What's all this about?
It's a blistering hot version of the Audi TT, landing at the top of the Ingolstadt sports car's range. With 400hp and a sub-four seconds 0-62mph time, this is the TT RS and it has the 718 Boxster/Cayman pair totally covered for raw pace.
Really? Is the Audi quicker than the Porsches?
We'll say, mainly thanks to 50hp and 60Nm more than the most potent Porsche 718 'S' models and the benefit of quattro all-wheel drive. Available as a Coupé or a Roadster, the TT RS will do 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds as the tin-top, and 3.9 seconds as a convertible. Top speed is the electronically limited German maximum of 155mph, but on request, buyers can have it raised to 174mph.
What's under the bonnet delivering the power?
The 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine as used in the preceding TT RS and the current RS 3 Sportback, among other models (though with considerable revision), and the soundtrack is another area where the TT will have the measure of the 718 twins, given they're now boxer fours. The Audi's 400hp output is the most yet seen from this unit in road-going guise and the 480Nm peak torque is spread across 1,700- to 5,850rpm, with drive going through a seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic gearbox only. The Coupé weighs 1,440kg and the Roadster 1,530kg, so Audi feels that carbon ceramic brake discs should be on the options list. As is RS sports suspension with adaptive dampers. The Mk3 TT is a decent handling car anyway, so if quattro GmbH gets this chassis right... we could be onto a real winner.
And how about the aesthetics?
TT RS buyers will get 19-inch alloys as standard or the choice of 20s as an option, while a fixed rear spoiler, twin oval exhaust pipes, meaty side skirts and the massive front air intakes should help give the game away, if you're myopic; subtle, the RS is not. As standard, LED illumination all round is the order of the day, although the headlights can be upgraded to Matrix LEDs and the rear lamps to Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) units - this being the first time such technology has been seen on the brand's road cars.
Has Audi pulled out the stops on the interior?
Yes indeed, with some lightweight sports chairs, a flat-bottomed steering wheel taking its design cues from the item found in the R8 supercar and the Virtual Cockpit display as standard.
How much does this TT-based lunacy cost?
No idea, but as the current 310hp TT S flagship starts at £38,900, rising to £40,270 for an S tronic auto, we'd be mighty, mighty surprised if the TT RS comes in at less than £50,000 - and, in reality, it's more likely going to be getting on for £60k with some choice options. Still, with accelerative force that puts it just two-tenths behind the aforementioned R8 for 0-62mph, that's not a bad price at all...
Matt Robinson - 25 Apr 2016
