Oh joy! The Audi five-cylinder engine is back.

Audi is launching the Audi TT RS with a 2.5-litre five-cylinder unit at the Geneva Show.

I’m a big fan of five-cylinder engines. Their off-beat warbling sound is fabulous. They are only marginally heavier than a four-cylinder engine yet deliver six-cylinder performance – without the weight penalty.

I once ran a beautiful, green three-year-old Audi S6 with a 2.3-litre five-cylinder engine. It was turbocharged to 230PS. It was motoring bliss (although not the fuel consumption) – see my previous blog 91 – LED headlamps light up the way.

The original Audi Quattro was also launched at the Geneva Show – but way back in March 1980. It had permanent four-wheel drive, a five-cylinder engine and 200PS. It was to take the performance world by storm. And changed the world of rallying for ever.

Audi has followed this up with several performance derivatives – often in the Avant estate – such as the Audi S4 and the RS 2 Avant quattro in 1993 with its 315bhp 2.2-litre five-cylinder engine.

Alas, recently, Audi’s emphasis has been on installing V6 and V8 engines in its performance cars. Now it looks like we’re getting back to Audi heartland. And those brilliant five-cylinder engines again.

Audi TT RS launch slated for Geneva Show