Audi TTRS first drive review

Not so long ago, piloting a machine capable of slamming your body from a standing start to 100km/h in under four seconds meant buying a car with a fair bit of tosser thrown in.

Sub four seconds was super-car territory, and that meant hundreds of thousands of dollars and the kind of visual subtlety you'd expect from Lady Gaga at Mardi Gras.

As recently as 2013, even a V8-powered Audi R8 wouldn't get you there, with a 0 to 100 sprint of 4.3 seconds, but the 5.2-litre V10 version would hack that to 3.6. Which is just about line-ball with the 3.7-second time for the new, second-generation TT RS, powered by a piddling 2.5-litre engine with just five cylinders.

Some would call that progress, but if this Audi was a sprinter there'd be calls for a doping enquiry.

Regardless, when this furiously fast machine arrives down under in the middle of next year it will be possible to access super-car performance in something that looks like a very angry and angular hairdresser's car (and Audi is even considering bringing a Roadster version, which it says will appeal to the ladies).

Straight-line speed is an impressive party trick, of course, but Audi knows this super coupe is taking on some very special cars indeed, with both the BMW M2 and Porsche Cayman S in its sights.

Those two Germans might be considerably slower off the mark (4.7 for the Cayman and 4.3 for the BMW), but they more than make up for it with the kind of handling and driver involvement that goes well beyond raw numbers.

So has the TT RS - which we were lucky enough to drive in Madrid on the first rainy day the locals had seen in more than three months - concentrated too much on sheer speed, or is it going to be worth the mooted $145,000 entry price (within $5K of the Porsche, but more than $50K north of the magical M2)?

That will very much be a question of how you like your motoring madness, and just how mad you want it, because this is a seriously savage car, point to point.

First and foremost, though, buyers are won over by style, and there's no doubt the Audi has plenty of appeal.

It's not as classic as the Porsche or as hunchingly, gorilla-shouldered as the M2, but the shape of the TT has been a much-admired, and much copied, form for many years now. The RS treatment means a sharper approach with a meaner face and a rear spoiler you could rip off and go waterskiing on, if you were James Bond.

The rear also gets optional and no doubt very expensive 3D OLED brake lights (no local price yet, but they're €800 euros in Europe, where this car will only cost you €66,400), which look great, but what's the point when you can't see them?

While the exterior styling might be a matter of debate and personal preference, there's no question that the TT RS has the best interior in the business, with a steering wheel and various boost and g-force gauges lifted straight from the R8, the brilliant Virtual Cockpit dash, super supportive and sportive seats (even the headrest is nice and soft, a pleasant change in a sports car), and a general level of style and quality that's unmatchable at this price point.

The Audi can also lay claim to possibly the best exhaust note in its class, with that unique five- cylinder layout - and firing order - creating a baroque bark, particularly once you zip past the 4000rpm mark.

The percussive popcorn sounds on the overrun are equally addictive, and overall the sound puts something like the new 718 Cayman's four-cylinder fartiness entirely in the shade.

As the raw numbers suggest, this 2.5-litre engine - entirely new, without a single bolt carrying over, according to Audi - is a work of some artistry. Extensive use of aluminium and magnesium mean it is a hefty 26kg lighter, putting its power-to- weight ratio truly in the super-car stratosphere.

Power is up 29kW to 294kW while torque lifts from 465Nm to 480Nm, with that maximum figure on tap in a seemingly endless surge from 1700rpm to 5500rpm.

Overall, the TT RS's kerb weight drops from 1475kg to 1440kg, with most of that weight saving coming from the nose, allowing the engineers to get closer to the perfect balance; around 58/42.

The result is a car that's less nose heavy than before, and thus sharper to turn-in and less prone to understeer, although that's still the answer you get to any serious question you ask of the car's handling.

The combination of all that power and torque with the very latest in quattro tech (during high-speed cornering the car's wheel-selective torque control directs propulsive power to the rear axle to help it dive towards the apex) results in a car that is supremely sharp and quick along a stretch of windy road, and confidence inspiring, even in the wet.

What you don't get is the lively feeling found in rear-drive cars, and it's telling that in Dynamic mode, the multi-plate clutch sends power to the rear axle earlier and to a greater degree, in an attempt to ape that behaviour.

The biggest letdown, though, is the steering, which Audi claims has sporty, RS-specific tuning that helps it become increasingly direct when turning. We know the RS mob can do proper, muscular steering, because they put it in the new R8, but in this case it is simply too light, and too lacking in feel and communication.

It's a real shame, because there's no denying the car's abilities, it's just that you don't feel as involved in the amazing way you're tearing up the road as you would in some other, admittedly slower cars.

It's also worth mentioning that you'll need to option the magnetic ride, because the standard system can be on the firm side of brutal. Nor is the seven-speed gearbox within cooee of the kind of mind-reading abilities of the Porsche PDK system, which is now so clever you can simply leave it in Sport and let the computer sort out your shift points.

If you really want to push on in the Audi, you'll need to chose manual mode and operate the slick-feeling paddles yourself, although you could argue that this is more fun anyway.

There's no denying that this new TT RS is a seriously slick and speedy machine, indeed it genuinely feels as fast and furious as a 2013 R8 did, although that car, too, was lacking in the steering-weight department.

The fact that you can now get super-car pace for under $150,000 certainly makes frightening yourself, and your friends, more affordable than ever.

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2017 Audi TT RS Price and Specifications

Price: $150,000 (estimated)

On-sale: mid-2017

Engine: 2.5-litre five cylinder turbo petrol

Power: 294kW at 5850-7000rpm

Torque: 480Nm at 1700-5850rpm

Transmission: 7-spd dual-clutch automatic, AWD

Fuel use: 8.2L/100km

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