Audi’s TT coupé gets more oomph
TTS proves sporting but practical and there is a TTRS on the way
I’LL SPARE you from clichéd and overly-used words about how Audi broke the sportscar mould with its TT in 1998, and how the car’s playful shape has evolved through three generations into what you see here. That much is obvious.
The topic today is that the current TT, launched in South Africa almost a year ago, now comes with added spunk in TTS form. Not that the first models and their 169kW/370Nm 2-litre turbo engines weren’t already spunky. They were. They still are. When we drove them last year we were impressed with how Audi’s managed to hone in on the fun factor with this lighter, longer, lower incarnation. The quattro version we road tested zipped from zero to 100km/h in a peppy 5.8 seconds – just half-a-second off claimed times at sea level.
The TT comes with plenty of built-in performance. More than enough for most users. But this iteration, with its ‘S’ suffix takes things up a notch with a 2-litre engine boosted to 210kW and 380Nm. This, on top of lower and stiffer suspension, bigger 19” wheels (the only size available in our market), and better brakes.
Updates are plentiful, but the overall driving experience isn’t wildly different from the base TT quattro. Yes, the extra power underfoot is evident, and it’s a little louder – especially with active exhaust flaps set to their open position. The ride is definitely firmer too, but with the normal TT already such a nicely balanced package, it was wise for Audi to not toy too much with the general feel of things.
As with every S model in history, the TTS comes with quattro allwheel drive as standard, but it’s hardly the front-biased and therefore understeery system it used to be. New electrohydraulic clutches in the centre-diff apportion more power to the rear wheels more of the time, meaning the car can, at times, handle with rear-wheel-drive characteristics. Audi says if the road surface is right it can even drift, but unless your first name is Ken and surname’s Block, I’d say it’s better to just let the system do its own thing scything through corners with grippy four-wheel traction.
A magnetic ride-adjustable suspension also comes as standard kit, but its hardest Dynamic setting is too harsh for normal day-to-day use. I dialled in the softest Comfort mode, which is still quite firm, and left it there for the duration of my week-long test.
The steering and transmission shift points are also tunable, but these too were left in Comfort or intermediate (Auto) settings.
The raciest presets are nice to have on those occasions when traffic clears and (glass smooth) roads twist, but they’re really too aggressive for most situations.
The TTS’s 210kW might seem a bit tame compared to the absurd outputs other high-performance 2-litre turbos are making today, but it’s able to harness what it’s got to work with well. Where other markets get manual gearbox options, all South African TTs come with S-tronic (DSG) automatic transmissions only. No complaints here. It’s hard to imagine gears changing any smoother or faster than they do in this six-speeder, and if its natural shift points aren’t happening when you want (very unlikely) there are steering paddles to override with.
A standard issue and extremely easy to use launch-control system makes for idiot-proof blast-offs from standing starts. When engaged the engine builds revs before dumping power to the road via all four wheels.
After a brief squat, the 1 230kg TTS hurls itself off the line and charges down the road like a spooked springhaas. We recorded a series of 0-100km/h sprints at exactly five seconds flat (Audi claims 4.8), and covered the quarter-mile in a best 13.3 seconds – matching the times of some of those aforementioned absurdly powerful 2-litres like A45 and CLA45 AMG.
The TTS’s cabin is quite confined, as it rightfully should be as a sportscar, and even though it’s officially a four-seater, the tiny rear buckets are better used as parcel shelves than actual passenger places.
Their backs fold flat to create a reasonably large cargo area, and I managed to fit two bags of golf clubs in there with room to spare. I tend to adjust seats in most cars to their lowest settings when behind the wheel, but here the range of movement goes far below where I’m comfortable. Relatively high window sills sit at shoulder height even for tall drivers, exaggerating the illusion of seating position depth.
After first driving the current TT at its launch last February, I questioned Audi’s decision to eliminate a central display screen, leaving all system controls to the driver via the new Virtual Cockpit interface. The interface itself – a 31cm wide full colour TFT instrument cluster – is quite the conversation piece, especially in its full-screen navigation mode, but can be quite distracting when trying to negotiate its very involved series of menus.
I did, however, make peace with most of its complexities after a week of use, and also discovered that passengers can (sort of) work some fea- tures by leaning to the right and peering into the binnacle behind the wheel.
Audi’s also done a fine job of modernising voice control (an old system often dismissed as a gimmick in other cars), and with the TT it works quite well. I managed to in- put my home address as a destination, searched local restaurants, and made phone calls with it quite easily. VERDICT The TTS takes an already good TT package and injects it with more performance. The added power is welcome and knocks a bunch off