Audi TT RS Roadster

Fabulous engine, but true greatness still eludes the TT

FIFTY-FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS seems a lot of money to spend on just an engine, but without wishing to sound overly puerile, that’s essentially what you’re doing when buying a TT RS Roadster.

Let’s be fair: this latest TT, including the TT RS, is much more deft dynamically than any of its forebears. It’s actually a highly capable, pleasant car to drive, particularly if you avoid the bigger wheel option, which of course no TT RS Roadster customer ever will. For a droptop, the structure is admirably solid.

But this is not a particularly inspiring, invigorating, rewarding sort of drive. It’s very capable, but in the manner of a German highperformance hot hatch, not a true roadster. Drive around one corner in the TT RS and, by and large, you’ve driven around them all.

Which brings us to the engine, all 394bhp of blown five-cylinder, all-alloy masterpiece. We all remember those Audi adverts that put the engine’s sound to the fore, and this car trades on exactly the same emotion. And why not? I drove the TT not long after having spent some time with a Porsche 718 Boxster GTS, and while the Porsche offered a level of interaction with the driver that the Audi could never understand, there were plenty of times when the Audi had me beaming from ear to ear.

Get the S-tronic ’box into manual mode, the exhaust ‘on’, and just bumbling around at low revs is fun, roof up or down. The engine sounds much louder, fruitier and more authentic than in an RS3 – and, in fact, the TT RS is more enjoyable overall to drive. But it’s all relative.

Whether hauling hard from low revs or screaming towards the red line, the engine captivates; the only sadness is that it still deserves a really outstanding car to call home.