Audi S5 news - Power rock - 2008

With rumours of an RS5 going very quiet of late, it looks like the 349bhp S5 is as hot as Audi's big coupe is going to get for a while to come.

Unless you have a quiet word with Audi uber-tuner MTM, that is, who - if you ask nicely enough - will whack a supercharger onto your S5 to bump it up to fighting weight with the BMW M3 coupe.

We've already seen MTM doing impressive stuff with a twin-engined TT - oh, and building engines for the Gumpert Apollo - and this seems to be a similarly robust effort.

That big supercharger powers the MTM S5 GT up from 349bhp to 505bhp, and increases torque from 324lb ft to 400lb ft. That means a 0-60mph time cut by almost a second to 4.3 seconds, and a top speed of 180mph - comfortably quicker than the M3 coupe.

As you'd expect, MTM has beefed up the suspension and brakes to cope with the extra power, and bolted on a set of imposing-looking but doubtless ride-destroying 21-inch rims. By German tuner standards, the S5 GT gets a surprisingly restrained bodykit, but we might remove those Halfords-spec decals.

Still, it's a far more tasteful effort than the marble-effect S5 in the bottom picture. Yes, it's real. Well, probably not real marble. But really bad.

We'd better make clear that it's not the work of MTM, but instead of a Russian, erm, enthusiast with more rubles and spare time than sense.

Next week, a limestone Lada?