Audi TT RS news - Who you calling hairdresser? - 2009

More pictures of the Audi TT RS

The hottest Audi TT ever – the TT RS – has escaped onto the interweb. Well, bits of it have, anyhow. Pointy, fast bits.

These are the first-ever official teaser pictures of the TT RS, released today by Audi after some unscrupulous crim-types broke into Ingolstadt HQ and made off with a few vital details. We like the details.

Take a look through our gallery to get a few hints as to what we can expect when the TT RS debuts in Geneva. That big rear wing and diffuser, for a start, are good indicators some serious speed in the offing, while the scything front vents remove any last traces of hairdresser from the TT.

So will the performance. The TT RS is powered by a 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbo petrol engine with direct injection, a heavily developed version of VW’s ‘VR5’ engine and the first five-pot Audi in a decade.

Audi has confirmed that the TT RS’s power output will be ‘well above 300bhp’ – we expect the final figure to be about 340bhp, courtesy of sequential turbochargers, feeding all four wheels through Audi’s ‘quattro’ four-wheel drive through a manual gearbox.

We’re told that the TT RS’s 0-62mph time will be ‘nowhere near five seconds’ – yes, that means a lot less than, rather than a lot more. Expect the figure to be in the four-and-a-half second region, with a top speed limited to 155mph. That is seriously, seriously quick: quicker, in fact, than the top-of-the-range Porsche Cayman S.

The TT RS will also get uprated brakes and suspension to deal with all the power. Price? No word yet, but we’d expect it to be well north of £40,000. We’ll find out in Geneva in early March.