Audi TT: Convertible Test Drive

Matt at the Mecury news in San Jose is not all the impressed with the new 2007 Audi TT convertible / cabriolet in his recent test drive. Good article, both objective and critical of the Audi TT.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

What it doesn't have, in my view, is the iconic appeal of the 2000 original. Audi liked to describe that first TT, especially the coupe model, as reflective of Bauhaus design of the 1920s that put an artistic, modern spin on machines and products. Others, perhaps less impressed with TT Version 1.0, thought the TT looked like a smushed VW Beetle.....

.....I'll be honest. Many disagree with me, and insist this new TT is much better. They see the new TT as more sporty, more masculine, more sophisticated than the previous version. A writer with Automobile magazine praised the new model as having "the best suspension and body control I have ever experienced in a small car." Ann Job of the Associated Press noted the new version "gracefully gets away from the bug-like look of the first-generation TT.....

.....Although the TT coupe is a "2+2 car," an automotive reference to a two-door car with two seats up front and the semblance of two seats in back, it remains a perfect choice for just 2. I'd suggest leaving the +2 home with grandma. The roadster avoids that conundrum by offering just two seats.....

.....For 2008, the base TT comes with a turbo-charged, 2.0-liter four that makes 200 horsepower. In 2006 - there was no 2007 model TT - that base engine was a 180-horsepower, 1.8-liter four. Audi says it'll go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds with the standard dual-clutch automatic gearbox that allows manual shifting. The available 3.2-liter V-6 makes 250 horsepower, and comes with either the automatic or a six-speed manual. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds with a six-speed and in 5.3 seconds with the automatic. (The numbers vary slightly from coupe to roadster.....

[Source: Mercury News]

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