RS3

Make
Audi
Segment
Sedan

After Dieselgate, we thought that Volkswagen was going to have to cancel every cool performance model that it had planned. However, it now seems that VW is ready to expand its R brand that currently begins and ends with the Golf R (and Scirocco R in Europe). The US has been cheated out of many cool VW models, but Autocar has details about a new R model that seems perfect for the US market. There have now been several spy videos showing a Tiguan R lapping the Nurburgring powered by a five-cylinder engine.

The closest thing the US has ever had to a Tiguan R is the R-Line, which was mainly an appearance package. This new Tiguan R would be a range-topping model above the current BiTDi, which has 240 hp. It is expected that the Tiguan R would hit 60 mph in 5.0 seconds.

It is still unsure how much power the Tiguan R will have. This test model uses a 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder from an Audi TT-RS or RS3. The engine likely won't produce 400 hp like those cars, and will be detuned to around 300 hp like the Golf R.

There is no time table to expect this new Tiguan R, but a debut at Geneva could be in the cards. This is the first time that the Tiguan has ever been close to appealing to enthusiasts, so we are pretty excited about this news.