First look: Audi TT gets the Rs

AUDI has abandoned its Geneva media embargo and released images and even a sound recording of its hottest TT, powered by a new turbocharged direct-injection 2.5-litre five-cylinder petrol engine that the company claims “produces well above 300bhp” (225kW).

Revealed days ahead of schedule because shots were leaked, the pictures and details were to have been released on March 3 when the Audi TT RS makes its global debut at the Geneva motor show.

The official launch began to unravel when embargoed teaser images were revealed by a German media outlet, and then the full images were scooped on the internet.

The leaks made a mockery of Audi’s attempt to stage an intriguing staggered reveal of its piping-hot TT RS Coupe and Roadster twins.

Nevertheless, the accompanying sound byte, in which the TT RS is heard crackling and popping as it makes a number of full-throttle standing-start and high-speed passes, suggests the modern interpretation of the mid-1980s Audi Quattro’s turbo-five engine will indeed be some thing to behold.

Audi’s first RS-badged TT will easily raise the performance bar over the existing TT-S Coupe and Roadster’s 200kW/350Nm 2.0-litre TFSI turbo-four, by employing an engine architecture that’s understood to be related to the 5.0-litre V10 found in the RS6 and, soon, the R8 supercar.

So it should easily eclipse the performance of the 2.0 TFSI (rather than the Passat R36’s 220kW/350Nm 3.6-litre V6) that is expected to power the replacement for the current Golf R32, which should be badged as the R20T.

Volkswagen’s luxury division says the TT RS will hit 100km/h in “nowhere near” five seconds, which would make it noticeably more accelerative than the rapid TT-S Coupe, six-speed S-tronic dual-clutch auto-equipped versions which make the sprint in 5.2 seconds. The TT RS is likely to be a manual-only proposition, however.

Audi has also confirmed that, like the TT-S, the TT RS will come with quattro permanent all-wheel drive, but in this case it will also offer “a sophisticated chassis and stupendous brakes” – presumably meaning a firmer spring/damping package, thicker anti-roll bars and bigger brakes.

The TT RS will feature a more aggressive front bumper with R8-like air intakes and a fixed, rather than speed-dependent, rear wing.

Expect a hefty price premium over the TT-S, which costs $95,003 as a coupe and $99,452 as a convertible, when the most powerful ever TTs eventually go on sale in Australia.