A SERIOUS SPORTS CAR
Audi finally has the pieces of puzzle right for the third-generation TT
Audi’s TT is one of those rare cars that keeps getting better. What was once more flash than substance (the first-generation TT) and later a slightly more serious attempt at Porsche Boxster-ness (the second generation) has morphed, as of its latest third incarnation, into something approaching a serious sports car.
That’s especially true of the latest TTS. Perhaps it’s middle-child syndrome — the 290-horsepower S version slots into the lineup between the still-a-little-soppy TT and the Cayman-R-in-disguise, 400-hp TT-RS. Or perhaps it’s simply the same transfusion of sportiness that the Audi family seems to have undergone, but the TTS more than nicely bridges the gap between playful little runabout and screaming track demon.
The TTS is a pretty sweet ride, its handling belying any remnants of its front-wheel-drive lineage and Audi’s propensity for far-forward weight distribution. Part of the reason is that the TTS enjoys brakebased torque vectoring and a chassis that is a combination steel and aluminum that Audi claims lowers the centre of gravity by 60 millimetres. The combination of torquevectored all-wheel drive and that lower centre of gravity has the TTS scooting down country roads with a verve that was missing in the first two generations. The TT can accelerate from rest to 100 km/h in just 4.9 seconds.
The power is transferred to all four wheels by Audi’s traditional six-speed dual-clutch transmission, which provides rapid and all but imperceptible gear changes.
Inside, the TT is updated with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as some audible parking alerts front and rear.
The highlight is Audi’s Virtual Cockpit. Essentially, the entire gauge set is one big (attractively shaped) 12.3-inch TFT screen and the display is anything you want to computerize. The highlight, for me, is that the whole screen can be turned into a map.
The navigation system is my one bone of contention with the TTS.
Audi wants us all to migrate to using the touchpad’s writing recognition system — one scripts the letters for the address you want into the top of the MMI knob — since inputting the same information via twiddling the MMI controller to the appropriate letters is particularly frustrating. The problem is that I can’t read my own writing, so how can I expect the Audi to fare any better?
Voice activation doesn’t do me any favours either. If I had a wish for the TT, it’s that Audi would give it a plain, old-fashioned touch screen so that I can input a destination in less time than it takes to drive there.
The rest of the interior brims with Audi impeccability. The leather is exquisite, and the fit and finish superb. The seating is firm but supportive, although the rear two perches, qualifying the TTS as a “2+2” rather than just a two-seater, are a bit of a joke. The rear seats make a convenient parcel shelf and, combined with the sizable, hatchback trunk makes the TTS the most practical of sports coupes.
More people complimented this TT than they did previous generations. While some competitors (Porsche’s 718) have changed little over the past few years, the TT has made a gradual march toward sporting seriousness. Now less of a squashed Volkswagen Beetle and more sleek sports coupe, Audi has got all the pieces of the puzzle right for the third-generation TT.