Audi TT 3.2 V6 Quattro Roadster

Audi´s second generation TT Roadster has a lot to live up to. Andy Enright drives the flagship model

Roadster versions of existing coupes are usually a bit like American syndications of popular Brit TV shows. It´s possible to detect a bit of the original in there but most of the ingredients get criminally dumbed down.

One car that flew in the face of this received wisdom was Audis first generation TT Roadster. This subtracted very little from the coupe and added quite a lot of character of its own. Styling purity was sacrificed but not a whole lot else and unless you´re a fetishist for dogmatic design there was always a lot to like. Spool the tape forward eight years and Audi is hoping to reprise the theme with the latest generation TT Roadster. We took the definitive 3.2-litre Quattro range-topper to see if Audi has worked the oracle again.

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Cynics reading this first paragraph will snort and proclaim that the reason the TT Roadster was so close to the coupe in terms of driveability was because the TT was no great shakes as a hard top and was therefore appreciated by customers more interested in posing than putting the car through its paces. There is a kernel of truth there, although diligent research will show that the original TT coupe won several awards for its handling, the car eventually proving a little too puppyish for the general public´s palate. Only now is Audi starting to recover confidence in the edginess of its products (witness the R8). Although the current TT is by no means as puckish as before, it´s undoubtedly more polished and the Roadster is no exception. Although most who have driven the two cars back to back nominate the 2.0T front wheel drive model as the value pick, there´s a lot to be said for the enabling force of four wheel drive, especially in a country as wet as ours. Audi even managed to bring a bit of Brit weather to the TT Roadster press launch on the South of France, a stubborn ceiling of steely nimbus sitting atop the Riviera passes. The proposed route ploughed deep into the clouds around the otherwise fantastic roads of the Col de Vence. I ditched the road book and headed instead to Monaco where an unusually deserted Principality gave me the opportunity to indulge in a childhood fantasy and give the Audi a blast around the most exhilarating street circuit on earth.

One thing´s for certain. The 3.2-litre engine gives great tunnel noise and Monte Carlo is hardly under-endowed with routes burrowing deep into the coarse limestone cliffs. Even before I´d arrived at La Rascasse, I´d taken the opportunity to drop the windows, drop a cog or two and enjoy the V6´s cultured yowl. The 2.0-litre´s fruity exhaust note feels weedy in comparison.

"One thing´s for certain. The 3.2-litre engine makes a great noise."

Noodling along the start finish straight had some tourists ignoring the Lamborghini popping truculently behind and aiming their Canons instead at the drop top Audi. The Visa van in front turned left towards the autoroute leaving the way clear to climb the dizzying incline starting with the right hander at St Devote. With torque to spare, the Roadster ploughed up the steepest hill in F1, past the rather mischievously sited Monaco Centre for Cardio Vascular Illnesses. The Massanet corner at the top looks flattish on the TV but still climbs dementedly before I´m forced to deviate from the circuit by a Monagasque plod, directing me on a detour, rejoining the circuit on the sprint down to the Loews hairpin. This is proper schoolboy fantasy stuff, following an enthusiastically piloted black SLK55 AMG round the hairpin and down through the red and white kerbs of Mirabeau. The satellite navigation desperately tries to direct me off towards the beach but I´m enjoying this. The TT´s steering weights up beautifully, even if the Lamborghini-look flat bottomed wheel is a little outré. Windows down, throttle pedal down and into the tunnel. This has far more curve to it than you´d realise but the TT clings to the SLK´s tail gamely at speeds that have me hoping that Monaco hasn´t enthusiastically embraced the GATSO culture. There´s little hint of body flex even over the odd surface imperfection. I cruise past Abramovish-spec yachts in the harbour before having a little squirt around the swimming pool complex, the all-wheel drive not giving the traction control too much to contend with. Then I do the whole lot again. The TT Roadster 3.

2 is that sort of car. The hood is a fabric affair, one of the key reasons why the weight penalty has been kept to a mere 35kg over the Coupe. Electrohydraulically operated, it uses a steel and aluminium framework to pare further grammes from its bulk. Were it not for an additional layer of soundproofing, it would be even lighter.

Its easy to see where weight could be saved. Instead of the heated glass rear window Audi could have used a vinyl item and rather than opting for a powered mesh wind deflector they could have opted for a pull-up screen. This being Audi, however, they didnt and you wont begrudge the extra few kilos these features add when driving the car. A clever Z-fold system means that the rigid forward section of the roof folds down on top of the remainder, eliminating the need for a tonneau so often the inelegant engineering solution on convertible cars.

Whats more, the roof operates in a mere 12 seconds and can be operated at speeds of up to 30mph. The TT Roadster requires no manual clipping or latching to the header rail either. Just fire and forget. The 3.

2-litre engine powers the TT to 60 in 6.0 seconds (5.8 with S-tronic) and hits an electronic limiter at 155mph. Thats a whole new plane of performance for the TT and also represents a more sensible product mix.

It was slightly bizarre that the old TT quattro Sport with 237bhp was, due to its lighter weight, quicker and more capable than the flagship 247bhp 3.2-litre car. At least now theres a product hierarchy thats easy to grasp, the 3.2 being notably quicker than the 2.

0-litre. Just ask the disgruntled rich of Monaco.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

CAR: Audi TT Roadster 3.2 V6
PRICE: £31,635 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 18
CO2 EMISSIONS: 247g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 5.9s / Max Speed 155mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (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