# TTRS running costs



## KammyTT (Jun 28, 2006)

I'm looking at a few ideas on which car to get next year and the TTRS is in my top 3.

I have no idea of the running costs such as servicing and repair costs!

A wee list of the common prices for brakes etc and usual problems would be great [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

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## Bentley (Nov 14, 2014)

I have had mine coming up a year now. I had a main service done on it at the TT shop a few months back for peace of mind. Changed all the oils etc, was very similar in price to a standard TT. Think it might have been around £300. Although I had already changed the plugs just before as one had broken up.

Fuel wise, I don't use mine for many miles, but I seem about 300 to a tank which I'm happy with.

Like with most high performance cars, its if/when things go wrong that the eyes can water. Service parts like brakes can be bought for sensible money if you don't use Audi and do a bit of looking about. Just s-tronic gear boxes are mega money in the event of a failure. Clutches aren't cheap either.

I would say if you can afford it then go for it. I'm still well happy with mine. An there is an endless amount of things you can do to them. Whether its performance or visual mods you like.


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## malstt (Apr 18, 2007)

Just bought one so will let you know how it goes ! Fuel wise no worse than my QS. Got 39 mpg coming home from Beaulieu !


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## Templar (Mar 9, 2012)

Fuel economy is pretty good considering the performance available..mid 30's on a run if driven sensibly (not yet run in so I expect it to improve even more). I have the next two services pre paid by Audi but depending on age servicing costs are very reasonable and think they're cheaper after 3yrs of age but please get this confirmed.
So all in pretty good and generally cheaper to run than say a Porsche Boxter or Cayman of a similar age.


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## KammyTT (Jun 28, 2006)

It's more breakdowns in worried about, I'm after a manual so not worried about the box, I've heard brakes are around £1k just for the fronts!! [FACE SCREAMING IN FEAR]

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## Bentley (Nov 14, 2014)

KammyTT said:


> It's more breakdowns in worried about, I'm after a manual so not worried about the box, I've heard brakes are around £1k just for the fronts!! [FACE SCREAMING IN FEAR]
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


No, not that much. Seem like £500 is more what people pay on average and even heard people say they have paid £300 for the front discs.


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## bhavin85 (Sep 20, 2013)

I think the front discs from audi are around 650 mark (a corner!)

as most have said they are fairly cheap to run for the performance you get

if you are looking to buy go for one with a dealer warranty...i got mine from audi and had the full brakes changed as part of a recall...peace of mind for the next few years!


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## Candyturbo (Apr 20, 2014)

the manual box is the worse one , if its a pre 2012 and not had new gearbox internals under warrenty chance are it will need them , not much change from £8k !!!!!


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## TTaRSe (Aug 24, 2014)

Candyturbo said:


> the manual box is the worse one , if its a pre 2012 and not had new gearbox internals under warrenty chance are it will need them , not much change from £8k !!!!!


Don't think the OP was ready for that!!!


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## KammyTT (Jun 28, 2006)

Probably not what I wanted to hear! [FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY]

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## Matt B (Apr 8, 2007)

Candyturbo said:


> the manual box is the worse one , if its a pre 2012 and not had new gearbox internals under warrenty chance are it will need them , not much change from £8k !!!!!


Fair bit of scaremongering going on with this post. How many manual TTRS have suffered gearbox failure ? How many have been made? How much is down to drivers abusing the car or is it a design fault as you are implying? 
I know you sold your RS because you were worried about it but it's no reason to try and put everybody else off !


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## Bentley (Nov 14, 2014)

Matt B said:


> Candyturbo said:
> 
> 
> > the manual box is the worse one , if its a pre 2012 and not had new gearbox internals under warrenty chance are it will need them , not much change from £8k !!!!!
> ...


Couldn't agree more. End of the day, that may be the price of a new one. But in the event of a syncro problem your not going to go out and buy a new gearbox are you. Its a manual, nothing that fancy that can't be repaired.


