Reviews
Gallery17
MOTOR review
“In a few years, we will replace the TT with a new emotive model… with an electric car.” Those are the words of Audi’s management board chair, Bram Schot, this year that sealed the fate of the TT sports coupe. And that’s a shame, because a re-acquaintance with the Audi TT S has reminded us that it’s a very capable car.
For a start, it feels faster than its claimed 4.7sec 0-100km/h run would suggest, with 210kW and 380Nm at the ready for all four wheels to take advantage of thanks to Audi’s quattro permanent all-wheel drive system.
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That feeling of speed carries through to its cornering, as long as you approach a corner humanely. Hit the apex and you can hammer the fast pedal to shoot out onto the post-corner road and find yourself travelling at the speed limit rather quickly.
Once you find the right balance between lock and throttle it’s incredibly fast, it just needs to be driven with the right approach. It corners flat when suspension is set to Sport, with little body roll but enough feedback to let you know where the traction limit is.
If you’re understeering in this car, you’re just not driving it properly. In fact, even wet roads don’t hold back its traction and brutal speed, though traction control comes on to stamp out any wildness if you’re shifting weight too quickly in tight corners.
The S-Tronic DCT gearbox isn’t the brightest if left to its own devices, but paddles will allow you to keep the revs where they need to be – often in 3rd gear at around 5000rpm. It only has six gears, and that’s all it needs.
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Then there’s the interior, which is incredibly elegant and sensible for a car at the $100K mark.
Heated front seats, Nappa leather and a 12-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system (which comes in handy, but we’ll get to that) are some additions to the TT S, which Audi says has “more than $8500” in extra kit over its predecessor. It certainly feels premium enough inside to justify the pricetag, especially compared to other cars in its price bracket (bar maybe the slightly pricier Porsche Cayman).
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Even on the outside, the Audi TT straddles a line between sleek sports car and stylish city dweller that draws admiration from all sorts. We lost count of how many compliments our orange test car received.
Unfortunately, as with all things, the TT S isn’t perfect. The way it looks inside and out isn’t quite as elegant as its engine note. It’s not a bad sound, but it’s not incredibly inspiring. There is, however, a certain level of aggro (albeit seemingly manufactured) to its sound once you bump the selector into Sport mode.
Once you’re in Sport mode, you’ll probably notice the ride becomes rather harsh, and a lack of adequate damping between the suspension and cabin means both jitters and road noise make their way to your backside and your ears (which is where the sound system comes in handy).
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Comfort settings go some way to lowering the ride discomfort, but doesn’t go quite far enough. It does, however, make for some exciting body movement at full attack.
If you want the thrum of the engine (and its power) at their best without the stiff ride and heavier steering, there’s an Individual mode for custom arrangements. Having said that, the TTS is one of few cars that seem to be better to steer with Sport mode on once you’re getting enthusiastic, as Comfort isn’t quite precise enough for hard cornering. If you want a challenge, set everything to Sport except steering and suspension, which should be in Comfort, and hit a twisty road.
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It’s tempting to compare the TT S to the VW Golf R with which it’s closely related, but the two clearly target different people. Sure, if you want the speed and don’t care too much about the ‘sports car’ factor or styling, you would take the Golf R, but if you want the eye-catching nature of the TT, a hatch won’t cut it.
Is that worth the extra $45,000? That’s subjective, but the world of designer goods says people are willing to pay more for something that suits their style. It’s just that maybe there aren’t enough people paying for the TT S’s style, and that’s why this might be one of our last encounters.
MOREMOTOR reviews
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AUDI TT S COUPE SPECS
- Engine: 1984cc inline-4, DOHC, 16v, turbo
- Power: 210kW @ 6200rpm
- Torque: 380Nm @ 1800rpm
- Weight: 1405kg
- 0-100km/h: 4.7sec (claimed)
- Price: $99,900
Likes: Looks elegant but sporting; quick regardless of weather; interior
Dislikes: Might not excite rear-drive fans; ride is too firm; S-Tronic not the cleverest
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Second opinion: Wheels first drive review
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Wheels has been at the forefront of Australian motoring media since 1953, creating quality, credible content that consumers trust, and taking readers behind the scenes of the automotive industry.
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Updated all-wheel-drive coupe now offers better value and more liveability
By: Andy Enright
Overall Rating
Plus & Minus
Plus: All-weather ability; acoustics; interior finish
Minus: Firm ride; no rear-biased drive system; four-cylinder engine lacks charisma of a six
The Wheels Verdict: We’re not afraid of an unpopular verdict at Wheels and the Audi TT S is one of those sports coupes that ‘real drivers’ find unfashionable. Drive the latest car back to back with its key rivals and you’ll discover that most of the time it’s quicker, just as capable, nearly as much fun and a whole lot better inside. If you’re not afraid of thinking a little outside your lane, there’s a lot to like here.
WHAT IS IT?
Put simply, the Audi TT S quattro coupe could well be the most convincing sports car Audi makes with an engine at the front. Pitching into the market at a squeak below $100K, the TT S coupe significantly undercuts the Porsche 718 Cayman but is quicker and better finished. So why doesn’t it sell like hot cakes? Read on.
WHY WE'RE TESTING IT
Audi has refreshed the TT S for the 2020 model year, and we managed to grab the very first one in the country. We drove it on some of Victoria’s finest mountain roads and flogged it down a drag strip to bring you the definitive news on the hottest four-pot TT.
THE WHEELS REVIEW
It's easy to get a little conflicted about the Audi TT S quattro coupe. Part of you figures that it shares its underpinnings with a VW Golf R, a well-regarded driver’s car, so why does the TT get saddled with the image of a coupe for people who just don’t get it? Then, convinced that Audi has been done a disservice, you begin to wonder why the ‘coupe version of a Golf R’ should cost almost double the price. This was never going to be straightforward.
