Audi TTRS - owning and modifying experience
Discussion
My TTRS: impressions of my first 40K miles
There are numerous build threads which run while cars are still in the project stage so this one is probably from a slightly different perspective as it’s my impressions on what has now been 28 months and 40K miles of ownership and gradual modification of what is now a completed project.
Before I bought the TTRS I had a Landrover or a Mercedes for the daily grind and a Porsche 911 for the weekend and driving trips.
The 911 was an epic drive but because it was kept for high days and holidays became a bit of a garage queen and only really got used for weekend or euro trips.
So the idea was to by a car that would cover all the bases of a daily driver but not leave me too embarrassed on weekend hoons.
The car is a 2012 TTRS S-tronic in Suzuka Grey with black leather and contrast stitching which I bought in August 2014 from Lake District Audi as an approved car.
There are numerous build threads which run while cars are still in the project stage so this one is probably from a slightly different perspective as it’s my impressions on what has now been 28 months and 40K miles of ownership and gradual modification of what is now a completed project.
Before I bought the TTRS I had a Landrover or a Mercedes for the daily grind and a Porsche 911 for the weekend and driving trips.
The 911 was an epic drive but because it was kept for high days and holidays became a bit of a garage queen and only really got used for weekend or euro trips.
So the idea was to by a car that would cover all the bases of a daily driver but not leave me too embarrassed on weekend hoons.
The car is a 2012 TTRS S-tronic in Suzuka Grey with black leather and contrast stitching which I bought in August 2014 from Lake District Audi as an approved car.
The factory specification has what were my must have options:
Matt Ali Styling Pack - £680
Comfort package; Auto lights and wipers, rear park sensors, cruise control and auto dim rear view mirror - £510
Privacy glass - £330
Titanium Rotors - £1360
Technology package: Nav Plus Audi MMI - £515
Mobile phone prep - £145
Matt Ali Styling Pack - £680
Comfort package; Auto lights and wipers, rear park sensors, cruise control and auto dim rear view mirror - £510
Privacy glass - £330
Titanium Rotors - £1360
Technology package: Nav Plus Audi MMI - £515
Mobile phone prep - £145
First impressions
Out of the factory the car is a great daily driver. It is practical reliable and fast however as a driver’s car there is room for improvement.
The engine and S-tronic gearbox are brilliant.
Very little turbo lag and a wall of torque from 2000 rpm. The gearbox is great in D, manic in S and does what you want super fast in manual.
0-60 in 4.1 seconds as stock is pretty much supercar fast.
The exhaust makes a nice noise but not too loud for a daily – certainly quieter and easier to live with than my previous 911 with sports exhaust.
The first time I drove the car hard on country roads that I know well showed how unsettled and badly tuned the stock suspension is. The car took too long to settle after bumps or changes in camber and felt slow witted.
From what I know this is similar to the BMW M4 which has now been rectified by the performance pack suspension, so maybe Audi should have done a TTRS performance pack.
The brakes are a tad too much biased to the front with the standard 370mm front/310mm rear set up which does not help stability braking from high speeds.
Adding both of these together meant the car was not what I wanted in terms of a driver’s car.
Lots of owners will be quite happy but I felt the need to improve the car or find something else.
Out of the factory the car is a great daily driver. It is practical reliable and fast however as a driver’s car there is room for improvement.
The engine and S-tronic gearbox are brilliant.
Very little turbo lag and a wall of torque from 2000 rpm. The gearbox is great in D, manic in S and does what you want super fast in manual.
0-60 in 4.1 seconds as stock is pretty much supercar fast.
The exhaust makes a nice noise but not too loud for a daily – certainly quieter and easier to live with than my previous 911 with sports exhaust.
The first time I drove the car hard on country roads that I know well showed how unsettled and badly tuned the stock suspension is. The car took too long to settle after bumps or changes in camber and felt slow witted.
From what I know this is similar to the BMW M4 which has now been rectified by the performance pack suspension, so maybe Audi should have done a TTRS performance pack.
The brakes are a tad too much biased to the front with the standard 370mm front/310mm rear set up which does not help stability braking from high speeds.
