The eagerly awaited RS version of Audi's desirable TT sportscar waslaunched in South Africa in November 2017 (with a price tag of R963000),to compete with acclaimed sports coupes such as the BMW M2 and Porsche 918 Cayman. The TT RS is powered by a characterful and potent 2.5-litre 5-cylinder motor mated with Quattro all-wheel drive and our correspondent Nic Cackettdrove it in Spain late in 2016…

Sentence three of the TT RS’spress pack finds Audiin an uncompromisingmood. “Driving pleasureguaranteed!” it proclaims,having teed off with the model’sincreasingly lofty power output.The exclamation mark is meantas playful confirmation of whatought to be obvious to the reader,but it’s possible to take it as huffyGermanic consternation, too:“You must like it now, surely?”

The previous TT RS did appealto some of us, in a chin-jutting,brazenly pushy kind of way. Butthat contingent of fans was inthe minority. Mostly we thoughtit was prodigiously fast andfabulous sounding but still overtlylacking in the dynamic subtletythat made the Porsche Caymanprobably the most agreeable sportscar of its generation.Its engine – the indubitablysplendid 2.5-litre throwback 5-potturbo – was categorically notthe issue.Yet characteristically itis here where Audi has invested agood deal of time, extracting more power from an identicaldisplacement while at the sametime reducing its overall mass by26 kg (exchanging a steel crankcasefor an aluminium one accounts formost of that saving).

There's no mistaking the Aud TT RS for lesser models. The big grille, wheels and fixed rear wing add considerable presence.

Performance

With peak silliness now at294 kW and 480 Nm, the coupé version (there’sa roadster, too) is rated at 3.7 secto 100 kph, which is almost asecond quicker than the manual718 Cayman S and only a few tenthsslower than the current R8. Thechassis, meanwhile, is a familiarreworking of the existing TT’s.The RS gets the quicker-reactingevolution of the current electro-hydraulicall-wheel drive system togo with model-specifictuning of thesuspension, ESC and steering rack.

Compared with the TTS, it sits10 mm lower on firmer springs,which remain passive unless youupgrade to the magnetic dampers,and wears stiffer bushes. The quattrodrivetrain is carried over from theRS3, although this time much lessis made of the supposed back-axleplayfulness attributed to that car.Audi is keener to emphasise theRS’s established appeal as flagbearerfor the TT line-up, a role forwhich the car has been visibly bulkedup. The enlarged air intakes andfixed rear spoiler serve to assist amore efficient intercooler and lustieraero, but their aggressive appearancepays greater dividends when it comesto the model’s market position.

Audi's Virtual Cockpit is standard and features buttons lifted straight from the current Audi R8 V10.

Ditto the cabin, which, like all variants of the TT, is a wall-to-wall triumph. Audi’s easy-on-the-eye Virtual Cockpit is standard, as areplush sports seats and an RS steering wheel that, for the first time, features satellite controls in addition to the S tronic dual-clutch automatic gearbox’s paddles: one to toggle through the Drive Select system, the other to thumb the engine into life.

That red starter button is the same as the one used in the R8 to spark the V10, and while the TT RS’s in-line powerplant is literally half of the R8’s lump, it generates an outsized charisma from its idiosyncratic 1-2-4-5-3 firing sequence. While it is no surprise to find the raggedy, wonderfully corrupted heartbeat familiar (helpfully embellished by an optional sports exhaust), the initially faithful replication of its predecessor’s performance is a little more unexpected.

Clearly, 480 Nm from 1 700 rpm is sufficient to have the Audi rolling readily forward, but the RS’s warbling mid-range (where you’ll spend most time) feels no more productive than it did the last time around – a consequence of only a very modest rise in peak torque, not to mention a carried-over tendency to feel a bit stodgy when the dual-clutch automatic transmission is left to its own fuel-saving devices.

Neck-wringing, then, is required to have the RS flinging out demonstratively greater speed than before. Its advantage resides in the new engine’s final 1 150 rpm, a greased slither of forcefulness that, while endearing, is rarely encountered on the road beyond the first three of the seven gears. Stretch its legs all the way to the redline and appreciate the hard work that's gone into this powerplant.

Ride and handling

Our scribe found the Audi TT RS fast, yet sane and manageable thanks to quattro.

Naturally, that has more to do with adhering to (or otherwise) national speed limits than upsetting the drivetrain, which deadpans the extra grunt with the usual sticky aplomb. But it is the palpable absence of squirm and squirrel to which Audi is referring when it uses the word "precision" to describe the quattro system’s ground-covering abilities, and the TT RS evinces this failsafe quality from start to finish.

To its credit, the RS’s marginal enhancements do add up to an incremental improvement. Slightly lighter over the nose, endowed with additional camber on tailored Pirelli PZero rubber and wearing, in this case, optional 20-inch wheels, the car turns in a little more sharply ("agility" being another quattro watchword) and, courtesy of a torque vectoring system that works hard enough to eventually overheat the put-upon brakes, grips even more tenaciously than its predecessor managed.

Even the passive ride, an inevitablyvery firm, but not meanly dampedwashboard, was generally acceptableon our test route in Spain (more so,in fact, than the oddly inconsistentmagnetic-ride alternative).Nevertheless, once again, Audi’sconcepts of "precise" and "agile" don’t seek to include an ounce ofreal, teeth-sinkable fun beyond thephysicality of either naked speed orblunt adhesiveness.

So while it may be technicallycapable of dispensing 100% of itsavailable torque to the hind quarters,the RS rarely seems inclined to doso, and nor does it permit a morselof genuine clarity to ascend theapparently mighty sinew that is itssteering column. As with the RS3,coaxing a gently enlivening senseof neutrality from the otherwisefront-end-preoccupied drivetrainis too often the best a keen driver can hope for – and a pale shadow ofthe nuanced relationship a Caymanowner can expect to forge with the718’s cultivated chassis.

While the TT RS is technicallycapable of dispensing 100% of itstorque to the rear wheels, itrarely seems inclined to do.

Summary

Whereas acomparative lack of indulgencewas more easily forgiven in the RS’s hatchback sibling, in a coupé, onespecifically intended to compete witha raft of adjustable, rear-wheel-driven sportscars, the failure to deliver a properlyrounded handling experience servesonly to highlight just how two-dimensionalthe remainder really is.

Which isn’t to deny the likeability,thrashability and motley soundtrackof the quirkily brilliant 5-potengine, nor, indeed, the straight linespeed, handsome looks, badgekudos and superior interior of theTT RS itself. Let's not forget this car's hard-charging, stability-happy style will be much appreciated on a drive from the office to home on a rainy evening too.

But for it to notparticularly appeal in sun-starchedrural Spain, with both B-roads andan empty Circuito del Jarama laid on, goesto show just how far out of reach theslower, worse-sounding and recentlyhumbled Porsche 718 Cayman still is.

Further reading

Audi TT 2,0T S tronic– Best Fun Car

Audi TTS 2.0T FSI quattro(2016) Review

Porsche 718 Cayman (2016) First Drive

BMW M2 Coupe Auto (2016) Review

BMW M2 vs Mercedes-AMG A45 vs Audi RS3 vs Honda Civic Type-R: On-track analysis [Video]

Track Race: Audi RS3 vs Merc-AMG A45 vs Honda Civic Type R vs BMW M2 [Video]

Watch and listen to the Audi TT RS in action:

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