“It’s a first for Audi!
Tom Scanlan was reluctant to hand back the Audi TT RS Roadster Quattro
I’ve lost count of the number of Audi cars that I have driven over the years, but it’s going to be quite a few dozen. Now, for the first time, I have found a fault. In fact, not just one fault, but THREE.
My test TT RS Roadster arrived and I was really looking forward to seeing if I would enjoy it as much as the brief drive I had had last year in the entry-level 1.8 TFSI version. 400 PS was obviously going to be more than enough for any road car, but would it add up to that much more fun?
Given that I live in a typically suburban world, my first outing was at a sedate maximum of 30 mph for several miles; immediately apparent was a rather irritating tapping sound from somewhere within the right-hand side of the dashboard.
Soon after came the squealing brakes; in heavy traffic, this was embarrassing.
Then I got a warning that the rear nearside tyre pressure was low. I got out to have a look and it seemed OK and the car seemed to be behaving normally in this respect, too.
However, to be fair, at the first opportunity, I got it checked – the pressure was indeed a bit low. After the car had gone back to Audi after my week with it, investigations came up with the other answers: a build-up of brake dust caused the squeals and a piece of loose trim behind the dashboard was the other culprit.
But, look, what I really should have started with was when I first got in and started the Roadster up. Wow! Roar, bang, pop! went the exhaust and the boy racer was born again…
Once out of town, the Roadster began to make itself known to me. The ride was remarkably firm and I realised that it was probably, as delivered to me, in Dynamic mode. A closer look at the display would, I admit, have told me that. My case is that there is a lot of information to see, although you soon get to know where to look for whatever you need to know.
So, eventually, I discovered how to re-select (have Audi yet again fiddled around with their MMI?) and that I did, choosing Comfort for my general driving around and Auto for longer journeys on faster roads.
Slowly, as the miles went by, and as condition changed day by day, I fell in love.
It was sometimes the little things…one very wet evening I got back into the car and it began to steam up. There is a tiny little switch on the central dash that suggests maximum warm airflow to the windscreen; press that and within a few seconds you’re back to 100% visibility. Very nice, that, with no silly fiddling around with more complicated controls that can take your eyes off the road.
Another little button, on the central console, allows the exhaust note to be amplified, so more (nice) noise for your bucks.
The handling was a joy. All the main driving functions were faultless. In the end, then, the TT was another car that I was reluctant to hand back..
Car reviewed: Audi TT RS Roadster 2.5 TFSI (400PS) – On the road £53,550 0-62mph 3.7 secs Top speed 155mph limited, optionally 174mph Fuel Economy combined 34mpg CO2 emissions 194g/km Engine inline 5-cylinder 2480cc turbo Max Power 400PS@5850-7000rpm Torque 480Nm@1700-5850rpm Transmission 7-speed S tronic quattro permanent all-wheel drive
A car to fall in love with
Excellent controls
Joyful performance and handling
Sadly a few niggly faults on test car
About the author
No items found, please search again.