Audi's 400bhp+ 2.0 Engine Is Dead, But That Might Not Be A Bad Thing

When the extent of VW’s Dieselgate scandal became clear, the company’s Golf R400 seemed a likely casualty of the financial aftermath. Sure enough, a report emerged earlier this year claiming any chance of a production version of the 395bhp hot hatch had gone, but that the high-powered version of the 2.0-litre EA888 engine might live on. Now, even that has been ruled out.

As well as the R400, the TT Quattro Sport concept from a couple of years ago also used an EA888 in a high state state of tune - with an even more potent 420bhp on tap - so naturally at the recent TT RS launch Autoblog asked about the status of the bonkers powerful EA888. The answer from Quattro GmbH engineering chief Stephan Reil was: “The 400-horsepower EA888 engine is dead.”

However, as much as we loved the idea of a 400bhp+ EA888, the prospect of such a thing does call into question the future of Audi’s fantastically warbly 2.5-litre inline-five. With an all-powerful EA888 no longer a possibility, the five banger may well end up staying around for a little while longer.

Indeed, the five-pot in its radically overhauled, 395bhp state of tune in the new RS actually represents a better value engine than an EA888 with the same poke, given the development costs the latter unit would require. “If we go for the four, to have that specific power output from a 2.0-litre, the engine is unbelievably expensive and then we still have only a four-cylinder engine,” Reil said.

Happily, the whole noise thing isn’t lost on Audi either. “People love the sound of the five-cylinder engine,” Reil stated. They do indeed…