Audi TT RS Plus 2013 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory & delivery charges): $139,900
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Pearl effect paint $1377; BOSE surround sound $1300; extended leather package $960; LED interior lighting package $300
Crash rating: N/A
Fuel: 95 RON PULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.5
CO2 emissions (g/km): 197
Also consider: BMW M3 (from $125,000); BMW Z4 sDrive35is ($120,000); Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG ($154,900); Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG ($155,050); Porsche Cayman S ($150,400)

With Audi’s second-generation TT now seven years-old, and a successor due for release in 2014, Ingolstadt needs smart ways to keep the outgoing car’s mojo up for its final year.

In the top-shelf territory, pitting the TT RS against the likes of BMW’s M3, Benz’s AMGs and Porsche’s Cayman, it needs more than the normal end-of-life tricks (like trim, duco and audio upgrades with limited-edition badging) to make it special.

While Audi’s done some of that, it’s also dug deep where the real value lies. For just $500 more than the stock RS it replaces, they’ve given it bigger muscles. A handy power boost of 15kW with a commensurate 15Nm extra torque make an already good thing better.

The visual differentiators are there in the carbon fibre wing mirrors, the matt black, red-flanged 19-inch rims and the polished black mesh grille. The engine bay also gets some carbon fibre trim treatment.

Indoors, the RS Plus remains pretty rudimentary, even by the standards of much cheaper Audis. No proximity keys or electric seat adjustment, for example. The centre control screen for audio, phone and navigation has an aftermarket look to it and only pays only basic lip service to Audi’s MMI central control protocols.

Even with the $1300 BOSE audio system upgrade, there’s no USB or auxiliary input, and the Bluetooth is phone only --no audio streaming. There are, however, two SD card slots hidden behind the fold-down screen.

Cabin storage is limited -- a glove box that struggles to digest a wallet, no centre box, shallow door pockets, sod all nic-nac room round the console, drink holders that start fights between drinks and elbows. The rear seats are good for handbags and jackets and that’s about it. Boot space is decent for a car of this calibre, however, at 292 litres (expanding to an excellent 700 when they’re folded flat).

What they were thinking making a $300 option of some of the dimmest cabin lighting I’ve ever encountered I’m not sure.

But these are not the things on which Audi wants the TT RS Plus judged. It’s almost gleeful in its impracticality. As that conspicuous rear wing and those big rims suggest, its reason for living emerges with a twist of the old-fashioned key.

The TT RS’s 2.5-litre petrol quin was a terrific mill before. Now, with power up from 250 to 265kW and torque from 450 to 465Nm, it’s even better.

This is a missile best fired with the seats nice and upright. Audi’s ‘backguard’ head restraint was conceived for whiplash protection in a rear-ender. But here it comes in handy when you stomp on the go-pedal too, even without pressing the Sport button that further sharpens engine and chassis dynamics alike.

At 1475kg, the TT RS Plus works out at about 180kW a tonne -- approaching Lotus territory for power-to-weight. There’s extra beef enough here to pare the 0-100km/h sprint down to 4.1 seconds (from 4.3), making this the second fastest car on Audi’s fleet after the R8 V10 (subtract 0.2 seconds, add $268,300…).

With imperceptible turbo lag, it pours on the power relentlessly through a massive peak torque band stretching from 1600 to 5300rpm. In auto, the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is not above the odd stumble at low speed, but get the engine busy and it’s whip-smart on every shift.

Changing direction at speed, those deep bolsters we swore at getting in prove handy. With the standard ‘magnetic ride’ adaptive damping virtually eradicating pitch and yaw, the RS Plus can pull a lot of lateral gees through corners. Grip? On public roads, you’ll have to step well outside the law to even wake the stability control, never mind prise the massive 255/35 tyres loose from terra firma.

There’s proof here that Audi can inject sensory appeal into steering when it wants to. With surprisingly little incursion on feel from the artificial damping, the RS Plus corners like a precision instrument, pivoting perfectly round your bum from turn-in to exit. Even in closed track conditions with the stability off, this car’s stupidity threshold is doubtless very high indeed.

And when one reaches that threshold? Well, like most cars of its ilk, the RS Plus is heavily skewed towards primary over secondary safety. Airbags are limited to two up front; lesser TTs get thorax bags, but like many of their ilk the RS racing buckets forgo them for deep-dish bolstering.

Perhaps surprisingly, we found little trouble matching the TT RS Plus’s official urban fuel consumption figure of 12.3L/100km, even coming in with 11s at times, albeit with due care and attention. As for the 6.5-litre highway figure, we came nowhere near it -- late 8s to early 9s, with a 7.7 on a feather-footed short run.

Despite its beautifully compliant powertrain, the TT RS Plus is not the easiest car to live with day to day. Just getting in, you can bang your head and give yourself a wedgie simultaneously. And this segment being a haunt for true brand loyalists, many will argue their preference for competitors from BMW, Benz and Porsche.

What’s not subjective is that none of them match this pint-sized projectile for sheer grunt. That acceleration gap -- half a second and more -- is a remarkable achievement for the smallest engine in this company.

What we have here is, quite simply, near-supercar performance for nowhere near supercar money -- a fitting farewell indeed.

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