Adding both of these together meant the car was not what I wanted in terms of a driver’s car.
Lots of owners will be quite happy but I felt the need to improve the car or find something else.
The Mods
The biggest issue was the suspension so I did a good bit of internet research and came across the newly available MSS Kits.
www.msskits.com
After a fairly lengthy email exchange with William – the designer/developer/owner I decided to invest. A fully adjustable front and rear kit was duly despatched and fitting was a matter of four hours of garage time followed by settling, some height adjustment and a geo set up.
This is probably the best money I have ever spent on a car. The ride is much more refined despite being a good 20mm lower than a stock RS, the hesitation over bumps and camber changes has gone the car corners harder and faster and the car looks much better that bit lower.
So job one done.
The biggest issue was the suspension so I did a good bit of internet research and came across the newly available MSS Kits.
www.msskits.com
After a fairly lengthy email exchange with William – the designer/developer/owner I decided to invest. A fully adjustable front and rear kit was duly despatched and fitting was a matter of four hours of garage time followed by settling, some height adjustment and a geo set up.
This is probably the best money I have ever spent on a car. The ride is much more refined despite being a good 20mm lower than a stock RS, the hesitation over bumps and camber changes has gone the car corners harder and faster and the car looks much better that bit lower.
So job one done.
Next were the brakes so back to the internet. Fitting the rear discs from a C5 RS6 seemed a pretty good solution to move the bias back a bit and also they look much better.
I sourced a kit from 034 motorsport in the US and that made a big difference. Much more stable braking from high speed.
Some track spec pads completed the upgrade.
So job two done.
I sourced a kit from 034 motorsport in the US and that made a big difference. Much more stable braking from high speed.
Some track spec pads completed the upgrade.
So job two done.
Because it was cheap and easy I fitted a track spec polybush dog bone insert – more vibration at tickover but improves the already great s-tronic shifts when pushing on.
Next was an aftermarket panel filter – from revo – but they are all pretty similar.
Again because it was cheap and easy the next job were secondary cat delete pipes from Scorpion – a little bit more noise and less restriction to exhaust flow.
At this point I was pretty happy with the car. I’m not the best driver in the world but I’m not the worst and with the suspension and brakes sorted the car would quite happily keep up with 991 GT3s.
But more is never enough so as the final mod those clever chaps at APR have put one of their maps on the car.
The car was strong before but now it pulls very hard from 2k rpm all the way to the redline and from 30mph in 2nd gear it is just about untouchable to the speed limit – only GTR and 911 turbo get close.
As an overtaking tool it really is effortless.
Next was an aftermarket panel filter – from revo – but they are all pretty similar.
Again because it was cheap and easy the next job were secondary cat delete pipes from Scorpion – a little bit more noise and less restriction to exhaust flow.
At this point I was pretty happy with the car. I’m not the best driver in the world but I’m not the worst and with the suspension and brakes sorted the car would quite happily keep up with 991 GT3s.
But more is never enough so as the final mod those clever chaps at APR have put one of their maps on the car.
The car was strong before but now it pulls very hard from 2k rpm all the way to the redline and from 30mph in 2nd gear it is just about untouchable to the speed limit – only GTR and 911 turbo get close.
As an overtaking tool it really is effortless.
Edited by Hoonmeister on Wednesday 22 March 18:02
What has gone wrong?
In my ownership the car has had three faults.
The solenoid for the carbon filter failed leading to a emission control light – fixed under warranty
The glovebox hinge failed – fixed under warranty
The rear hatch lock was beginning to play up - £50 part replaced in 20 minutes
In my ownership the car has had three faults.
The solenoid for the carbon filter failed leading to a emission control light – fixed under warranty
The glovebox hinge failed – fixed under warranty
The rear hatch lock was beginning to play up - £50 part replaced in 20 minutes
Would I recommend one?
In terms of build quality, efficiency, reliability and performance I think these are the bargain of the century.
Practicality is the same as any other TT which means a huge boot with the back seats down so mine does dump runs as well as it does trips to Lemans.
They are pretty rare and undervalued – I do wish Audi had not allowed so many lookylikey lower models but it just means you need to know what you are looking at.
