Audi TT Coupé 2.0 TDI quattro review
by David Finlay (6 November 2008)
Can we be serious for a moment? Thank you. It's just that the decision to buy an Audi TT is bound to be an emotional one, but we have important business to discuss first. We'll get to the fun stuff shortly.
This TT is, at the time of writing, the newest in the range, having been introduced in summer 2008, and it's also the first to be fitted with a turbo diesel engine. This makes it by far the most economical TT there has ever been, with a combined figure of 53.3mpg (the next best doesn't come close to 40mpg on the EU cycle), and also the one that produces the least CO2 - 139g/km, according to the official test, which means it will cost £150 less to tax according to the revised VED structure due to come into force next April.
It's not the cheapest TT to buy. That honour goes to the 2.0 T-FSI, but the diesel is just £1140 more expensive, and what with the lower tax, the vastly superior fuel economy and lower insurance premiums it might not take very long to make up the difference.
If we're being all grown-up about this, the diesel is clearly the TT of choice in financial terms. But here's a thing. The most expensive TT is the TTS Roadster, at £35,640, and if I had that money to spend on a TT I think I'd still pick the diesel; not just because I could then use the nearly ten grand's worth of change for other purposes but because the diesel - yes, I'm going to say this, and I care what you think - is my favourite TT. Ever.
I never liked the first-generation car in any of its forms. The current range is much better (though I'm not at all happy about the ride and handling of the 2.0 T-FSI, and while I vastly prefer the 3.2 V6 it seems rather wasteful somehow). But it's not as good as the diesel.
This seems odd, because diesel engines are heavy old things and they demand compromises in the way the cars in which they're fitted are set up. But here - and this is not a unique case - the compromises have been so well managed that they actually represents an improvement. The diesel TT's handling is by no means as sharp as that of the petrol cars, but it's good and predictable, while the ride (though spoiled to a large extent by low-profile tyres) isn't the worst you'll find in a sports model.
The engine is the least powerful in the range, with a maximum of 168bhp, but straightline performance figures of 140mph flat-out and 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds are nothing to be ashamed of. Nor are they significantly worse than those of the T-FSI.
Furthermore, no other TT is quite so willing to leap into an overtaking manoeuvre, thanks to the excellent mid-range grunt (no other TT engine produces so much torque so low down as this one) and the almost complete absence of anything resembling turbo lag.
And on top of all that, there's practically no chance that all that torque will make the front end try to wrench the steering wheel out of your hands; as with all TTs apart from the T-FSI, the diesel is a quattro, so whatever the engine does is transferred to the road through all four wheels.
The current TT has a lot more headroom than the model it replaced in 2006, which is good news for those of us who used to bash our skulls every time we got in or out of the old car. And luggage space isn't bad either, as two of us discovered on a weekend trip. The relevant numbers are 290 litres if you leave the rear seats in place, or 700 litres if you fold them down, which you may as well since there's so little legroom that I can't imagine anyone actually being able to sit in them.
Everything in the last paragraph applies to all other TT Coupés (the Roadsters are much less practical), but it's the diesel engine that seals the deal as far as I'm concerned. For the first time, I've driven a TT I want to keep.
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