New Audi TT RS 'Plus' unveiled

If we strip away the layers of civility and complicated infrastructure we have built up around ourselves, we are essentially a pack of insatiable lions circling a forest clearing. And thrown in for today's consumption is this, the new Audi TT RS Plus.

Clearly, 340hp was never enough. No, Audi's engineers decided - correctly - that our Big Cat hunger needed to be fed with more horsepower, and as Jeremy has evangelised mercilessly on these pages for years now, more is always better. So, some men with big brains and even bigger moustaches turned up the volume on the 2.5-litre turbocharged five-pot engine to 360bhp and 343lb ft of torque - 11lb ft more than before.

Together with the permanent quattro all-wheel-drive setup, the new RS Plus with the S tronic automatic gearbox accelerates from 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds (4.3s with the six-speed manual) and a limited top speed of... 174mph. The roadster does it a tenth slower.

There is a visual declaration of this new-found muscle, too. 19in cast wheels painted black with red rims, a ‘singleframe' radiator grille with a polished anthracite diamond-pattern mesh, carbon fibre mirror housings and, to make sure it's heard as well as seen, a new exhaust flap to make it shouty.

Prices for the UK have yet to be finalised, but in Germany prices start from €60,650 (£51k) for the coupe with the manual ‘box.

Click through for more pictures of the Audi TT RS Plus