months is the shortest agreement we write, and it applies to the sourced catalogue as well as to our own cars. Because every 911 we list is arranged through a partner, the monthly figure is quoted on request and confirmed with you before anything is committed.

Does the Audi R8 Spyder have rear seats?

No. It is a strict two-seater. If you need occasional rear seats in a fast car, the 911 Carrera S and the 911 Turbo S both have them, and they are the reason those two are described here as the usable end of the comparison.

Which of these are four-wheel drive?

The Audi R8 Spyder and the Porsche 911 Turbo S. The Carrera S, the GT3 and the GT3 RS are all rear-wheel drive. If the car is going to be used through a British winter, that distinction will matter more to you than anything else on this page.

Is a GT3 RS a sensible car to lease for three months?

It can be, if you know what you are taking on. It is built around downforce and response rather than comfort, it carries the highest deposit and excess of this group at £10,000, and mileage above the allowance is £4 a mile. It is a car to take for a specific reason rather than a general one, and that is the right way to approach it.

Can the R8 Spyder be delivered with the roof down?

We deliver to an address you choose in mainland Britain and hand the car over in person, so how it arrives is a conversation with whoever brings it. Weather and the state of the car at handover decide that one, and the condition photographs are taken either way.

See the two agreements next to each other

What you put down, what you carry as insurance excess, what you pay over the allowance and the minimum driver age are set per car. This puts both sets in one table so you can see where they part company.

Compare the Audi R8 Spyder V10 performance quattro and the Porsche 911 GT3