A car enthusiast on a budget is likely to make Audi irate by building a version of the brilliant 187mph German supercar – based on a Ford Cougar.

Spaniard Alberto Gavach Fuertes has taken the Ford’s Cougar coupe and performed an impressive nip and tuck, turning it into a convincing Audi R8 from first glance.

But once you fire up the ReplicaAudiR8 as it’s called, you may be in for a shade of disappointment.

View our ReplicaAudiR8 slide show

There’s no V8 roar from an R8’s 4.2-litre engine – instead a lighter burble from the 2.5-litre V6 engine which developed 170bhp when originally built.

When it was new the Cougar would accelerate from 0-62mph in 8.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 140mph, compared with 4.6 seconds and 187mph with the Audi.

And the engine is up front, rather than mid-mounted like in the R8.

While the exterior is quite impressive, the inside doesn’t exactly live true to the R8’s form.

There’s four seats compared to the Audi’s two while the steering wheel as a huge R8 badge on it – not even the real R8 has that.

Now view shots of a real R8

Launched in 1998 costing £21,000 new, the Cougar never matched the success of the smaller Ford Puma and was canned in 2002.

A quick scour of Auto Trader shows more than 100 Cougars for sale with prices ranging from £800 - £3,995.

The £79,000 Audi R8, however, has been a remarkable success since its launch in 2007 with used models on Auto Trader at a £10,000 premium.

Check this video of the Audi R8 in action: