Another Sports Car Loses Audi’s Five-Cylinder Engine

Founded in 1978, Donkervoort is a Dutch niche marque specializing in hand-built, lightweight sports cars. In the late 1990s, it switched engine suppliers by dropping Ford in favor of Audi. Initially, their cars came with a 1.8-liter engine of Ingolstadt origins before upgrading to the bigger 2.5-liter unit in 2011. Now, the low-volume automaker is waving goodbye to Audi engines.

Before it goes away, the five-cylinder TFSI is installed one last time in the F22 Final Five. It makes 492 horsepower and 472 pound-feet (640 Newton-meters) of torque in a car that weighs only 1,578 pounds (716 kilograms) before you start adding fluids. Output is channeled to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox with rev-matching. Donkervoort throws in a limited-slip differential and a side exhaust.

The F22 Final Five is technically a convertible since the targa panels can be manually removed. Much like the top and butterfly doors, the rest of the body is made from carbon fiber to keep weight low. Even the 18-inch front and 19-inch rear wheels are manufactured from carbon. With an impressive 689 hp per metric ton, the sports car sprints to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just two and a half seconds. From a standstill to 124 mph (200 km/h), it needs seven and a half seconds. Flat out, it’ll do 180 mph (290 km/h).

Compared to a regular F22, the Final Five gets carbon-ceramic brakes that cut 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) at each wheel. The side exhaust we mentioned earlier is made from titanium to shave off a further 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms). The exposed carbon body contributes to a total weight loss of 34 kilograms (75 pounds) compared to the standard model.

As impressive as the technical specifications are, the price tag is a shocker. Donkervoort is charging €315,000 before taxes for each of the five cars it intends to build. That works out to approximately $332,000 at current exchange rates. The specialty marque may be giving up on the inline-five but it’s not abandoning combustion engines. It intends to launch a new model with ICE power to fight in the hypercar territory without costing millions of dollars.

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Donkervoort

After Audi dropped the TT Coupe and Roadster with their respective RS versions, the F22 is another model that loses the 2.5 TFSI engine. The Cupra Forementor VZ5 had five cylinders as well for a limited run of 7,000 units. There was a juicy rumor a few years ago claiming Volkswagen had wanted to put the five-pot in the Golf R but Audi allegedly refused. Plans for a base R8 with this engine hooked up to a manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive were shelved.

Donkervoort isn’t the only company outside of the VW Group to borrow this powertrain since KTM is also using it in the X-Bow GT-XR. The inline-five is living on borrowed time since the German luxury brand is highly unlikely to do another five-cylinder RS Q3, leaving only the RS3 Sportback/Sedan. Audi officials have hinted at a last hurrah for the 2.5 TFSI with more power.

As to which engine Donkervoort will use next, your guess is as good as ours. Maybe BMW’s B58?