Audi TT
From the debut of the design study way back in 1994, everyone sensed that Audi might finally have found its modern voice. Sales totaling more than 270,000 units since the original TT coupe and roadster went on sale in 1998 through to their retirement earlier this year seem to have proved us right.
But the whole Bauhaus riff—steely asexual guys named Dieter and women named Claire with rectangular eye glasses and black turtlenecks, rarely smiling—was getting tired. Seeing this TT on the road these days, its tiny push-me pull-you symmetrical design comes off a little toy-like. It is an icon, but it’s an icon that has lost its effect as the rest of the Audi lineup has been updated handsomely and moved out of the TT’s shadow.
Adding to this is the hard truth that the first TT, built on the Volkswagen Golf IV chassis, was never really a spectacular driver in sportscar terms. (The best there was came in early 2005, in the not-for-North America lightweight TT Quattro Sport, with its 237-horsepower 1.8T engine. We drove this and it was indeed a spectacle.) It’s always been fun as all get out, like a German Mazda Miata, but not a mature car for gladiators and Amazons.
Now, big-muscle people filled with sexuality and Manifest Destiny on the brain can grab onto the TT, while not elbowing out other sexual persuasions. It’s an Everysex car! Call it a demographic slam dunk.
Our brothers and sisters in Györ, Hungary, carry on with their impeccable workmanship in assembling the TT on its new chassis that is 50-percent more rigid in the torsional sense. For now, powertrains include the hugely satisfying 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection in-line four with front-wheel drive and the 3.2-liter 15-degree V-6 with Quattro all-wheel drive. The 2.0 TFSI—an engine we know and love from a host of current VW and Audi models, including the GTI and the A3—delivers a full 206 pound-feet of torque between 1800 and 5000 rpm, and horsepower lingers at 197 between 5100 and 6000 rpm. Meanwhile, the old 3.2-liter V-6 carries on with 236 pound-feet of torque between 2500 and 3000 revs and 246 horsepower at 6300 rpm.
The six-speed dual-clutch Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) remains the same wonderfulness it’s been since 2004, but the Audi marketeers have re-branded it with the name “S-tronic”. The hot set-up for us from among all of our Tyrolean testers was the 2.0TFSI engine with S-line trim—which includes beautiful nineteen-inch wheels—and either the S-tronic transmission or the traditional six-speed manual. On the heavily curvaceous Austrian byways, this combination allowed for the most satisfying action. Shifts are truly fast with the S-tronic, as we remember. By the time the new TTs start arriving in North America next March, Audi likely will have a Quattro version of this car ready to go as well.
Not so much Bauhaus can be spotted on the outside. We spoke with lead exterior designer for the new car, Jorge Diez, and he confirmed some of our thoughts. “The greatest challenge was to take that iconic form and literally move it dynamically forward,” he told us. “This is the car, after all, that defined the modern Audi.” Moving it forward meant pushing the passenger cabin back a bit within the structure and giving the whole more of a forward tilt. Of the four full-scale final models shown to the Audi bosses in mid-2004—one from the California studio, two from Ingolstadt and one from the Sitges studio in Barcelona—that by Jorge was anointed the one worthiest.
Overall length grows by 5.4 inches, width by 3.1 inches and height by just 0.2362198 of an inch. Interior space grows correspondingly as well and the feeling is thankfully less cocoon-like. Instead of driving the old TT for 100 miles non-stop before losing the love glow, we can recommend the new TT for real road trips. Ride and handling are far more mature and capable than before. Taking a page from the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano play book, Audi is offering semi-active magnetorheological dampers (originally developed by General Motors and Delphi) calling the setup—Hold onto your seats!—Magnetic Ride. There is a Sport/Comfort button at the base of the gearshift lever and, as on the Ferrari, the switch between Sport and Comfort is immediate and the system goes a long way in improving the TT’s image as a sports car.
