Audi TT RS

Dared, because in the 20-odd years since it disappeared, Ingolstadt has never quite managed to capture the magic of that 1980 trailblazer – partly because the manufacturer has never configured a car in quite the same way, but mainly because it has failed to deliver a driving experience quite as fulfilling. That may be about to change, though.

In this latest TT, much of the promise is there. True, it’s not the full four-seater that the original Quattro was, but it’s an all-wheel-drive, lightweight coupé powered by a turbocharged five-cylinder engine – an addition to the Audi range that’s since found its way into the RS3 super-hatch.

This 335bhp confection and its accompanying £42,985 price ticket vault the TT into contention with some of the most powerful cars in this class, including one of the most accomplished, the Porsche Cayman S. But unlike most of its rivals, the TT RS is available in both coupé and convertible variants. 

In evoking the famous Quattro, Audi is clearly confident that it has a worthy descendant.

The second-generation Audi TT never matched the original in the style stakes – that model brought a level of design excellence to the small coupé and convertible market not seen for many years.

Several features make the TT more than merely the ambitiously re-skinned Volkswagen Golf the original car was. Although still very much a part of the same VW Group platform family, the current TT benefits from a variety of bespoke features intended to enhance its dynamics.

Its body is unusual for being 69 per cent aluminium and 31 per cent steel, in a quest both to save weight and to achieve a more favourable distribution. Its front suspension is part-fabricated from aluminium and the rear four-link layout is unique to the model, whereas the previous car shared substantially more chassis hardware with the Golf.

The TT RS is lifted above lesser models by its matt aluminium door mirror caps and RS badging on the brake calipers, grille and bootlid. The RS comes with 18-inch five-spoke alloys as standard, with 19- and 20-inchers available on the options list.

The most eye-catching of the RS’s styling addenda is the fixed-position rear wing, and although the retractable spoiler of the standard car is offered as a no-cost option, few buyers are expected to choose it.

Audi’s trademark LED daytime running lights are fitted as standard, as is an exhaust system with tailpipes exiting from both corners of the rear bumper. A flap inside the left-hand tailpipe opens to produce a more insistent – occasionally too insistent – exhaust note in Sport mode, which also sharpens the throttle.

When Audi's optional bucket seats are specified, they dominate the TT RS cabin; their deep bolsters and race harness cut-outs are unmissable. And they’re as supportive as you’d hope for in hard-charged bends.

But they’re a bit too firm for long distances, and shorter adults will find that when they raise the seat to its maximum extent at the rear (there are no electric controls on these buckets), there’s too little thigh support at the front of the cushion. It’s a small fault, but it impinges.

In other respects, the RS cabin is much the same as that of lesser TTs, except that it is all black, including the headlining, and slightly oppressive for it. Some of the cloth features TT logo stitching that’s an unsubtle and none too classy-looking reminder of which Audi this is.

Peculiar to this TT are the twin-strip, lightweight interior door handles that are an RS signature, a thicker sports steering wheel and RS-badged instruments, but there’s little else to mark this out as a top-end TT interior.

As ever, this Audi’s cabin is thoroughly constructed and well provisioned, with fine details such as the bevelled alloy ventilation controls, perceived construction quality and the leather seat stitching.

But at this loftier price level the TT cabin does look a little stark and plasticky; only the instrument pod is leather-covered rather than the entire dash, for instance, and a mere quartet of instruments looks mean.

There’s a stopwatch built into the driver’s information display, although you’ll need to be impressively dexterous to use it and drive.