Audi TT 3.2 V6 Quattro Coupe : GRIP AND RIP

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The Audi TT was always the coupe for the style-conscious buyer. Does the latest generation car also appeal to the serious driver? Andy Enright finds outâ€¦

What is it with Audi? They can build a car that dominates Le Mans year after year yet ask a car enthusiast to specify a fantasy garage and a modern Audi road car might never get a look in. Although the RS4 hinted that Audi's days of patronising us mere mortals may be over, the acid test comes with the TT coupe. The old version was a monster hit but always came with a little more style than substance. This time round Audi is serious and the TT 3.2 V6 quattro I recently left gently ticking over on a Provence roadside was prima facie evidence.

Let's not mince words. This is an excellent road car. Better than a Porsche Boxster or a BMW Z4 Coupe? For most people, most definitely. It only loses out in terms of driving pleasure long after the 90th percentile and if you're driving these cars this hard on the roads, you're probably well on your way to a ban in any case. Only if you're planning a healthy dose of track work as part of your ownership would the Porsche and BMW top the Audi. Here's why. The Audi is a feelgood thing - but then the last model was too. What this car does is back up the aesthetics with solid engineering. The chassis is lightweight aluminium up front with more steel pressings at the rear to attain a perfect 50:50 weight distribution. The security of all-wheel drive and standard fit ESP stability control will allow you to drive this car harder with more confidence than before. The chassis is considerably more rigid than the old car, allowing the suspension to work better. It's also bigger, lighter and more economical than before. Everyone's a winner. It's not all perfect, mind. The rear seats, despite offering more space than before, are still rather token efforts, the car still coming with a warning sticker illustrating how slamming the tailgate will send the heads of rear seat passengers taller than 1.5m through the rear glass. The 3.2-litre V6 engine is still quite a thirsty beast, averaging 27.4mpg, and the emissions of 247g/km are enough to deter many corporate user choosers. The electromechanical steering is a little gluey although it offers better feel than many such systems.

"So sonorous is the engine note at full chat that it's easy to keep nudging the rev limiterâ€¦"

Fire up the V6 and it settles into a gentle warble. Accelerate it to the redline and it sounds like a proper old-school Alfa engine. So sonorous is the engine note at full chat that it's easy to keep nudging the rev limiter. This isn't a problem if you've specified your TT with the optional S-Tronic twin-clutch sequential gearbox as it'll just seamlessly snick up another gear but most customers will stick with the standard six-speed manual. The throw across this manual gearbox has been shortened to give a quicker, sharper change, although the ball atop the gearlever feels oversized and cumbersome. The pedals are also weighted rather strangely with a firm brake pedal and a featherlight throttle. It's something you'll get used to, although it seems a little strange at first. Audi has thankfully moved away from the days when the brakes on its road cars were hideously over-servoed. The middle pedal of the TT is reassuring and punchy and the car's stability is a whole lot better when braking into a bend. Some things haven't changed. Rear three quarter visibility is still woeful and the interior is still a paragon of excellence. It may not be quite so ground breaking as the first TT, but put it up against its direct competitors and it's streets ahead. In a blind test, you'd swear the Audi was several thousand pounds pricier than a Nissan 350Z GT, whereas there's only about £400 in it. Indeed, the Audi's £29,935 base price in Coupe form is one of its more attractive features, closely followed by a three-year residual value expected to hover around 51 per cent. Compare that to the 47 per cent of the Porsche Cayman S or the 45 per cent of the BMW Z4 3.0SE and you've shaved an appreciable slice off the car's running costs. That's the sensible bit out of the way. You probably want to know what this car is like to drive. Punt the manual car off the line and it'll make 60mph in 5.7 seconds with absolutely zero wheelspin or drama. It'll keep going to 155mph, whereupon a soft electronic limiter intervenes to call a halt to proceedings. The 247bhp V6 offers a wide spread of torque such that you won't need to bother the gearbox too much. The S-tronic box is a beauty although it can be a little dozy if left in `D', often settling for sixth gear and an engine speed of around 1,500rpm in traffic, which sends a nasty bass boom through the cabin. Better to flick it into manual mode and let rip. Drive really hard into a hairpin and you'll feel the weight of that engine, sitting as it does ahead of the front axle line. Turn-in isn't lightning sharp but it is reassuring and quick to settle into a hunkered down cornering stance. Even with the ESP system switched off, the electronics intervene if they think you're aiming the TT at the undergrowth. The optional Magnetic Ride option with fancy rheostatic dampers is an expensive bit of frippery. Better value comes with the optional sports suspension with conventional stiffened springs and dampers. In terms of pure dynamics, this TT still isn't quite up there with its Porsche and BMW rivals. The margin is a lot smaller than before and unless you're a genuinely demented hotshoe, the TT is the more satisfying daily driver than both. Still, as good as this 3.2-litre model is, one can't help thinking that your hard earned may well be more productively used elsewhere in the TT range.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Audi TT 3.2 V6 Coupe
PRICES: £29,935 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 18
CO2 EMISSIONS: 247g/km
PERFORMANCE: [3.2] 0-60mph 5.9s / Max Speed 155mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [3.2] (urban) 19.2 (extra urban) 36.2 (combined) 27.4mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags / ABS / stability control
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4178/1842/1352