2010 audi ttFive-cylinder engines have long been an Audi trademark. First used in 1977 in the Audi 100/5000, five-cylinders took Audi upmarket and clearly differentiated the brand from the competition. The Audi 200 Turbo, with its 170-hp inline-five, became the world's fastest four-door in 1984; the 315-hp, Audi 80–based RS2 Avant of the mid-‘90s was the most extreme station wagon of its time; and Audi won several rally championships with the five-banger Quattro—the S1 Pikes Peak had almost 600 hp.
In the mid-‘90s, Audi dropped the five-cylinder engine and its characteristic, subdued growl in favor of more conventional four-cylinder and V-6 engines. Brand aficionados howled in futile protest, and engineering guru Ferdinand Piëch, who had developed the five-cylinder engine but later moved on to become head of VW, said he never quite understood why the engine had been dropped.
It’s Back!
As of March 2009, a five-cylinder will be back in Audi's range in the form of a 2.5-liter unit with direct injection; it is based on Audi's modular engine architecture. The transversely mounted engine is force-fed by a single turbocharger and will make 330–340 hp. Torque is rumored to be around 330 lb-ft. That's enough to significantly set the TT RS apart from the lesser TTS with its 265-hp, 2.0-liter TFSI four-cylinder engine.
