When E. L. James was writing Fifty Shades of Grey she connected on twitter with @jmdc88 who made the twitter hashtag #WantAnR8 a few years ago.  At the time E. L. James was looking for general information on the R8 while she was working on her books. She later realized what the information was for because E. L. James mentioned the R8 was for Christian Grey.

The Audi vehicles are an integral part of the lifestyle of Christian Grey. He owns several and either he or Taylor drive them around Seattle and the NW. Audi came out with information last fall which stated: “Audi of America today announced that the brand will be featured in Universal Pictures and Focus Features upcoming film adaptaion of the bestselling book from E. L .James, “Fifty Shades of Grey”, which will be released on February 13, 2015.”

They also listed the Audi vehicles featured in the film:
-2014 Audi R8 V10 Spyder in Daytona Grey
-2013 Audi S8 Ice Silver
-2012 Audi Q7 Black
-2013 Audi S7  Black
-2014 Audi A3 in Tango Red

I soon set out to identify the cars used in the movie and also visited Wilsonville Audi near Portland, Oregon, to see the cars up close and personal. I was also able to connect with a local winner of the #WANTANR8 contest and hear about his experience with his 36 hours with an R8. He is also quite an Audi expert and was able to help me with further information about the Audi’s used in the movie.

2014 Audi R8 V10 Spyder Daytona Grey
Christian Grey owns this beautiful R8 and drives it several times in the movie. It appears at Ana’s Portland Apartment, Escala garage, and he drives it over the bridge in Stanley Park and parks it before they walk to Beaver Lake. The Spyder model is the convertible version as is in the books. I was able to see and sit in a coupe version and it was really spectacular. I also saw a white and black version at the Fifty Soiree party in Seattle which were provided by University Audi in Seattle.

Linh Pham, Audi Evangelist @AudiForLife shared this information and his personal experience with the R8:
Getting to drive an Audi R8 V10, even for a short weekend, is something that I’ll never forget. There is something special about the fast and high-revving Lamborghini sourced V10 that made me want to keep it at wide open throttle through the twisty mountain roads and through various tunnels. I loved the crisp and precise feel of the R8’s steering and loved the feel of the heavily rear-biased quattro all-wheel drive setup. Inside the R8, the driver focused interior was quite comfortable for long drives and helped soak up some of the harshness of the mountain passes. Even with a good sound system in the R8, the soundtrack of my weekend was provided by the melodious V10 mounted behind me. Between the seductive lines of the Audi R8 Spyder and the Italian siren song of the 5.2 litre V10, the Audi R8 V10 Spyder is something that you’ll never want to let go once you drive one. Whether you are cruising around with the top down or tickling the 8,700 RPM redline, the R8 V10 Spyder provides a perfect combination of performance and luxury. The available diamond-stitched leather seats add an extra amount of flair and feels like the seats are caressing you.

For those that like to be in control of things, the standard six-speed manual gearbox allows you to not only enjoy the feeling of changing your own gears; but, the metal-gated shifter is both beautiful to look at and the metal-on-metal sound adds to the experience. Also available is a slick and confident S Tronic dual-clutch gearbox that provides quick and crisp gear changes via steering wheel mounted shift paddles or using the center console mounted gear selector.

Christians R8 from the movie:

I recently visited Audi Wilsonville and was able to see a 2014 Audi R8 Spyder, Daytona Grey just like used for the first Fifty Shades of Grey movie:

Here is an Audi R8 Spyder. Just like Christians Audi but a few years older. I recently came across this one and wanted to share it. I also got a video of the roof going back down into the back of the car. This one is black.

While on a recent visit to Audi Wilsonville we were excited to see that they had a total of four Audi R8’s at their dealership. There were two R8’s in the Daytona Gray, just like Christian Greys, that were parked together. These were similar to the year of the one used in the movie.

They also had in a brand new 2015 Champion R8. It is the newest model in the US. Scott explained that Audi put out only about 70 of these new R8 models and they are the most powerful ones available.  The newest 2016 R8’s will not be in the US till the fall.

It was an exciting day to see all four Audi R8’s.

2013 Audi S8 Ice Silver
This vehicle is Ice Silver color in the movie. It is seen at Ana’s Seattle apartment, Escala garage, Claytons Hardware and it is used for picking up Christian in front of the building. This is one of the Audi cars that I saw during the October 2014 reshoots with Jamie. It was used in front of Bentall Tower 3.

The S8 which I was able to see was black in color and a 2014 model.

2013 Audi S7 quatro Black
This car was used with Georgia license plates at Boundary Bay Airport for the gliding scenes. It was also used at Escala garage with Washington plates. When I mentioned to Linh that I had seen this car in October he asked if I had heard it drive. I had not. I guess it is a powerful car and fun to drive.

2012 Audi Q7 SUV Black

The Audi version of a SUV is used by Christian Grey in the books and movie to transport him and/or Ana with Taylor usually driving. It is shown in the movie at Claytons Hardware where Taylor picks up Ana. It is again shown in the Escala garage with the line up of Christian Greys Audis.

2014 Audi A3 Tango Red “Submissive Special”
This is the car that Christian gives to Ana in the movie. It is referred to in the books as the “submissive special” because it is the same model Audi that he gives to all his submissives. It is seen in the movie when Christian gives it to Ana outside her Seattle apartment. This A3 model was quite new in 2014.

This is the exact same model and year of the movies S3.

Thank you to:
Linh Pham, Audi Evangelist (@AudiForLife)
@jmdc88 I’m the #WantAnR8 queen…
Wilsonville Audi located just south of Portland, Oregon.
University Audi in Seattle, Washington.

You can view all my photos of the Audi cars in the photo gallery.

**As pointed out on Twitter by Dana Brunetti there is also a Tesla Model S in the collection of vehicles owned by Christian Grey.

@50shadesgirlpdx @E_L_James @JamieDornanCAN @AudiWilsonville @AudiForLife and a @TeslaMotors Model S

— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) March 19, 2015

As seen here in the lineup of his cars on the street for filming and was later filmed in the garage next to the R8.