Audi releases new TT RS Down Under

Audi Australia has launched the ultimate version of its most iconic sports car, the TT, in both hard-top and soft-top versions.

The TT RS Coupe and Roadster are on sale now priced from $137,900 and $141,900 respectively. In the case of the coupe, this is a modest price reduction on the outgoing TT RS Plus. The RS was not offered Down Under as a cabrio in the last generation.

Audi is claiming the new TT RS pairing feature more than $10,000 worth of extra equipment in this new generation.

Adaptive magnetic ride suspension, lane, side and headlight assist, heated Nappa leather sports seats and high-spec infotainment and smartphone integration are among the features attributed to that extra vale equation.

Based on the all-new TT released globally in late 2014, the new TT RS gets an all-new, all-alloy 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine, the heritage of which Audi says harks back to “the legendary Sport quattro S1 Group B rally car of the early 1980s”.

Active mufflers ensure there’s plenty of sonorous five-cylinder tunes when appropriate in the new RS.

The new engine has the same offbeat firing orders as the S1’s glorious five and shares the 2480cc capacity of the lump it replaces. The engine is also used in Audi’s RS 3.

The good news is the transverse mounted mill is 26kg lighter than the Transporter-based engine and now develops just shy of 300kW (294kW and 480Nm officially). Audi says overall the new TT RS (in Coupe form) is “up to 35kg lighter” than the car it replaces.

Such is the pace of the new TT RS with the new five that insiders say that it has been nobbled to ensure it doesn’t out accelerate its three-times-dearer R8 supercar stablemate!

Audi claims a 0-100km/h sprint of 3.7sec for the RS coupe. The cabriolet is only 02.sec slower.

Both are equipped with Audi’s seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic transmission as standard and the RS pair feature no less than eight-piston front brake callipers.

The front discs are a massive 370mm in diameter and just fit inside the standard 20-inch wheels. A ceramic disc option is offered.

This is the first generation of TT RS in which the cabrio makes it Down Under. The key stats on the soft-top are 10sec to open or close and a modest (90kg) mass imposte.

More aggressive front and rear styling treatments separate the RS variants from their S and cooking model TT counterparts. There’s a wider single-frame grille, larger outer intakes and, at the rear, a fixed spoiler. This is a delete option.

The TT RS’ quattro all-wheel drive system can be ‘tuned’ via Audi drive select system. In Dynamic mode more torque is shuffled to the rear wheels. Lowered (-10mm) sport suspension is standard, as is Audi magnetic ride.

Other standard features include Audi virtual cockpit (with RS functions such oversize tachometer, shift lights, lap timers, etc), MMI touch and natural-language voice-controlled infotainment.

Audi TT RS Coupe and Roadster pricing (plus ORCs):
Coupe 2.5 TFSI quattro S tronic — $137,900
Roadster 2.5 TFSI quattro S tronic — $141,900