2008 Audi TT Roadster Road Test

Style without substance. There, I said it. Now that the old TT is dead andburied, I can get it off my chest that one of the prettiest, most stylish cars to ever wear the four rings was a bit one-dimensional. I'm not quite sure why this was the case, as Audi's previous sporting two door, the Coupe Quattro was all about substance. While the TT was a true landmark in style, it felt as if the mechanical bits were secondary to its purposeful exterior. For a car designed to compete with the world's finest roadsters, it blew them away in the touchy-feely categories, but not quite enough was done to mask its genetic ties to the Golf (and for that matter the Jetta and New Beetle). Because of this, the TT was snubbed, and became known to the world as a lowly hatchback in
The new TT is more than just a pretty face. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)a pretty cocktail dress. Audi's attempts to fortify it with cutting edge technology, such as the twin-clutch DSG gearbox, certainly helped, but it was too small a bandage for its flawed underpinnings. I might sound a little on the harsh side, but that's because I've just driven the new TT which, besides looking the part, drives the part too.Perhaps what made the TT such an important vehicle in automotive design was its purity. The
Adding the corporate grille and angular headlamps means that the new TT is less pure as a design, but much more aggressive looking. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)usual sports car resume of intakes, vents and grates were absent from its body, leaving a clean exterior but for its pumped up fenders. Back then it was a beautiful car, and for that matter it's still a beautiful car today. From the time it was launched, it was an instant classic, and surprisingly, almost a decade on it hasn't dated one bit. Moving forward a generation and there's no mistaking the family resemblance. The new TT
Power top and power wind deflector are both standard on the TT Roadster. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)is also a beautiful car, if not as breathtaking in design as the original. It's now uni-directional; its nose is sharp, and almost snake-like with its angled headlamps and that wide, trapezoidal grille neatly placed between its oversized fender flares. And despite being longer, it looks no bigger than the car it replaces. It appears just as expensive too. Between the Coupe and the Roadster, it's the open topped car that is closest to the original, as it retains the bubble-top roof and the brushed metal rollover hoops. For
The cabin is more driver-oriented, but loses none of the excellent detailing. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)all the hours of wind tunnel testing that Audi did on the old TT, its top engineers did not figure that at higher speeds it would be a tricky car to drive due to the shape of the previous car's fastback. The solution that resulted was simple; a small, fixed rear spoiler that sat at its tail. Parked, or at low speeds, you might think that Audi solved the stability issue on the new car with some sort of underbody trickery, but no. The spoiler remains, but only rises when it's needed to provide the necessary downforce. Otherwise, it tucks away to preserve the clean look of the tail.Like a 911
Snow's no problem with quattro all-wheel drive. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)or a Chrysler Crossfire, pushing a button on the console can manually raise it for no other purpose than to shamelessly show off. With no headliner latches to disengage, the TT's tiny cloth top drops in twelve seconds, and rises back up in fourteen, plus it can do this at speeds of up to 25 mph. The ability to raise and lower the roof while in motion is invaluable, allowing drivers to avoid those embarrassing stoplight moments. The roof also folds neatly, avoiding the need for an extra tonneau cover, while saving weight and operating complexities. With the roof up, it's downright surprising how well insulated the TT is at all speeds. It might be hard
3.2-liter V6 is packed in there nice and tight. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)to believe, but the high-quality mesh lining keeps everything as quiet as the hardtop. Perhaps more impressively is the fact that the TT Roadster isn't available with the so-called Acoustic Roof that debuted on the facelifted A4 Cabriolet, though I could swear that it's just as quiet. Not that most people hinge the purchase of a roadster on its practicality, but the trunk space in the drop-top TT isn't at all bad. When it's folded, the roof resides in its own compartment, which means that the 8.8 cubic feet volume is the same, whether the roof is up or down. There's also a clever little pass-through for carrying skis or snowboards, and a couple of concealed cubbies on the rear panel behind the seats.
