The new Audi TT RS does 0-62 in 3.7sec

Welcome, internet, to the new Audi TT RS.

We’ve known it’s being coming for a little while, and Audi has whipped the covers off its latest sports car at the Beijing motor show. Handy, given its arch rival - the new Porsche 718 Cayman - is there too.

Unlike the Cayman, its styling is shouty, rather than subtle. There are plenty of clues this is an RS Audi - silver mirrors and front splitter, big wheels, fixed rear wing - but our favourite is the bulked out wheel arch treatment. It looks especially mean in grey.

It won’t be vocally meek, either, picking up where the old TT RS left off with a five-cylinder turbo petrol engine. Expect warbling. It’s 2.5 litres in size, but it’s actually different to old RS’s, using aluminium instead of steel for its construction. Less weight, see.

Power? It certainly has some, with 395bhp and 354lb ft quoted. That makes it 50bhp stronger than Porsche’s 718 Cayman S, and coupled with Quattro four-wheel drive, it ensures the TT RS is half a second quicker to 62mph. It’ll do 0-62 in 3.7 seconds - that’s just 0.2sec off the pace of the latest Audi R8. Yikes.

There’s lots of serious stuff beyond the numbers, too, with a 10mm suspension drop, lightweight sports seats and ginormous brakes. Your only gearbox option is a seven-speed paddleshifter, but it has its own ratios, and you get launch control.

Tick the right options boxes and you can have adaptive suspension control, carbon ceramic brakes and a 174mph top speed. As standard, there’s a 155mph limiter.

Audi has revealed both Coupe and Roadster versions of the TT RS in Beijing. The former weighs 1,440kg, while with the associated gubbins of an electronically folding soft-top, the latter is 90kg stockier. It’ll still hit 0-62 in under four seconds, mind…

Simple question: would you have this or the Porsche?