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## BlueMagic (Feb 14, 2015)

Picked mine up today, fuel economy is excellent for the level of performance, brakes are cheaper if you buy after market disks, same for GTRs, M3s etc.

If your worried about it breaking, buy an approved warranty for it, I will do that when mine runs out.

Anything that goes fast and has four wheels is never cheap to fix, go on any car forum, Porsche, BMW, Mitsubishi, Nissan GTR etc, there will be a scare story for every kind of car, main end seals, AYC pumps, gearbox solenoids, VANOS - every forum has a part that will allegedly fail costing you fortunes.

Buy it, drive it, enjoy it.


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## gogs (Dec 22, 2010)

+1

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## Warranty_Void (Aug 12, 2014)

Mine uses less petrol than my TTS :mrgreen:


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## gogs (Dec 22, 2010)

+1 again 

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## Spaceman10 (Nov 15, 2011)

Hi 
I know that there has been problems, but most cars from time to time have problems.
For me my RS has been the best car I have had.
£ for £ the best Smile factor 

Running cost worth every penny 

Only other thing I would say, go play on a track it's so much fun 

Phil


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## j8keith (Jun 26, 2009)

Warranty_Void said:


> Mine uses less petrol than my TTS :mrgreen:


+1, I'm finding the same.


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## markgb (Feb 28, 2014)

AFAIK there is no recall for the manual gearbox, and the only revision for the gearbox is that gearbox housing and gear cartridge are now supplied seperately.
My RS is coming upto 90k miles, and still feels strong after a year of ownership.


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## adamccc (Feb 24, 2014)

*Fuel:* pretty good, can get about 350-400 miles out of a full tank on motorways - even stays in the mid 20's when hooning down country roads.

*Service:* Major is about £480 / Minor £300

*Tyres:* Usually 255/35/19 and can get steep if going to Audi/High St - I got Goodyear Eagle F1's from tyre leader for £460 then fitted for £40

*Parts:* This is were it can sometime sting. You are looking at about a grand inc fitting for front OEM brakes from Audi. Just had a new Vacuum pump which was £500 and then had an oil leaked which happened to be some gaskets and a small part but due to were they were the labour came to another £500.

*Upgrades:* Obviously not required but if you fancy getting the true potential out of the car... Brakes arn't really up to scratch for a car with the power it has so you're looking at £2000+ for AP Racing Discs, Pagid pads, RS6 rear discs and conversion kit. Then exhaust systems are usually £1-2k, remap £800, intercooler £1000 etc etc


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

Bentley said:


> Matt B said:
> 
> 
> > Candyturbo said:
> ...


Agree fully.

I think the biggest moaners ref the manual gearbox are those who have broken it flat shifting or similar.

I changed the gearbox oil on mine yesterday and while the oil was a little discoloured there was no evidence of metal particles of a size visible to the naked eye. None. The oil felt good too: doesn't smell too good though! 
Test drive today, in the sunshine, and the gearbox continues to work well - as does the rest of the car. 

Running costs - cheap as chips really, even paying Audi prices for the regular stuff. Some service I do myself, OEM parts can come from a variety of places cheaper than Audi. Tyres are from one of the on-line suppliers or a local tyre dealer who will match (close enough) the price and when it needs brakes they won't be OEM ones.


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## DR_Smith (Jul 21, 2015)

Candyturbo said:


> the manual box is the worse one , if its a pre 2012 and not had new gearbox internals under warrenty chance are it will need them , not much change from £8k !!!!!


Please can you clarify.
Are you saying any pre 2012 car needs a new gearbox for £8k??
Most gearboxes are for life and given Audis reputation I must have the wrong end of the stick?
Is/was this a recall item?


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## KammyTT (Jun 28, 2006)

Thanks for all the info guys! Much appreciated!

