Hofele Design "R8-Look" Body Kit Hits the Audi A5 With An Ugly Stick

Combinations can be great. Bacon-wrapped shrimp are delicious. A night with Eva Mendez? Incredible. With Scarlett Johansson? Legendary. But a night with both of them would simply stop the Earth's rotation. German shop Hofele Design probably had that kind of thinking in mind when it made the R8-Look Body Kit for the Audi A5 B8 coupe and cabriolet, but the result is no Eva/Scarlett pie. It's not even as pretty as one of their elbows.

Let's start with the misshapen side blades. This design is a staple of the R8, possibly the best single design piece of that car. Hofele's are a poor imitation. They're shorter, rounder, and softer; nothing like a blade. If the pictures are a stab-wound, the details are salt. They stick out from the body too, drawing cold air to...nowhere. So they not only look wrong (and bad), but they increase drag as well. Intentional foul, 2 shots.

Up front Hofele Design tried to replicate the R8's large air vents. On the R8 they channel in air to cool the brakes. Instead of making an expensive front fascia, Hofele made a 6” x 2” piece of plastic and painted it black. Sorry Hofele, we are not cartoon characters who mistake a painting of a tunnel for an actual tunnel. Around back it just looks like someone put the wrong color in the paint-gun and didn't notice until they'd done the bottom half of the trunk. Attention world: I have found the first ugly Panda.

The worst are the vents on the side. This piece is taken from the breathtaking Alpha Romeo 8c. On the A5 it looks like a refrigerator magnet. It doesn't fit the car or aid in performance. Worse yet, you have to take your A5 to a body-shop where they cut out the fender and bolt it on. Ugly, expensive, permanent. It's like tattooing a portrait of Kelly Osbourne your chest.

The Audi A5 is a great-looking coupe. It has a commanding presence without shouting “Look at me!” The R8 is even better. But combining these cars can't be done easily, or for $1. Try to, and you tarnish the names and (in the case of the A5) the looks as well. The Hofele Design Premium Edition A5 is a failure of cheap design. Remember, mix the world's 7 colors wrong and you end up with brown.

Source: Hofele Design