(By Tom Lohnes) – In today’s market of sports cars, performance on paper is sadly the most important element. People too often dismiss cars as slow, when they are really not meant to be a straight-line slayer. But one sports car balanced fun and insane acceleration basically perfectly, and flopped massively. Next year, Audi’s TTRS will be no more, and that’s a sad thing.
Since the early 2000’s, the Audi TT has always been Audi’s FWD-based, fun-to-drive, coupe or roadster that was a great seller at first, but then severely fell off around 2008. There have been three generations, and it appears this Mark-7 VW Golf-based third-gen model will be the last. The base 4-cylinder TTs are great cars, but one stood above them both. The TTRS is in my opinion Audi’s best current car. Sure, there’s faster, better-looking, and overall cooler vehicles, but the TTRS is the sweet spot. With a 400hp turbocharged 5-pot, a snappy DCT, and Audi’s famous Quattro AWD. It can rocket to 60 in 3.5 seconds, all while making the most glorious sound you’ll ever hear from its tailpipes.
OF course, there is definitely a reason for the sales failure. The handling had a bit too much understeer for track use, and the $73,500 starting price makes a nearly just as good Golf R make a lot more sense. But, if you do want a TTRS, now is the time to get one. Audi just released a final edition with a lot of special colors, so order away.
