The $65,000 Audi That Outran a $175,000 Supercar

In the late 2000s. Audi was busy building a legend. The R8, a mid-engine V8 and V10 supercar, was designed to take on Ferrari and Lamborghini. 1 seconds. But while executives were polishing that halo, a small team in Audi’s RennSport division was quietly working on something else, a compact coupe based on the same platform as a Volkswagen Golf.

That car was the Audi TT RS. 5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder engine under the hood. The first generation made 360 horsepower. The second, launched in 2018, pushed that to 400 horsepower. 2 seconds, matching a 2022 R8 V10 Performance RWD that cost more than twice as much. 6 seconds at 119 mph.

The secret was the engine. 2-liter V6 from the standard TT, RennSport developed an all-new inline-five. They swapped the cast iron block for aluminum, upgraded the turbocharger, and kept the iconic 1-2-4-5-3 firing order that harkened back to Audi’s rally-winning Quattro of the 1980s.

The result was a compact car that sounded exotic and delivered supercar performance for under $66,000.

Today, the TT RS is a collector’s item with a story. While the R8 got the spotlight, this economy-platform giant killer proved that raw speed doesn’t need a six-figure price tag. Used examples have sold recently for under $30,000, making it one of the best performance bargains in recent memory.

For fans of Audi history, it’s a hidden gem that outran the company’s own flagship.