Introduced first in 1998, the Audi TT became an instant hit among the car design connoisseurs and has earned the honour of being a modern classic during the course of its three generation old history. Maintaining its compact, distinguished and fresh new take on design in the rather serious world of Audi cars, the TT has succeeded in becoming one of the most popular templates of a lightweight sports car in the modern era.
In its latest avatar, the TT gets underpinned by VW group’s MQB architecture which also works underneath cars such as the VW Golf, Audi A3 and Skoda Octavia. The MQB platform essentially offers a FWD layout with the flexibility of being able to adopt a four-wheel drive system.
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The new TT is the most compact car within the VW group to employ the platform.
Spunkier, more chiselled than ever, and boasting an interior which both users and critics have been raving about, the TT has been re-imagined to be more desirable and enjoyable than ever in its newest iteration. Here’s our detailed review.
Design and style
In a world where every successive model is getting longer and wider, the TT has managed to shrink in size, even with an extension in its wheelbase by 37mm. The new TT is very marginally shorter and narrower than the model it replaces, though it doesn’t look like it. Advanced aluminium and steel construction has shaved off about 50 kg from the car’s weight, making it lighter, nimbler and more efficient too.
In its latest form, the TT stands true to its original shape and proportions, and there is no mistaking it for anything else. It’s as distinctive in form as say a 911, or a Mini, which is a daunting feat for a car with a much shorter history. While the original TT was quite curvy and more bean-shaped, the MY 2015 car is more rakish, sculpted and sharply styled than any of its predecessors.
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Up front, the new TT gets a hexagonal Audi single frame grille with pronounced corners and glossy plastic innards featuring seven horizontal and six vertical stripes. The grille is flanked by aggressively styled, angular air scoops with a honeycomb mesh within. The front bumper also features a wide, though narrow slit beneath the grille for enhanced aggressiveness and a visually wider, squatter stance.
The bonnet lip is angled sharply, with deliberately pronounced, gapped shut-lines to underline what has always been a TT signature. The small surface between the grille and the edgy headlamps almost forms a mini air-scoop under the bonnet’s shut line. The razor sharp headlights are relentlessly angular, feature sharply styled DRLs, and share styling cues with the upcoming second generation R8.
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On the sides, flared wheel arches and the signature gap between the front fender and the bonnet is present as ever to lend the TT its most unmistakable styling cue. The shut-line curves around the fender as it always has in the past. The bonnet-line extends as a pronounced, tight crease all the way back into the car’s tail-lamps.
Other notable elements on the sides include the 18 inch 10 spoke wheels, the aircraft style, TT embossed, aluminium finish fuel tank cap and that forcefully dropping coupe roofline. The area under the door sills extends out and gets a bulge towards the rear for that added dash of sportiness.
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At the rear, the low, wide and squat stance of the car underlines its sporty character. The LED tail lamps, emulating the sharply styled theme of the headlamps are joined by an array of LED brake lights spanning the width of the boot-lid. The Audi emblem is flanked by TT lettering on the left and 45TFSI quattro badging on the right. Under the rear bumper, a pronounced, blacked out surface housing twin, round exhausts signifies the car’s performance oriented personality. Then there are diffusers to let the trailing traffic know the pedigree of the car ahead.
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The TT in its newest iteration has not lost even an ounce of its signature disposition. Staying true to its template, the new TT has evolved into the most muscular, chiselled and aggressive version of the sports car to date.
Engine, performance & driving dynamics
The 2.0 TFSI engine on the TT is designed as a dual character mill, meant to offer everyday usability while also packing a punch. Thanks to its high compression ratio and efficient combustion, the engine really delivers not just on performance and usability parameters, but is highly fuel efficient too. During our test run of nearly 300 km, we saw an average efficiency of nearly 10kmpl, even with some spirited driving. Now that’s an impressive number in the real world for a car that boasts 227 bhp (4500 rpm) of power, 370 Nm of torque (1600 rpm), sprints to 100 from a standstill in 5.3 seconds and is capable of breaching the 250 km/h mark. And just in case you thought that wasn’t enough, the new TT also produces 11 percent less emissions than the version it replaces.
2015 Audi TT 2.0 TFSI India review
Lighter, faster and more involving than ever, the new TT is the first model carrying the nameplate that truly has the performance to match its personality. Transmission is taken care of by a 6-speed dual clutch S-Tronic automatic, which is quick and efficient as ever and plays perfect foil to that rev happy, torquey, turbo charged engine. All that power is laid down onto the tar via a revised Quattro AWD, offering great levels of all-weather grip, fantastic agility and loads of smiles, with some help from that short wheelbase.
The engine loves being revved, and offers a heady discharge of torque from lower down the rev range to make the new TT both tractable at low revs and exciting once you decide to bury the pedal. The engine is incredibly smooth with a muffled sporty tone till mid revs, after which it gets enjoyably loud, particularly in Dynamic mode where the engine sound is amplified and is clearly audible inside the cabin. At no point does the 2.0 litre four cylinder engine resist being taken all the way up to its 6750 rpm redline.
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A finely balanced engine, with the right blend of smoothness, sporty aural notes, great performance, and practical everyday efficiency, the 2.0 TFSI propelling the TT impresses with its versatility.
The TT comes equipped with Audi’s progressive steering system, allowing for a more direct steering ratio at higher speeds. The steering, although light, especially in comfort mode is fairly precise. While it weighs up more in the Dynamic mode, it’s still lighter than what you’d expect in cars of this category. It’s not vague or numb by any measure though, and rewards enthusiastic driving by letting you place the car on the road precisely with almost negligible understeer. While not too direct, or heavy, the steering on the TT feels incredibly precise with decent feel and feedback, and adds to the car’s agile and racy character. At a speed of 120 km/h the rear a spoiler extends from the trunk lid to improve both air resistance and downforce.
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Audi’s drive select system lets you choose from Comfort, Dynamic, Efficiency and Auto modes – quite self explanatory, those names. You can, however, set the car up according to your personal preferences using the Individual mode which lets you fine tune the steering, suspension and transmission of the car in an even more fine-grained manner. In addition to tuning the aforementioned three parameters, the drive select system, for the first time, also adjusts the all-wheel drive system on Quattro models, to allow for a sportier drive in Dynamic Mode. Air conditioner load and throttle response from the sharp S-tronic transmission is adjusted based on the mode selected.
In terms of ride quality, the TT impresses with its supple suspension in comfort mode, which should be the mode you drive this sports coupe on most occasions, in India at least. Offering an absorbent, yet fairly firm ride in Comfort mode, the TT has the capability to take the rude challenges thrown by the Indian roads in its stride quite ably, even while wearing those low profile 245/40 R 18 shoes.
