SPECIFICATIONS
Model: Audi TTS coupé
Price:
£33 390, £35 390 Roadster, SA prices when the car gets here..
Engine: 1984cc, four cylinders, 16 valves, direct injection with turbo, 204kW at 6000rpm, 350Nm from 2500-5000rpm.
Transmission:
Six-speed manual, all-wheel drive.
Performance:
250km/h, 0-100km/h in 5.4sec, 9.5 litres/100km, CO2 191g/km (all with super unleaded; normal unleaded will reduce performance).
We've often been told that all-wheel drive is a great idea because a car can find extra grip when all its wheels share the transmission of power to the road instead of relying on two, whose limits are breached sooner.
I recently had a conversation with former World Rally champion Walter Röhrl. He's driven Fiats, Lancias, Fords, Porsches and Audis to victory - cars with a wide variety of engine and transmission layouts - so was ideally placed to answer my burning question.
Is all-wheel drive really an advantage in a normal road car? This one was launched at the 2008 Detroit auto show and will reach South Africa towards the end of this year.
We've often been told that all-wheel drive is a great idea because a car can find extra grip when all four wheels share the transmission of power to the road instead of relying on two whose limits are breached sooner.
Audi's original quattro was the first widely available car (the 1960's Jensen FF was a bit exotic) in which all-wheel drive was intended to improve road-holding instead of being used, Land Rover-fashion, to help traction on tough or soft terrain and Röhrl used rally quattros to great effect..
Yet just the other day I had an unsettling moment in a new Audi TT TDI quattro and I wondered if all-wheel drive had made it worse. I was driving the TDI, co-star in this road test with its glamorous 204kW TTS sibling, on a long, fast and wet left-hand curve and I released the accelerator at the same moment as the road turned slippery, perhaps thanks to a diesel spill.
You might have expected either the nose or the tail to slither sideways but both ends slithered together towards the barrier, which left me powerless to make a meaningful steering correction.
Would that have happened with normal front or rear-wheel drive?
What I did, I think, was steer a little more to the left, then steer right to try to catch the wayward tail. I didn't hit the barrier but it seemed neither all-wheel drive nor stability systems made the task easier. I had to make two corrections, not one. Was I being unfair?
Röhrl was unequivocal: "All-wheel drive is better on the road... safer and faster."
All I needed to do, then, was have faith in the engineers. And, after all, I didn't crash. As for the new Audi TT models, it must be said that the TTS would have a hard time getting its 204kW and 350Nm to the road tidily without all-wheel drive. This is the raciest TT yet; the extra energy coming mainly from a bigger turbocharger.
Toothy grille
Other changes, compared with the starting point of the two-litre TT with its direct-injection engine, include firmer, lower-riding suspension, bigger brakes and wheels, plus revised electric power steering.
There's a toothy radiator grille, big lower intakes and a row of light-emitting diodes under the headlights as optional daytime running lights. At the back we find four tailpipes.
Does all this make a better TT? It's a more rapid one, able to scoot to 100km/h in 5.4sec yet its CO2 output isn't too tragic. Many buyers will opt for the double-clutch, sequential-shift transmission known as DSG but now called S-tronic by Audi, and it does give shifts of startling speed and smoothness - with a potent-sounding pop from the tailpipes.
But I'd sooner have a purer, lighter, more driver-engaging TTS Coupé with the alternative manual transmission. This is a potential rival to a Porsche Cayman at a lower price (£33 390) but it still seems a lot of money for a car with only four cylinders.
The TTS is good fun to drive, helped by crisp steering and excellent "magnetic ride" shock-absorbers but the engine's bigger turbocharger takes the edge off its initial accelerator response.
Excellent engine
Overall, it's hard to make a case for the TTS, given its price, and when the regular TT 2.0 is so pleasing. Then there's the new TT TDI turbodiesel, with a hefty 130kW, the same torque as the TTS, and the promise of 5.7 litres/100km and a 140g/km CO2 score. It even sounds racy, with a keenness to reach engine speeds rare in a diesel.
This new common-rail unit is an excellent engine, able to propel the TT TDI to 100km in 7.5 effortless seconds.
Here is that unlikely creation, a convincing diesel sports car. Meet the TT of choice for the modern world. And keep away from diesel spillages.
THE RIVALS
BMW 135i M-Sport coupé: £29 755
It looks dumpy but has a three-litre straight-six engine with twin turbos and 230kW, plus wonderfully interactive rear-wheel-drive handling. Good value next to TTS.
Nissan 350Z: from £26 795
A bargain in this company, with its 3.5-litre, 235kW V6, great looks and enjoyable rear-wheel-drive dynamics. CO2 of 280g/km is its downfall.
Porsche Cayman 2.7: £36 220
One of the most dynamically pure cars you can buy but this "base" 2.7-litre version isn't particularly quick. Unusually, costs more than its open-top relative, the Boxster.