I've had one for about 6 months now, and it's been an interesting relationship. Usually I know if I like a car straight away, and that's pretty easily surmised by whether the sound of the engine blows out ear drums.
The Audi TT is a curious beast. On my very first go in the car the thing which stood out was the cockpit view and driving position along with all the oval dials, it was quite unlike any other car I had owned and felt a bit like a Le Mans GT car but in miniature. I liked it.
The next stand out feature was the engine, it's very good. I have the 2.0 litre turbo which out of the factory belted out 225hp. That's quite a lot for a 2 litre engine, mine is 10 years old and most of that power is still there, I've not dyno'd it or anything like that but the car still gets to 60 quicker than most of the other road cars I've driven except for super cars. The book says 6.5 seconds, and that feels about right.
For the first couple of months of owning it I had terrible trouble with speeding, after 2 years driving a diesel the throttle responsiveness was impressive to say the least - and I did most journeys at 20-30 mph above my intended travel speed quite by accident. I have got used to it now.
When you put your foot down in a TT you know the car is capable of going extremely quick, quicker than it is safe or prudent to do so. And herein lies the first real problem: I can belt along the local country roads at 70, 90 or even in excess of 100 - but the car will go quicker.
The car will get airbourne on one particular section of local road at those speeds and the stiffness does make for scary grinding noises as you land, but apart from that no matter how quick I go the car feels like it would go a lot faster if I didn't have to think about horses, tractors, or dog walkers around the next bend - so no matter how quickly I take corners or how much loud pedal I use, the car just isn't as much fun as it could be if only it was a bit more crap.
The second problem with the TT is it's drive wheels. It's a "fulltime 4 wheel drive" according to Audi, but it's actually a Haldex clutch system with 95% power going to the front wheels except when slipping whereupon power is then transferred back. This system is utterly pointless.
For one, it's hard to predict on which wheels your power is going to go down at the very moment when you are on the edge of grip, so the software takes over and ensures that if you do break the limits you get understeer. So essentially the car is a front wheel drive once you are moving but has more traction when pulling away off the line.
The other downside of the drive system is it's weight, it puts so much extra mass into the car that in the final count it's only a few kg lighter than a Seat Leon with the same engine - so is it even a sports car?
I've driven sports cars with smaller engines that where much more fun, and I've driven heavier sports cars with massive engines that ruined knickers, but the Audi TT is neither of these things, it isn't really a sports car. It's a big heavy SUV mated to a sports car.
But it is a 2 seeter, well that is to say that it's got a tiny rear bench seat which gives the car enough seating for two lesbians and their cat, it's basically nice trim to delineate between the cockpit and the boot space.
The traction control and EPS is nice, but you have to be stationary to turn it off which is a pain in the ass. I appreciate that they need to make buttons like that work in such a way that you can't turn them off by accident - but when it snows and I want to arrive into my parking space at work backwards then I expect a sports car to damn well let me, instead of juddering like ping pong ball on a washing machine the moment that the handbrake is applied.
Overall a car that I at times love, and other times regret. If they ditched the four wheel drive then it would be a lot more fun.
The Audi TT is a curious beast. On my very first go in the car the thing which stood out was the cockpit view and driving position along with all the oval dials, it was quite unlike any other car I had owned and felt a bit like a Le Mans GT car but in miniature. I liked it.
The next stand out feature was the engine, it's very good. I have the 2.0 litre turbo which out of the factory belted out 225hp. That's quite a lot for a 2 litre engine, mine is 10 years old and most of that power is still there, I've not dyno'd it or anything like that but the car still gets to 60 quicker than most of the other road cars I've driven except for super cars. The book says 6.5 seconds, and that feels about right.
For the first couple of months of owning it I had terrible trouble with speeding, after 2 years driving a diesel the throttle responsiveness was impressive to say the least - and I did most journeys at 20-30 mph above my intended travel speed quite by accident. I have got used to it now.
When you put your foot down in a TT you know the car is capable of going extremely quick, quicker than it is safe or prudent to do so. And herein lies the first real problem: I can belt along the local country roads at 70, 90 or even in excess of 100 - but the car will go quicker.
The car will get airbourne on one particular section of local road at those speeds and the stiffness does make for scary grinding noises as you land, but apart from that no matter how quick I go the car feels like it would go a lot faster if I didn't have to think about horses, tractors, or dog walkers around the next bend - so no matter how quickly I take corners or how much loud pedal I use, the car just isn't as much fun as it could be if only it was a bit more crap.
The second problem with the TT is it's drive wheels. It's a "fulltime 4 wheel drive" according to Audi, but it's actually a Haldex clutch system with 95% power going to the front wheels except when slipping whereupon power is then transferred back. This system is utterly pointless.
For one, it's hard to predict on which wheels your power is going to go down at the very moment when you are on the edge of grip, so the software takes over and ensures that if you do break the limits you get understeer. So essentially the car is a front wheel drive once you are moving but has more traction when pulling away off the line.
The other downside of the drive system is it's weight, it puts so much extra mass into the car that in the final count it's only a few kg lighter than a Seat Leon with the same engine - so is it even a sports car?
I've driven sports cars with smaller engines that where much more fun, and I've driven heavier sports cars with massive engines that ruined knickers, but the Audi TT is neither of these things, it isn't really a sports car. It's a big heavy SUV mated to a sports car.
But it is a 2 seeter, well that is to say that it's got a tiny rear bench seat which gives the car enough seating for two lesbians and their cat, it's basically nice trim to delineate between the cockpit and the boot space.
The traction control and EPS is nice, but you have to be stationary to turn it off which is a pain in the ass. I appreciate that they need to make buttons like that work in such a way that you can't turn them off by accident - but when it snows and I want to arrive into my parking space at work backwards then I expect a sports car to damn well let me, instead of juddering like ping pong ball on a washing machine the moment that the handbrake is applied.
Overall a car that I at times love, and other times regret. If they ditched the four wheel drive then it would be a lot more fun.
and believe me, that's the one. They are even trying to ruing our Lambos doing the same shit with them, to make them safer, greener and bla bla bla trying to sacrifice things that they shouldn't.
