Thumb the starter and the ECU, with German precision, begins not a links-zwei-drei-vier but a 1-2-4-5-3 firing order. Right, then. Left foot hard on the brake. Select ‘dynamic’ mode. Switch off the stability control. Shift to ‘D’, then ‘S’. Floor the throttle, glance for 3,500 revs and lift off the brake. With the violence of an Italian bull, the TT RS launches forward (at 1.1G, says the metre). The claim is 3.7 seconds and I do not dispute. Not one bit. It’s more brutal than the R8, if you ask me. Remember, this has half the cylinders and less than half the displacement, so it’s positively economical while doing all of this.
Bringing all that wallop in this second-gen TT RS is a familiar in-line five-cylinder TFSI engine displacing 2,480 cc. However, Ingolstadt have remade the engine, turning up the knobs and lightening it at the same time. They’ve saved 26 kg in total; 18 kg from the aluminium crankcase itself. The oil pan is magnesium. The crankshaft has been drilled from the inside to make it thinner and lighter. There’s a revised turbocharger too. The result: 400 PS at 5,850-7,000 RPM with a bump up to 480 Nm that plateaus between as low as 1,700 and 5,850 RPM. It’s a constant surge of go! The best part, though, is the soundtrack. It sounds angry at start-up. Shift from ‘comfort’ to ‘dynamic’ and that stays angry. All. The. Time. It could scare a Camaro SS.
The Jarama circuit offers a good mix of slow hairpins and fast corners, with a few straight bits in between. Enough, really, except the start-finish straight was cordoned off for the launch control exercise. Through the pits it was after each lap, but, even so, it was intense. First gear turns the Virtual needle red at 7k and then shifts up only after bathing the console red. Manual shifting on the paddles is a thrill – that soundtrack – and never fails to crack a grin. The anger sounds joyous flat-out: exactly what those butterflies were hired to do in the exhaust.
Audi hope to bring in the TT RS next year. I don’t see why they shouldn’t, honestly. Although, I’d prefer it running 245/35 R19s rather than the optional 255/35 R20s we have here. It’s got it all. It can be a great everyday car, dare I say, and when you’re not out howling around waking up the ghosts of sports cars past, it can even be economical; V8-like torque coming in from 1,700 revs and all. Plus, there’s the smart S tronic box and quattro to keep things in check; it’s front-biased in ‘comfort’ and rear-biased in ‘auto’ and ‘dynamic’. No deactivation here; don’t even bother. It’s like the regular TT. Only, it has 25 per cent more displacement, cylinders and valves, and 170 more horsepower. It’s Tweety bird with a bazooka. Deceptive but unbelievably capable.
Need to Know: Audi TT RS quattro Coupé
Price: Rs 1 crore (estimated)
Engine: 2,480 cc, in-line five, turbo-petrol, direct injection
Transmission: Seven-speed, twin-clutch, automatic, all-wheel-drive
Max Power: 400 PS @ 5850-6500 RPM
Max Torque: 480 Nm @ 1700-5850 RPM
Weight: 1,440 kg
On Sale: 2017