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## Candyturbo (Apr 20, 2014)

i posted my opinion from my experience , my car had 1 careful owner before me and to be fair i drove it like an old lady , when my gearbox started making strange noises i started looking into it , audi where aware of problems with the "transporter " gearbox they had used in the pre 2012 rs s

after having mine mapped the noise got alot worse in a short space of time , again i know alot of people from my vag days ( im an old git ) and had several quotes to investigate /solve the problems inc labour , parts and a new clutch etc while the box was out mounted up to £8000 ish , i was nt prepared to spend that money into the car so i gave the problem back to audi !

this is all fact not scaremongery , i also had contact with other manual rs owners that had the same problems


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## Templar (Mar 9, 2012)

I wonder what mods/changes were made if any to post 2012 RS gearboxes. Tbh I personally have not heard any other horror stories about the manual box.


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## BlueMagic (Feb 14, 2015)

Glad I bought one with flappy paddles


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## Blade_76 (Aug 11, 2004)

I do find my manual needs warming up before the gear changes feel as slick as they should, notably going from 2nd to 3rd when cold. Its been like it since day one, the dealer is aware but said give it 10k miles and see how it is - 10k miles on, it's better, but still not great.


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## Smoggy12345 (Oct 9, 2013)

I've owned mine for 2 years and can give you a pretty good Idea of running costs!

It's actually a performance bargain once you get the car at stage 1, next to nothing will come close to this performance for the same running costs unless its a cheap modified Jap car!

On an 09 TT RS, 52k miles

I average (REALISTIC FIGURES)
32mpg on a run
24mpg mixed driving and day to day use
19 mpg on a spirited drive
17mpg on a 'white knuckle' drive
Don't know about track use....possibly single figures ~9mpg

Ive paid so far:

Tyres for 4 = approx. £700 - 800 fitted for ultra high performance Tyres ie. Eagle AS2, Mich PS3's etc...

Brakes:

Front Discs £500 for Audi OEM 3rd party supplied
Front pads: £160 for mintex 1155 w/ wear leads: EDIT: not including fitting!
Rear pads: £100ish - no need for ultra high end on these, brake Bias is massively front end

Havent had rear discs done but again get good ones but no need to spend an absolute fortune! IIRC around £120/pair

Servicing:

SO CHEAP TO SERVICE!

Audi offer reasonable prices if you push them a bit and haggle. I got a FULL MAJOR service for £250 at their garage but to be blunt the service was TERRIBLE, so much so that I wouldn't use them again, EVER. This was on the Long term service scheme so thats ~£250 every 2 years!!!!

Misc:

£100 fitted for crank sensor failure

Things to look out for:

Warped front discs / sticking callipers - see if any of the pads are worn more than others (this happened to me hence Brakes all round - sticking calliper) which ended up costing a total £1100 to sort out. this included all the brake parts mentioned above + brake fluid change + labour and also labour to free the calliper.

Snapped parcel shelf brackets.....sounds like a silly thing but to repair this properly infact costs close to £200  - again this has happened to me and others I believe - seems to be a common problem as the brackets are piss weak!

Flat sounding Bose system - no or little bass could indicate that the amp has gone - another common problem which I believe can cost a fair bit!

Wear on Drivers side seat bolster on higher milage cars - again has happened to me - quoted £200 to repair

Gearbox - Mine developed notches in 2nd gear resulting in a warranty change @ 18000miles - this was before I owned the car but I believe the car had Gearbox, Clutch, flywheel and Turbo changed under warranty @ 18k miles.

EDIT: Another thing to look out for is a slipping clutch - especially on stage1 cars or higher milage. Try WOT in 4th gear from 2k revs....should slip straight away if the clutch is on its way out. HOWEVER, this is common on cars that are stage 1/2 (esp. APR from what I read) and is just the way it is when mapped on a higher mileage clutch as the car producing so much torque....mines slips at WOT in 4th low down in the rev range but can be worked around if you drive properly and drop gears to accelerate. I've had zero slippage doing this in the last 6k miles and still going strong!!

Car runs sweet as a nut now though (except the clutch but a non issue if driven properly) and has been problem free for a year **touches wood**. I'll be honest and say this car has given me more problems than every car I have owned so far lol but I'm sure this is just a coincidence - reliability is good in these cars, i've never came across a thread quoting catastrophic failures yet.