So yes I would recommend one – and the mods I have done.
It would be interesting to drive a stock car now to see what I think but don’t regret any of the work done to mine.
What next?
Although I have done the perusal of Autotrader and Pistonheads – for the foreseeable future the TTRS stays – only a F-type SVR coupe or a Cayman GT4 or 991 GTS would be considerations and they are all considerably more money.
New TTRS might be an option in a few years but I suspect it would need some mods....its certainly slower out of the factory than my current RS.
In terms of build quality, efficiency, reliability and performance I think these are the bargain of the century.
Practicality is the same as any other TT which means a huge boot with the back seats down so mine does dump runs as well as it does trips to Lemans.
They are pretty rare and undervalued – I do wish Audi had not allowed so many lookylikey lower models but it just means you need to know what you are looking at.
So yes I would recommend one – and the mods I have done.
It would be interesting to drive a stock car now to see what I think but don’t regret any of the work done to mine.
What next?
Although I have done the perusal of Autotrader and Pistonheads – for the foreseeable future the TTRS stays – only a F-type SVR coupe or a Cayman GT4 or 991 GTS would be considerations and they are all considerably more money.
New TTRS might be an option in a few years but I suspect it would need some mods....its certainly slower out of the factory than my current RS.
ecsrobin said:
A good read, I notice quite a few photos have you in large groups of equally nice cars, are these arranged tours? Looks like a great car to take on a driving tour.
The tours are just arranged amongst a group of good friends so there is no cost to anyone for the planning that goes into the trips.We do a lot of trips round Scotland and every year or so do a full euro trip to Lemans or Monaco GP.
Edited by Hoonmeister on Wednesday 8th February 19:53
Edited by Hoonmeister on Wednesday 8th February 20:11
Slippydiff said:
Hmmm, TTRS, modified, Suzuka grey, Scotland ? All sounds rather familiar :
http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&...
Other forums are available http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&...
Don1 said:
Hoonmeister said:
B
The car was strong before but now it pulls very hard from 2k rpm all the way to the redline and from 30mph in 2nd gear it is just about untouchable to 100mph – only GTR and 911 turbo get close.
That really is quite a claim. What is the car putting out?The car was strong before but now it pulls very hard from 2k rpm all the way to the redline and from 30mph in 2nd gear it is just about untouchable to 100mph – only GTR and 911 turbo get close.
A 991 GT3 weighs about the same (1450kg or there abouts) but has 460nm whereas a decent Stage 1+ or Stage 2 TTRS will have 600-650nm.
Edited by Hoonmeister on Wednesday 22 March 18:15
toby-w8jtf said:
I really want one of these when I replace my Stage 2 Golf R... The noise of the 5 pot is pure filth. Do you have any 0-60, 60-120 or 1/4 times since the APR remap?
GPS recorded was 0-60 3.2 0-100 7.9 which is pretty much what other modded RS do.This is a similar car...
Edited by Hoonmeister on Thursday 9th February 15:18
Jamesgt said:
So basically breathing mods and a remap makes for a serious rocket? I have respect for these but never knew how fast they'd go after remap.
https://youtu.be/VNklpt8CVW4
Slippydiff said:
Fearsome little cars that punch well above their weight even in standard time, start tweaking them and ....:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVWFIx8BTt8
Pretty much sums it up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVWFIx8BTt8
likesachange said:
Hi mate, nice to see your still loving the TTRS, I do wish I had chance to explore mine some more but an atom came along at a price I couldn't refuse.
I can vouch for the APR tune on these... consistently under 8s 0-100 and easy 11s 1/4's
People still always question it...
The torque range and s-tronic box ratios make it such a straighline weapon!
Will be interesting what the new one "tweaked" will be like
An atom....nice bit of kit....real man if you are using that as a daily I can vouch for the APR tune on these... consistently under 8s 0-100 and easy 11s 1/4's
People still always question it...
The torque range and s-tronic box ratios make it such a straighline weapon!
Will be interesting what the new one "tweaked" will be like
Need to bring it up for a hoon in spring or summer.
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