A 400-PS five-cylinder TFSI sounds even better with the top-off. What better way to experience it that a drive on Madrid’s mountain roads.
Story & Photography: Jim Gorde
The Audi TT RS quattro Coupé thrilled us on track, but, after the fixed-head coupé, it was time to take the roadster on a trip around the city, mostly outside the city, thankfully.
The TT RS’ Roadster counterpart, in Ara Blue and under those threatening but gorgeous grey skies, looks absolutely stunning. Having the car to myself for over 100 km of a mix of European highway, winding mountain roads and countryside B-roads was a dream come true. With the Virtual Cockpit display showing me 18°C, and a marriage of Google Earth and Google Maps, I set off in my Ara Blue roadster into the unknown.
Getting out of the Jarama parking lot and past the rather posh locale, I had it in ‘comfort’ mostly to avoid being a disturbance. A couple of roundabouts later, it was ‘dynamic’ and sport shifts. Surprisingly, the TT RS felt quite well-damped and didn’t make my bones judder and crash into each other like I’d first imagined. The 2.5 five-pot pulls cleanly and doesn’t feel like a monster when the road is tight and slow or even when it’s open. Speed limits and wind noise keeping my foot in check, I soon turned off the A-1. The mesmerising countryside beckoned.
Balancing the urge to floor the throttle and reminding myself of the repercussions of breaking that 90-km/h speed limit with speeds easily twice that at some places, I went about looking for clickable scenery. The lush grass soon turned to shrubbery and then into trees. The air grew chillier and the display now read 15°C. At least the engine wouldn’t heat up.
The TT RS Roadster has the same engine as the coupé: a 2.5-litre in-line five-cylinder turbocharged and direct injected petrol engine with all of 400 PS and 480 Nm. Together with the S tronic seven-speed twin-clutch automatic box and quattro all-wheel-drive – that is now rear-biased in ‘dynamic’ mode and front-biased only in ‘comfort’ mode. Furthermore, the Roadster only weighs 90 kg more than the Coupé, thanks to the added retracting soft-top. Yes, it will be more expensive, but it still handles just as well and can handle any element of dynamism a drive up a mountain road may throw at it. It can be a comfortable 2+2 tourer, with a pair of rather small +2s as the case may be. It will be more expensive, costing €2,800 (Rs 2.1 lakh) more than the coupé in Germany, so multiply that figure by three, then.
Need to Know: Audi TT RS quattro Roadster
Price: Rs 1.1 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: 1,530 kg
On Sale: 2017
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