The TT S is a nameplate that first appeared on the second-generation TT back in 2008. It became familiar over time as playing second fiddle to the slightly deranged TT RS sports flagship, always powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with all-wheel drive. The third and final-generation TT debuted in 2014, with the TT S powered by a 210kW turbo four.
That hasn’t changed with this updated model. So what has? The front end looks a bit sharper, with a three-dimensional single-frame grille, and Audi has ladled on a stack of extra equipment to sweeten the deal. It claims that $8500 worth of gear that previously resided on the options list are now standard fare, including metallic paint, red brake calipers, heated front seats, Nappa upholstery and a punchy 680W 12-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo.
First impressions of our test car are of beautiful paint and questionable wheels. Both are options. The Turbo Blue paint finish will set you back another $550 and the 20-inch Audi Sport 10Y alloys are part of the $4900 S Performance package, which also includes matrix LED headlights, black high-gloss exterior bits, carbon twill seat inlays and interior elements in satin-finished body colour. Opinion was divided among the test team on whether the latter inlays looked great or dreadful. The rest of the cabin is beautifully finished, with some of the prettiest HVAC controls around and, unusually for a modern car, no centre screen. All of the digital displays are incorporated into the fully virtual 12.3-inch dash, and while it rewards some familiarity in order to seamlessly flick from music controls to nav and then car functions, a programmable hot key on the steering wheel helps speed things up.
Thumb the starter button and the engine fires up into an inoffensive thrum. Click the Drive Select switch over into Dynamic mode and it transforms into an eerily convincing facsimile of the five-cylinder 2.5-litre lump found in the TT RS. It’s uncanny. It’s also seriously quick out of the blocks. At Heathcote Park, we timed the TT S from 0-100km/h and the 4.5 second figure was 0.2sec better than Audi’s claim. In other words, if you’ve just splashed out for a 250kW Toyota Supra GTS and find a TT S next to you at the lights, we’d advise you not to bother getting all Dominic Toretto.
The TT has often raised more questions than answers when pointed at a seriously challenging stretch of bitumen though. We found the perfect hill route to put the TT S through its paces and came away broadly impressed. The ride quality has come in for some criticism but there’s an individual mode in the Drive Select system which allows you to set the adaptive dampers into their more comfortable setting and wick up the rest of the car’s responses.
It corners flat and hard, the big 255/30 ZR20 Pirelli P Zeros finding plenty of purchase in the dry. The steering at first feels disappointingly light, but get used to the weighting and it’s a very high-quality electrically assisted set-up. Too many such systems attempt to artificially inject weight and fake feedback. The Audi’s steering feels clean, despite the front wheels always being driven, and allows you to concentrate on the important job of positioning the front end. When you do overcook it and push the front into understeer, there’s enough early warning coming through the wheel rim to prompt you to trim the line a little.
The front end of the TT S turns in sharply, the four-cylinder engine making the nose latch onto a line far more adroitly than the weighty five-pot in the TT RS. In the wet, it’s an absolute weapon. Brake late, ride the split second of scrub and then just give the throttle the treatment as you sight the corner apex. We ran the TT S against a Supra and a BMW M2 Competition for a forthcoming Wheels feature and, without issuing too much in the way of spoilers, it utterly demolished the pair of them when the heavens opened.
Unlike certain rear-biased coupes, the TT S isn’t about managing traction on the way out of a corner. Instead, you need to monitor the available grip on the way in. Get it right and you can pivot the rear end neatly on the brakes, pointing the nose exactly where you want to go. One complaint was that the 338mm front brake discs lacked the cooling required to stand up to some serious abuse. After one run down the hill into our test venue, the smoking brakes were registering over 300 degrees on an infra-red thermometer.
The six-speed DSG transmission of the test car shifted as crisply as you’d expect, although the drive logic, even in Dynamic mode, was a little off. You’ll want to take control of the paddles yourself on a truly challenging route. And that ride quality? You tend to notice it when you’re not actively driving the car, but attack a challenging road and it settles into a flow. Leave the dampers in their comfort mode and the TT S will brake cleanly into a corner without the front end bucking noticeably.
So are we convinced by the TT S as a genuine sports coupe. Almost. There are still a couple of issues, such as the transmission calibration and the underspecified brakes that still betray a hint of Audi not quite understanding what demanding drivers want from a sports coupe. It’s hard to argue with the TT S’s speed and poise on a challenging road. Anyone who feels that this car lacks involvement probably thinks that ‘involvement’ and ‘doing powerslides’ are Venn circles that totally overlap. Real world? Thanks to all-wheel drive, it’s quicker than its similarly priced rivals.
The longer we spent with the TT S the more we appreciated its other charms too. The interior is beautiful, and easy to live with on a daily basis. It has (small) rear seats for bags and jackets. There’s decent headroom inside and even a useful 316-litre boot. If you buy a sports coupe for what it can do for you rather than what it can do for a road tester on a closed circuit, the TT S merits serious consideration.
RIVALS
Alpine A110; BMW M2 Competition Pure; Ford Mustang GT; HSV Camaro 2SS; Nissan 370Z Nismo; Porsche 718 Cayman; Toyota Supra
PRICE AND SPECS
- Model: Audi TT S quattro coupe
- Engine: 1984cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbocharged petrol
- Max power: 210kW @ 5300-6200rpm
- Max torque: 380Nm @ 1800-5200rpm
- Transmission: 6-speed twin-clutch auto
- Weight: 1460kg
- 0-100km/h: 4.5sec (as tested)
- Economy: 7.0L/100km/h (claimed)
- Price: $99,900
- On sale: Now
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