AudiNewbie17

How bad is the Turbo lag on the RS?
Im considering it
I know bmw's with twin turbos have crap lag, how bad is this?

PKT

My previous fast car was a Gen 5 Viper with a 645hp NA V10. After driving the TT-RS for a while I find it to be quite responsive in comparison, for a turbo engine. Take a test drive for yourself and see as it can be subjective depending on what you are used to.

Make sure you are in Dynamic mode with the shifter set to sport or manual using the paddles. Being in the correct gear will help reduce any turbo lag.

Rapture

I think it may be hard to find a car to test drive. I've read good things in terms of lack of turbo lag and and hoping it has very little when I eventually get a car.

superswiss

Generally, RS models have a more pronounced turbo lag due to the bigger turbos. Smaller turbos spin up faster. Turbo engines all lag compared to high strung NA engines. Once the turbo is spooled up, it's fine, but starting off from a stop or lifting off the throttle while entering a corner and then powering back out will inherently result in some lag as the turbo has to spool up first.

Coming from NA engines, every turbo engine I've driven so far lags. Smaller engines are more problematic, because they just don't have much oomph without boost. Turbo charged V8s are not bad. V6 and below becomes problematic for my taste.

I'll be taking out a TT RS in about a month for a 24 hour fun day of testing it. I'll be taking it on one of my 200+ miles canyon runs. There's no avoiding turbo charged engines moving forward, so I'm starting to look around and see what I dislike the least ;-). I'm fortunate that San Francisco is the pilot city for Audi on Demand, so with a few clicks I can rent pretty much anything from an A3 to the R8. Maybe take a little trip out here and drive a TT RS while you are here. The car is pretty popular, though and they currently have only one in their fleet. I couldn't find an available weekend for about 6 weeks out.

Huey52

Very well said, as always, and precisely why I got my wife the NA 3.6L in her Caddy ATS. I just knew there would be no end of turbo lag complaints if I had gone the 4-banger turbo, as track-preferred as it may be. Although lag has been greatly reduced it's an obvious matter of having to build exhaust energy before boost is available.

Given ever more stringent fuel efficiency requirements turbo's are indeed here to stay. Electric turbo's are intriguing as they should have virtually no lag thanks to ECU anticipation logic.

curvehound

I agree - my experience so far (only 200 miles) has been very little lag. My guess is that the few complaints about lag that have appeared here are people who are very sensitive to it, or being in the wrong gear or transmission mode. In auto transmission, I find it somewhat slow to downshift. Using the paddles and with the engine set to dynamic, it is highly responsive with no significant lag.

BRKNJMPR

^^^THIS. I find very little lag compared to other turbo cars I've owned/driven.

I had a test drive before mine arrived (a long week later) only because the dealership principle was keeping the first car...which they later sold anyway. I was talking with the dealership principle yesterday afternoon, he said he was trying his best to get more TTRS from Audi as the demand is very high.