Audi TT: From Beauty to Sports Car

This author's take on the new 2008 Audi TT is that it is no longer the beautiful icon it once was when it first hit the streets 10 years ago. Gone is that "wow" and "that's a beautiful" car when it drives by. Instead, in its place is what can consider to be a true sports car. Why can't we have both?



Here are a few excerpts:

When it debuted in 1998, the Audi TT’s rounded, minimalist, pushmi-pullyu shape (balanced proportions, no identifiable bumpers) made it an instant icon. The TT’s smooth sheet metal represented a radical departure from Audi’s—and anyone else’s—design language. Although the TT was little more than a Volkswagen Golf under the skin, the four-wheeled objet d’art found plenty of willing buyers who couldn’t have cared less.....

.....Inside, well, thank God. Audi makes the world’s best car interiors, and the TT shows us the master at the top of her game. From its squashed crown steering wheel to its exquisite aluminum glove box latch, the cockpit’s design, shape, texture, materials, fit, and finish represent a huge step up from the first generation. The TT’s enlarged underpinnings also create a longer, wider, less claustrophobic cabin. Twenty seconds behind the wheel and you’ll know why Audi upped the price of admission.....

.....Nor am I buying a new Audi TT. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, looking at the updated model makes me long for some emergency eyewash. The TT’s sticker is also something of a passion killer. Yes, the new TT’s elevated starting prices ($34,800 for the 2.0T, $41,500 for the 3.2) reflect the fact that the coupe is a much more grown-up luxury car than its predecessor. But who asked for a grown-up luxury coupe? These things are supposed to be toys.

[Source: Advocate]

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