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From YourSITE.com Reviews & Road Tests ...a tough act to follow. Truer words couldn’t be spoken when comparing the new second generation Audi TT to the first. The original TT was a design icon and quickly built up a strong cult following, especially in the UK where TT-based online forums and aftermarket specialty parts shops quickly sprang up following the car’s launch in 1999. The States were quick to follow and Audi registered strong sales in the initial years the TT was offered. No matter what Audi did with the second generation TT it was bound to be met with some skepticism from the first generation crowd.
We have to admit – it’s pretty hard to review the second generation TT without comparing it to the first. So let us get this out of the way right up front, the second generation TT is a more than worthy successor to the original. It is a better car dynamically, it is significantly lighter and stiffer and offers considerably more features. As for styling, it’s not the groundbreaking design the original one was, but second generations with established audiences rarely are. With the original, Audi used elements of the TT’s design to guide the corporate design language for that period. With the second generation model, it is obvious that the TT follows the new design language and has been designed to more closely emulate the new R8. If you look closely enough, you see that the TT shares more than a few design cues as well as interior parts with the new R8. The inner taillight design (which is also shared with the LeMans winning R10 TDI racecar) side view mirrors, seats, steering wheel, inside door latch handles, HVAC controls and some of the switchgear are common to both cars.
A car like this Roadster tester in Audi’s vibrant Brilliant Red with black roof with black interior weighs in at a base price of $44,500. Our particular speciment was very well equipped with the optional Audi Magnetic Ride Suspension ($1,400), Enhanced Interior Package ($1,25) which consisted of Fine Nappa Leather Seats and Interior trim pieces as well as under-seat storage system. This package was a very nice addition, as it included a leather-covered instrument cowl, leather-covered emergency brake handle, a small leather arm rest and leather seating surfaces instead of the standard Alcantara. Also included was the Audio Package ($1,000) which included Sirius satellite radio and the BOSE Premium Sound system, 18” Alloy wheels ($800), Bi-Xenon Adaptive Headlights ($800), Bluetooth Phone Preparation ($450) and the Audi Ipod Interface ($250). The standard features list is also impressive, with power seats, power roof, automatic retractable wind deflector, ESP/ASR, tire pressure monitoring system, Homelink, auto dimming mirrors all included within the base price on the 3.2 model. Most impressive of all of these features is the new Magnetic Ride suspension. The system relies on information from the variety of sensors already on the car (ESP etc.) that monitor vehicle body and wheel motion to relay information to a Can-Bus that sends information to the shocks in the form of electrical impulses that vary the viscosity of the magneto-rheological fluid-filled shocks to provide continuously variable real-time suspension damping control. The system comes with a center console-mounted “sport” button that provides an even firmer setting.
On the freeway we left the suspension in normal mode. Faced with cracked and pitted concrete highways, the TT was composed, soaking up good size hits with aplomb and providing a relatively high level of comfort. Push the “Sport” mode button, and the car firms up instantaneously. While not as smooth over these same pavement sections as the normal setting, Sport still provides decent ride comfort, more so than any aftermarket suspension we’ve sampled. Credit here also has to go to the new TT’s extremely stiff aluminum Audi Spoace Frame (ASF) chassis. The Roadster exhibited no real discernable cowl shake or shudder that we could detect.
On those tight, twisty back roads we all enjoy, Sport mode really shines. Credit for this also goes to the completely redesigned suspension, which includes a new multi-link rear suspension fitted to both the quattro and front-wheel drive versions of the car. It also helps that there has been significant weight reduction from the previous model -- over 200lbs. While a tad light at lower speeds, the TT’s steering weights up nicely as speeds increase and maintains its composure through the corners. It is also considerably sharper than the previous model, with decent amounts of feedback. Our Roadster was also fitted with run flat tires it’s suspected that these contributed to a bit of the vagueness of the steering when pushing the car really hard. Throw a good set of performance rubber on this car (which is available stock – as the runflats are an option) and that feeling would go away. While the car does understeer when pushed hard, you can still use the throttle to direct car much better than you could in the first generation TT. It seems the new generation Haldex system is considerably more active than the old, with the quattro system engaging quickly in these situations and letting the rear of the car contribute more to steering you around a bend. Overall, we were extremely impressed with how the new TT handled. It would be safe to say, the only modifications we’d seek here would be a set of Euro S-line springs to bring the car down about 20mm. While the wheel gap isn’t as huge as the previous model, it could use a bit of lowering to fill in the wheel wells.
Another nice touch is the two stage ESP/ASR fitted to the car. If you push the ESP button once, it switches the ASR off, which is traction control. This system uses the ABS braking sensors and also cuts the throttle electronically to maintain traction. If you hold the button down a few more seconds, it switches the entire ESP stability control system off. Since we didn’t have an opportunity to try the new TT on the track, it was difficult to tell how much difference turning off either system made on the street. Although the new TT is much more lavishly equipped than the original, a few of the new options weren’t perfect. While the seats themselves were excellent, and the 10-way power adjustability was nice, they lacked any memory option. That’s rarely seen at this price range.
Another frustrating thing was the iPod adaptor. The location in the glove box was great, but the integration isn’t nearly as slick as the Audi Music Interface (AMI) available in all MMI-equipped cars. AMI allows full use of the iPod with full song names and the ability to select artist, genre etc., but in the TT you’re limited to choosing up to six playlists. The headunit also doesn’t display artist or song titles either – but rather CD/track information. While we didn’t find any limit to the amount of songs you could have in a playlist, and the ability to control the headunit from the steering wheel controls was nice, in this price range, we’d prefer any iPod adaptor should mimic full functionality. Although our Roadster wasn’t equipped with the Navigation system, even that doesn’t incorporate full iPod functionality. After five days behind the wheel of the new TT, we walked away quite impressed with the vehicle overall. While the unique interior and exterior styling and individuality of the original TT is gone, that doesn’t diminish the fact that the new TT is a much better vehicle overall. It’s bigger, lighter, stiffer, faster and better equipped than its predecessor. The look is aggressive and fits nicely with the R8 and the A5/S5 coupes.
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