Man Maths: Audi TT RS

By and large the TT is a ‘sports car’ for those wanting the look but not the cost and compromises normally inherent in a real one. Which is why Audi’s stylish coupé has so often been dismissed out of hand by car journalists like me. Get a Cayman instead, we all tend to say. And yes, if what you want is a really rewarding driving experience, something far more purposeful like a mid-engined Porsche will serve you infinitely better.

But if you approach the TT not as a worthwhile alternative to a Cayman or similar but a prettier, more interesting (and yes, less practical) alternative to a Golf, it can make plenty of sense. It was on that basis that my wife had a TT for several years and she’s far more representative of the typical buyer than me.

But what of those few TT variants that did try to stand toe-to-toe with BMW M-cars and mid-engined Porsches? Actually, I quite liked the last TT RS, all 395bhp of it. For one thing it had that brawny five-cylinder turbo engine that sounded great and thumped the car along with serious force. I like the interior too – snug, high-quality, uncluttered in its design.

These are effortless cars to live with, as long as you don’t ever or rarely need the practicality of a five-door hatch. Shove the rear seat backs flat and you create an enormous storage compartment behind the two front chairs.

But to drive? Fact is the TT RS really is hampered by the limitations of its hatchback underpinnings. It doesn’t have the poise or balance of a true sports car, nor the feedback or the supple ride. It’s more of a grip-grip-grip, point-and-squirt sort of thing – and with four-wheel drive and plenty of squirt, a TT RS will do that as well as anything, all year round.

I thought I had the TT RS all figured out several years ago when I pulled out of the Bedford Autodrome pitlane. The stability control was off and, just to confirm my suspicions, I turned into the long left-hand hairpin at the far end and stomped on the accelerator pedal, knowing it would simply trip the car into rampant understeer. At which point the four-wheel drive system blasted a load of torque to the rear axle, whereupon the diff sent the best part of it to the outside rear wheel, kicking the car into one of the most heroic arcing, looping powerslides I’ve ever experienced.

I couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t one of those delicate, rear-drive drifts where you apply just the right amount of opposite lock and finely trim the throttle. It was more of a sledgehammer, four-wheel drive kind of powerslide, the kind you barely steer into at all but just keep the throttle mashed into the carpet, allowing the transmission to do all the gathering up for you. In that moment, the TT RS felt exactly like the last Ford Focus RS in its much-touted drift mode.

I know that’s not much use to any of us on the B660, but I was pleasantly surprised by it nonetheless. I was hoping to find that these cars now cost less than £20,000, but sadly they’re doing rather better than that – this 2018 car in Riviera Blue with just under 75,000 miles behind it is one of the cheapest I found at £28,994.

Still, that does seem like a lot of car for the money. Just don’t call it a sports car.

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