First Drive: 2009 Audi TTS

Not many cars become motoring metaphors like 2009 Audi TTS. The 3 Series, for instance, is shorthand for a small sporting sedan. The 7 Series is still known as "BMW's S-Class," so powerful is the brand of the top-drawer Benz. And if Motor Trend ran a headline talking about Kia's Corvette, we'd know what sort of car the Koreans had in mind.

So when Land Rover discreetly referred to its LRX concept car at the Detroit auto show as "our TT," we knew precisely what they meant. TT is shorthand for distinctive, design-led, jewel-like, small, and sporty. One of the best and most original pieces of product styling of the 1990s-and we're not just talking about automobiles-the TT has done wonders for the sale of small sports cars and for Audi's sport standing.

And yet the TT still appeals to those who put design before driving. Though loved by the fashion set, it's never had the same cachet with the fast-car contingent. While Porsche and BMW build real-beef sportsters, the TT is the quiche of quick cars.

So, soon after Audi had its first tilt at Porsche-and you can't get much more ambitious in the sports car world than that-with its 911-busting R8, now it's having another go with the TTS. The TT is no longer just a pretty boy. (Odd that Audi is tackling Porsche just as Porsche buys a majority stake in Audi's owner Volkswagen, but that's another issue.)

This new TT goes up against Boxsters and lower-end Caymans. It's more accelerative than either, thanks to its punchy 265-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbo engine, a development of the direct-injection entry-level 200-horse TT unit. The 0-to-62 dash takes just 5.2 seconds, helped by the brilliant fast-changing S-tronic paddle-shift gearbox, formerly known as DSG. It's quicker than the Euro-standard six-speed conventional manual (not offered in the U.S.) and delivers better gas mileage, too.

That highly efficient four-cylinder engine has been completely redesigned for the TTS. Capacity (1984 cc) is the same, but we find a reinforced block, a new head (in aluminum-silicon alloy), strengthened innards, a big-vane Garrett variable turbocharger, and the requisite remapping. It's a sweet-revving, light, and willing engine that provides real kick when accelerating down twisting roads(as we experienced on test in Germany) and yet can surf along on a wave of torque on the freeway, big power just a toe-flick away. Maximum torque is constant from 2500 to 5000 rpm.

It's an easy car to drive briskly, always a forte with the TT. The S-tronic gearbox is auto-transmission simple, the steering is light, visibility is surprisingly good for a car that places your backside just a foot or so above the road, and handling is secure in the wet or the dry thanks to the standard quattro four-wheel drive. Handling of the Mk2 TT as launched two years ago is, on all models, way better than the original's, mostly thanks to its new alloy-and-steel spaceframe chassis-commendably light and stiff-and also to its new four-link rear suspension. On the TTS, the whole show is further improved by specially modified magnetic variable-rate dampers-iron particles in the oil change its viscosity in the presence of a magnetic field-tuned by a "sport" setting that firms the dampers and also lowers the car by 10 mm (0.39 inch). Springs and anti-roll bars are also stiffer than on the regular TT. Responses on winding roads are sharpened noticeably, though in "S" mode, the TTS bobs and pitches with just a bit too much hyperactivity. Better to take out the strain and choose the "normal" setting for long journeys.

By some margin, the TTS is the most agile, fastest, and most entertaining TT of all, and you can thread together corners with real fluency and verve. Here, at last, is a TT that delivers big smiles with fast miles. But its elevation into Porsche territory (in Europe, the roadster version costs more than a base Boxster, and the coupe isn't all that far short of a Cayman) throws up new challenges. We now find ourselves comparing the TTS with two of the finest-handling and best-driving cars of all, and the comparison doesn't flatter the TTS. The steering of the Audi lacks the feedback or fluency of those mid-engine Porsches, never mind that it's accurate and progressively weighted. The chassis lacks the delicious deftness of the Porsches, especially at big speed. And the turbo four, though a fine engine, doesn't serenade you like a flat-six trumpeting a few inches behind your spine.

Yet the TTS is a car of great appeal. It's fast, easy to drive, handles well, and has prodigious road-holding. Plus it possesses, in spades, those qualities that have always made the TT so desirable. Namely, that distinctive, pert style-though it's a pity the original TT looks more Bauhaus-distinctive than does the follow-up-and a fine cabin, black-and-alloy, designed and finished as only Audi can. Alluring exterior modifications over lesser TTs include front LED light strips that smile day or night, quadruple musket-size exhausts finished in alloy, handsome 18-inch (19s are optional) wheels, deeper sills, and a metallic grille complete with big, nostril-like air intakes. Cabin improvements include more brushed aluminum, gray-faced instruments whose white needles perform a fashionable flick before start-up, and handsome Alcantara-and-leather seats. The TTS's cabin is a good place to spend time.

So Audi has boosted the catwalk appeal of its fashion icon, while elevating it into the serious fast-car league. It may not be a Porsche-beater. But it is a fine sports car and, by some margin, the best TT yet.



[source:MotorTrend]