Five stars for Audi

Audi is back in the business of making tuneful five-cylinder performance icons... It's like the Sport Quattro of the mid-1980s never went away.

Audi showed off its new A5/S5 Cabriolets (more here) and an Allroad version of the A4 Avant at Geneva, but whetted most appetites with its new uber-TT, the five-cylinder TT RS.

Going on sale this month, with deliveries starting in Europe mid-year, Audi will build both coupe and Roadster versions of the TT RS, with the hardtop variant likely to be the sole offer Down Under in 2010. When it arrives, it'll be expensive and exclusive (the TTS is already priced at 100K in Australia) but we're tipping it'll also be worth ever cent!

Anyone with a hint of petrol in their veins couldn't help but be entranced by the soundtrack of the car when it debuted at Geneva. With Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen introducing the car via video and in person, the crowd was given a hint of the car's sound when used in anger. And it's a soulful tune that (thanks to an optional active sports exhaust valve) harks back to Audi's rallying heydays of the mid-1980s.

The Ingolstadt team is being tight-lipped on details, but they are admitting the turbocharged and intercooled direct-injection five is pumping out better than 250kW and 450Nm.

The engine itself is just 490mm long and weighs 183kg. The crankcase is vermicular-graphite cast iron -- a high tech, lightweight but strong and durable option that can cope with the 1.2 bar boost pressure and a static compression ratio of 10:1. Previously the material has been used in high-performance turbodiesel engine blocks.

Audi claims the 100.8kW/litre engine (over 137hp/litre) is also "extremely fuel-efficient". The European combined fuel economy stat for the engine is 9.2L/100km. Better than a Toyota Camry!

The TT RS' aluminium-heavy chassis and body has also been uprated from its 'normal' TT duties. Nonetheless, the car still weighs in at a respectable 1450kg in coupe form. The Roadster is 60kg heavier.

Performance is impressive -- at least on paper. Audi claims the TT RS coupe accelerates 0-100km/h in 4.6sec, while top speed with an optional partial de-restriction is 280km/h. In-gear performance should be attention grabbing -- peak torque (450Nm) is available from 1600-5300 rpm.

The TT RS gets 18-inch rims as standard equipment and in Europe delivers the choice of conventional suspension or (optional) Audi Magnetic Ride. Front brakes are a substantial 370mm in diameter (rears are 310) and four-piston brake calipers are used all round.

The TT RS is a true RS and is the handiwork of Audi's go-fast haus quattro GmbH. Included in its unique features is a new six-speed manual gearbox (no sissy DSGs here!), while the quattro all-wheel-drive system has also been optimised.

Above all, we reckon the TT RS fits into the cars to watch because it champions power-to-weight and clever combustion engineering (and powertrain packaging) over sheer litreage. It couldn't contrast more vividly against Audi Group company, Lamborghini's latest, the behemoth-like LP 670-4 Super Veloce...

Surely, this TT RS is a sportscar icon in the making for these greener times