What is being called a hybrid spaceframe structure (ASF, for “Audi Space Frame”) is at the heart of the TT’s improved comportment and sportier reputation. Nearly 70 percent of the entire surround structure is in aluminum while the remaining 30 percent is in stiff, high-grade steel, occupying most of the rear substructure. This is why the car drives more responsively nowadays and also why the new TT weighs less than the old TT—nearly 200 pounds less, car-for-car. Optimized weight distribution, together with the wider tracks, makes for better turn-in on tight curves taken at speed; understeer is pleasingly less than before (though, in truth, a rear-wheel-drive TT would solve every bit of that).
Besides the added stability from the ASF engineering, there is more downforce provided in back by the automatically deployed rear wing. Once you reach 75 mph, the cheese cutter deploys upward, and it really does improve tractability at highway speeds. Another good point here is that it won’t go back down until you hit 50 mph under deceleration. More software tweakery happens in the stability-control settings, which allow a little more sideways fun to happen prior to breaking up the party. And if you’re tired of being chaperoned and are confident of your immense driving skills, you can delete ESP completely by pressing the “ESP OFF” button.
And though we got enthused a few paragraphs back over the S-line package’s nineteen-inch wheels, most of you will be better off with the optional seventeen-inch set for the 2.0TFSI and the eighteen-inch group on the 3.2 Quattro. Because we know that long-distance and commuter comfort matter a lot to the American lower spine. Standard seats are sixteen inches across for the 2.0-liter and seventeen inches for the 3.2-liter.
And what’s happened to the famous interior that shook the world? It’s all just a bit better. The chief item you’ll notice right off is the third round air vent up top of the center console. The feeling is still suitably sparse and there is more living room for legs and shoulders. The new flat-bottomed steering wheel borrowed from the Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi’s own RS4 (and upcoming R8) is good to see here, too. It is grippy and small in diameter (14.37 inches), and the flat bottom edge allows easier entry and exit. It’s also built on a magnesium skeleton frame, so it weighs just 6.2 pounds.
Reworked front brake discs help stop the car fifteen percent more effectively. Brakes for the 2.0-liter car are really up to the task, but the 3.2 Quattro is heavier and could do with thicker anchors, especially when descending mountains in a spirited fashion. Audi has plans along these lines. Soon there will be a fresh optional braking system called Audi Dual Disc Brakes—also from Delphi—that will significantly upgrade braking behavior while avoiding the lowspeed squealing or grinding sensations of ceramics. These should be available worldwide by the time the TT is on sale in North America.
Whereas the 2.0TFSI currently reaches 60 mph from a halt in an estimated 6.2 seconds via the Stronic transmission, the 3.2 Quattro gets there in 5.5 seconds. The 3.2’s exhaust note through the two blunderbusses is good only in lower and middle revs, while neither car really sets the world aflame sonically overall. Pity that, since it’s a glaring missed opportunity to our mode of thinking.
One positive aspect of North America having to wait until March ’07 for its TTs is that the roadster should be ready to ship by then as well. And then later on there are plans for a TT RS with a 345-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6.
Even with these upgrades on the two TTs tested here, pricing is said to remain almost equal to the outgoing 1.8T and 3.2 Quattro, so roughly $34,500 for a 2.0 TFSI coupe and $42,500 for the 3.2 Quattro. When there are roadsters, think $3000 more for each. All pricing will be confirmed later in the year.
Not that there’s any significant pressure or anything on the success of this TT packaging, but Germany has included it as an icon in their “Germany: Land of Ideas” campaign. Right there in front of the Brandenburg Gate—the symbol of the new Germany—is a large statue of the new TT. Bayer’s amazing aspirin is immortalized only over in the shadow of the nearby Reichstag building and a pair of Adidas soccer shoes is off in a green space somewhere.
In the end, the new TT is certainly less standout distinctive than its predecessor, but this is good. Now that the entire Audi lineup is at or beyond the standards set by the original TT, it was time to bring the TT mainstream while concentrating more on the driving dynamics. Whereas we really enjoy the 2.0TFSI version, the 3.2 Quattro is not where it should be yet. Limited as it is by mechanical stress concerns having to do with the gearbox, we don’t yet see the point of a big V-6 that doesn’t provide gobs more power and torque.
