5 cylinders of fury: The Audi TT RS is a damn fine machine

[MUSIC] Every once in a while, we get a car at Road Show HQ that is just a blast to drive. And this week, I got one. It's the 2018 Audi TTRS. It's all-wheel drive. Seven speed dual clutch transmission, and it's got a turbocharger that produces nearly 20 pounds of boost, so I'm gonna ditch this wind and get my **** out to the twisties. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] The TT comes in the base model, or the S model that I drove last year. But this is my first time in the TTRS. Although that RS stands for Road Sport, German for Racing Sport and yeah, they are not fooling around. A 2.5 liter turbocharged 5 cylinder engine is putting out 400 horsepower and 354 pound feet of torque. Now while the all wheel drive system might default to front wheel drive while you're just toggling along You put your foot in it, and that all wheel drive kicks in, giving you maximum grip on all four wheels. Plus, when you're in dynamic mode, you can send 100% of the torque to the rear wheels. Magnetic ride dampers give you firmness that can adjust in absolute milliseconds. Giving you a really inspired flat confident ride it probably gives me more confidence than I deserve to have but still this car is super easy to drive at the limit. [MUSIC] Now if you want to customize your ride you can just press the drive select button on the steering wheel that's going to let you choose from comfort, auto, dynamic, or individual. Individual, adjusting the parameters for the steering and suspension, the throttle and the transmission. Giving your Wowdi basically the best ride you could possibly have in every situation. And yes, I just said Wowdi, deal with it. [MUSIC] Now do I want a manual transmission? Well yes of course I do. But I am not gonna get it in the TTRS. Instead I've got a most excellent seven speed dual clutch transmission. Now in regular mode it's So it's kind of more for fuel efficiency than it is for fun. But, all I gotta do is just one tiny, little bump back and it puts me into sport mode, where it's gonna hold my gears longer and downshift eagerly with a nice little rev match at the end. If I want even more control, just bump it all the way over to the right and suddenly, I'm in manual mode and I can Can use the paddle shifters to my heart's content. Shifts are really fast and I am rewarded with an exhaust note with burps and burbles and all kinds of goodness that just makes me want to take it to the red line 24-7. Even if I didn't give a crap about this car's driving dynamics, which I totally do because they're awesome. But even if I didn't care I might just fall in love with it The TTRS for its cabin, you'll notice there's not a lot of buttons, that HVAC controls are integrated right into the vents giving it a really clean appearance. And there's no screen in the center stack, instead it's moved into the gauge cluster with Audi's virtual cockpit. Now we've got a full review on the technology of the virtual cockpit in the second video. So be sure to check that one out. [MUSIC] Now I've always had a soft spot for two seat, rear wheel drive convertibles with a manual transmission. So you think that I wouldn't even give the Audi a second look. I mean it's all wheel drive, there's only two pedals, it's not a drop top, and it's got room for four. I mean, I guess you could fit two other people back there. But it's a lot like dating, right? If you confine yourself to a very strict checklist you're gonna miss out on something fun. And the TTRS is all the car I ever wanted. I just didn't know it. [MUSIC] The 2018 Audi TTRS is probably the most fun car you can bring up here to these back twisty roads. Of course you could also have fun with a Porsche Cayman S or GTS and the BMW M2, but those are rear wheel drive. This baby's got all wheel drive which means it can be a daily driver in places that get really bad weather like Colorado or New York. The price for this guy, well starts at $64,900, and this ones wearing at $10,000 worth of options, bringing the price to just a smidge over $74,000. [MUSIC]