2009 Audi TTS - Specifications - First Drive

By some margin, the TTS is the most agile, fastest, and most entertaining TT of all, and you can thread together corners with real fluency and verve. Here, at last, is a TT that delivers big smiles with fast miles. But its elevation into Porsche territory (in Europe, the roadster version costs more than a base Boxster, and the coupe isn't all that far short of a Cayman) throws up new challenges. We now find ourselves comparing the TTS with two of the finest-handling and best-driving cars of all, and the comparison doesn't flatter the TTS. The steering of the Audi lacks the feedback or fluency of those mid-engine Porsches, never mind that it's accurate and progressively weighted. The chassis lacks the delicious deftness of the Porsches, especially at big speed. And the turbo four, though a fine engine, doesn't serenade you like a flat-six trumpeting a few inches behind your spine.

Yet the TTS is a car of great appeal. It's fast, easy to drive, handles well, and has prodigious road-holding. Plus it possesses, in spades, those qualities that have always made the TT so desirable. Namely, that distinctive, pert style-though it's a pity the original TT looks more Bauhaus-distinctive than does the follow-up-and a fine cabin, black-and-alloy, designed and finished as only Audi can. Alluring exterior modifications over lesser TTs include front LED light strips that smile day or night, quadruple musket-size exhausts finished in alloy, handsome 18-inch (19s are optional) wheels, deeper sills, and a metallic grille complete with big, nostril-like air intakes. Cabin improvements include more brushed aluminum, gray-faced instruments whose white needles perform a fashionable flick before start-up, and handsome Alcantara-and-leather seats. The TTS's cabin is a good place to spend time.

So Audi has boosted the catwalk appeal of its fashion icon, while elevating it into the serious fast-car league. It may not be a Porsche-beater. But it is a fine sports car and, by some margin, the best TT yet.