Once you get the car to stage 1 (DO IT!) then your touching on supercar speeds.

Manuals are about 0-60 in 3.9 and 0-100mph ~9 seconds IIRC

It will outrun the likes of an M3 NO PROBLEM in a straight line and the running costs are probs half if not less.

S-Tronic stage 1 is just obscene - 0-60 around 3secs and 0-100 under 8secs IIRC

I've got the bug to change car just now and I just can't justify changing up....a step up from this now is the likes of a GT-R but I worked out the other day its 3x the running costs, thats without counting in a warranty.

Best bang for buck in its class EASY!


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## DR_Smith (Jul 21, 2015)

@Smoggy12345.
Thank-you for the interesting write-up from the real world.
OK you pay more for performace items, but £160 + £100 for front/rear pads looks high.
I went to a parts site and (no option for TT RS) for TT it is around £27 front, same back, more like what I would expect for this consumable part.

Personally I'm happy to pay more for a car I want, but find it difficult to justify high running costs.
I ended up here via my aspiration for a Porsche 944 S2 cabriolet.
I have wanted one for decades, can now afford one, but deterred as owners tells me they are not as reliable as their repuatation would have you belive, so can be costly to own.
So ... turning to the TT as a younger car, implicitly without age/mileage related probloems I believed I could have retro looks, good performance and sensible maintenance costs. I am past being hands on, so replacing components also means high labour costs as and when things go wrong. The figures I am seeing are making me question my choice.

TBH although you don't buy the TT (RS or otherwise) for mpg, I would expect as a lightish car with recent technology, it would return better figures for a journey.

I'm not shooting the messenger Smoggy, just questioning myself what to go for next.


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## Candyturbo (Apr 20, 2014)

Templar said:


> I wonder what mods/changes were made if any to post 2012 RS gearboxes. Tbh I personally have not heard any other horror stories about the manual box.


most of the "stories " are from the earlier days of the tt rs , most owners have moved on since then
also not many people want to publish that there car needs a new gear box with only a few k miles on the clock


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## Rs adam (Mar 8, 2014)

TTRS is a brilliant car to drive and cheap to live with , uses hardly any fuel , Biggest bug is the manual gearbox that is pretty naff to say the least and I don't flat shift it or abuse my car at all , If your someone who wants to shift lightening fast the manual is not for you !


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## Smoggy12345 (Oct 9, 2013)

Sorry to ressurect an older thread but just wanted to make some amendments to this.

Yesterday found that 4 tyres for the car can now be had fitted for ~£540 for 4 Eagle F1 AS2's ....thats nearly £200 cheaper than a couple years ago!

Also Brake pads - Yes they can probably be had for much cheaper but if you want performance pads theyre around prices quoted.


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## Templar (Mar 9, 2012)

Still stand by what I originally posted that the TTRS is good value for money considering the performance and tunability on offer with reasonable running costs.


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## RichP (Jun 20, 2014)

Rs adam said:


> TTRS is a brilliant car to drive and cheap to live with , uses hardly any fuel


That's completely dependent on how you drive it though, as with any car, but the RS being to more of an extreme.
Reasonably economical via normal driving, but hell you'll get through a tank in no time if that right foot gets heavy....
...and I wear lead shoes :?


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## SuperRS (Mar 7, 2012)

Just wait till your cars out of warranty and then stupid shit starts failling.

Pcv system, vacuum pump, injectors, intank pump. Always the same stuff.


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## Templar (Mar 9, 2012)

I will just extend the warranty if I keep it that long.


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## DPG (Dec 7, 2005)

Anyone know the cost to extend the warranty on the RS?

Currently paying £90 per month (£250 excess) on my Z4MR.


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## Templar (Mar 9, 2012)

Do you have it serviced at the main dealers as and when ? I've noticed this can make a difference come renewal time comes meaning you'll pay the online price if you haven't ?


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