5/9/09

2010 Audi TTS - Short Take Road Test


Some say the Audi TT is fine—for the male hairdresser—but argue that it’s just not a real sports car. So here’s the more powerful, 265-hp Audi TTS, and we say who cares what those guys say. Sports car, gran turismo, sports coupe—the distinctions are slippery. What matters are capabilities, and the TTS has capabilities galore: speed, agility, grip, brakes—not to mention good looks and an interior that’s an unfailing treat to the eyes as well as the tactile senses.

Our TTS Quattro test coupe sprinted to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and turned the quarter-mile in 13.5 at 104 mph. Perspective: The 200-hp, front-drive TT 2.0T in our “Four of a Kind” comparo [June 2007] hit those marks in 6.0 and 14.6 at 97 mph, respectively, even though it weighed in 304 pounds lighter (2960 pounds versus 3264).

More perspective: Check the sprints recorded by the BMW Z4 M coupe and the Porsche Cayman S, posted in a two-car duel in our August 2006 issue. Both cars ran to 60 in 4.8 seconds, with the Cayman prevailing in the quarter: 13.3 seconds at 107 mph versus 13.4 at 105. Both cars have significantly more horsepower than the TTS, and both were equipped with six-speed manual transmissions. The TTS comes with Audi’s six-speed DSG automated manual. (Bulletin: The DSG is not a handicap, though we do wish it wouldn’t automatically upshift at redline.) And from a standing start, all-wheel drive offsets the TTS’s power-to-weight disadvantage versus the rear-drive Z4 and Cayman (we have yet to test an updated Cayman S, which received a 25-hp bump).

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