First drive: Supercar-quick yet frugal Audi TT RS auto

AUDI has already sold 12 of only 45 available examples of the Audi TT RS S Tronic Limited Edition since its debut at the Melbourne motor show back in July, luring customers with a claimed $8460 worth of extras and a unique-to-Australia styling package for no additional cost.

However, the car’s debut – heralding the introduction of a seven-speed dual-clutch S Tronic automatic transmission after about a year and a half of the TT RS being offered only in manual guise – comes with a $3000 price increase to $139,900, with the manual living on alongside the automatic as a no-cost option.

In addition to opening up the high-performance TT RS to a wider audience in auto-biased Australia, the new transmission helps shave four-tenths of a second off its 0-100km/h time, resulting in a 4.3-second sprint that gives it a three-tenths advantage over the 4.2-litre V8-powered R8 supercar costing almost twice as much.

Despite the extra performance, fuel consumption improves seven per cent to 8.5L/100km, while CO2 emissions drop from 214g/km in the manual to 197g/km.

Audi puts the efficiency gains down to the transmission’s tall seventh gear, which enables the engine to trickle along at low revs when during highway cruising.

With the foot flat to the floor, the TT RS will reach an electronically-limited 250km/h top speed, which can be optionally pushed out to 280km/h.

Until recently the transverse-mounted version of Audi’s seven-speed S-Tronic transmission could not handle the 250kW of power and 450Nm of torque produced by the award-winning 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbocharged engine.

In addition to the new transmission, which can be operated by paddle-shifters, the limited-edition model gains a black exterior styling package comprising black grille and window surrounds, metallic paint, titanium-finished 19-inch five-spoke rotor-design alloy wheels, a bi-modal sports exhaust, adaptive headlights, Bose sound system, extended leather interior package and an LED interior lighting upgrade.

Just three colours are offered (Ibis White, Phantom Black and Suzuka Grey) and the limited editions will be available alongside the standard variants until they are sold out.

The TT RS S Tronic Limited Edition is just one in a series of performance-oriented, value-added specials recently released by Audi Australia, joining a run of just 10 R8 Carbon Editions and limited numbers of RS5 Coupe and S3 Sportback special editions.

An A1 Competition Kit special will be released early next year.

More high-performance models will arrive next year in the shape of the luxurious S6, S7 and S8, powered by Audi’s new twin-turbo direct-injection V8 with cylinder deactivation.

Audi TT RS pricing (before on-roads):
TT RS coupe (a)	$139,000