With heated seats and the heater on full blast, the TT is a car you can drive in the winter with the top down. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)Overall, the Roadster isn't as voluminous as the hatchback, but for an open-top two-seater it's impressive. The interior of the previous TT was very much like its exteriorin that it was stunning to look at, with attention to detail only topped by oh, maybe Rolls Royce or Bentley. It had a handcrafted appearance created by its brushed metal air vents, the padded aluminum spars, the embossed stereo faceplate cover, and if optioned, the thick “baseball” stitching on the leather seats. On the contrary, it was less than perfect as an interface; the flat face of the dashboard was too upright, and the controls were too small and too fiddly. The new cabin is far more ergonomically sound, in that it's much more of a cockpit
Watch the needle wind up to 60 mph from stop in 5.5 seconds with S tronic... (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)and less like a cabin. The dashboard and console are canted towards the driver, and the new HVAC controls, while smaller still, are easier to operate. The new TT brings in a few new décor touches like the (optional) leather instrument cowling, handbrake lever/armrest and console, as well as the flat-bottom steering wheel. These items are combined with the TT Roadster's now trademark baseball stitched leather seats, gorgeous, and those aluminum vents for a link to the past, and whileit's still the best interior in class bar none, I'll miss the atmosphere of the old car. Still, when it comes down to getting in and driving, the new TT is a world apart, and for the better. Two engines are available for purchase on the new TT, the 2.0T and the 3.2-liter V6, neither of which are engines we haven't
... but the manual transmission is more satisfying to drive. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)seen before. The former is the same as might be found in the A3 and A4, with direct injection and a turbocharger, producing a sum total of 200 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. It's only available in front-wheel drive and with the famous twin-clutch gearbox – no manual, nor quattro. The V6 is the same six-cylinder engine as on the old car, going through without any mechanical changes. It's only available with quattro all-wheel drive, although for the first time in North America it can be had with a six-speedmanual (or S Tronic twin-clutch). Compared to the 2.0T, it makes 50 extra horsepower and is accompanied by a noise that makes hearts flutter. And speaking of “noises”, the guttural, almost Alfa Romeo-like symphony is produced through an exhaust system that doesn't have any acoustic aids, such as baffles or by-pass chambers. In accordance with
Magnetic suspension means even the roughest roads are actually quite comfortable. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)Audi's new “tronic” gearbox naming system, the DSG gearbox is now called S Tronic instead of DSG, VW's designation. The automatic is “Tiptronic”, the CVT “Multitronic”, and the pure sequential transmission of the R8 is called “R tronic”. Why Audi chose to rename it is silly as everyone knows what a DSG transmission is, and, most likely, they'll continue to refer to it as DSG, despite Audi's best wishes. S tronic is as wonderful as it's ever been, with lightning quick up shifts when you're blazing about and smooth gear changes when you're heading to and from work. It also shaves 0.2seconds off the official 0-60 mph time (5.5 seconds), improves the fuel economy while reducing the carbon dioxide emissions over the manual. However wonderful this robotized transmission is, it still doesn't beat the six-speed manual that's available to V6 buyers for driver appeal. This gearbox is so wonderfully
Aluminum roll bars, fuel filler cap and the general shape are pure TT. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)slick and crisp that it provides the right amount of resistance when flicking through its short throws to put an ear-to-ear grin on your face. The pedals are placed just perfectly for heel-toe shifting, putting the driver one step closer to absolute bliss. S tronic might be brainy enough to out-do a human on most counts of driving, but it's not the cleverest component of the TT. This title might very well go to the chassis, the skeleton that everything else hangs on. The TT is no longer a derivative of the VAG A-series architecture, but rather thisone's completely unique and uses an engineered-from-scratch ASF aluminum-steel space frame hybrid. In this case, steel is not used because it's cheaper per se, but because steel is heavier and helps to even out the car's weight distribution, which in turn improves the way it feels and how it performs. If that isn't thinking outside the box, I don't know what is. In order not to repeat the floppy performance
3D tail lamps are a nice added touch. So is the retractable rear spoiler. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)of the old Roadster, the new car receives key reinforcements to its underside. There's more steel in the Roadster's chassis than in the Coupe in the form of ruddy big braces to prevent it from twisting under the stresses of bumps and G-forces, but a good portion of the front and middle sections are made from reinforced stamped aluminum. Audi reckons that the Roadster is 120-percent stiffer than the old car, which is very apparent when you get behind the wheel. Its small dimensions combine with the stronger design for a car that is rock solid under all circumstances, no matter how hard you're pushing orhow bad the road. Where the old car wobbled in the bends and shimmied over bumps, the new car glides with true confidence and solidity. The icing on this TT-shaped cake happens to be that comparatively speaking, by using aluminum, Audi saved 165 pounds of weight from the frame alone. Actually, I take that back, because there's yet another clever trick up the TT's sleeve. For the first time, the TT is available with magnetic dampers,
An all-weather sports car that won't dissapoint. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)which were first seen on the RS4, and if you're going to purchase a TT, this $1,400 option is an absolute must. It's not that the standard setup is bad, as without the fancy damping the TT's ride is much more composed than the previous car, and has a fair bit of absorbency, but with the magnetic ride it's a whole world apart. Inside the damper, instead of inert gas, there's oil with magnetically charged particles in it. When the electromagnets surrounding the damper chambers areturned on, the particles charge in milliseconds to give the fluid a more viscous consistence yielding a firmer ride for the Sport mode. These shocks assuage the too-stiff nature of the old TT, and give the new car what I must say is the best ride in its class when Sport mode is off. This is a sports car that's very comfortable and easy to live with day in and day out. Push the button located at the base of the transmission tunnel, and the difference can instantly be felt; every little crack and crevice is transferred directly to your backside, and there's less body roll too, yet it's still not too firm to use on city streets.