Audi TT 2.0T FSI

TRAWLING through the internet, I’ve seen the original Audi TT compared on trendy, black-spectacled design websites to the BiC lighter, the Heinz Baked Beans tin and even the light bulb as an example of a design legend that came fully formed, as perfect as can be, and even ‘trans-historical’. This means they don’t grow old, apparently.

There’s no other car in the last couple of decades that has defined the resurgence of a brand as much as the TT has for Audi. It signalled that the firm was finally bold and confident enough to take on anything those in Stuttgart and Munich could manage, and it provided the springboard for successes in many other key sectors.

But you don’t need a pair of Birkenstock sandals and a roll-neck jumper to know that the TT has been a phenomenally successful car. No pressure for the team that had to pen the replacement, then.

And faced with such pressure, not surprisingly, Audi has stuck to a winning formula of snub nose, deep metallic sides and arcing roofline. It looks great, being meaner, sharper and more on its toes than the original’s more moon-faced look and evenly-balanced stance.

The original may be regarded as the classic, but the replacement sits well with Audi’s more aggressive approach, both in terms of design and strategy.

In fleet, design generally comes below practicality and economy, but for the TT design is everything. Take away its design and it is nothing – essentially a modified Golf GTI.

Audi has worked hard to make the new car a more inviting drive, though. The TT is made from a combination of two-thirds aluminium and one-third steel that allows its to be much lighter – it is 75kg lighter than the equivalent old car.

At more than 100kg lighter than the Golf GTI, it makes the most of the 200bhp 2.0-litre turbo FSI engine. 0-62mph is dispatched in just over six seconds and it feels very agile.

Although in the wet its front-wheel drive set-up makes for a messy experience, and it needs the subtle traction control system to stop it floundering about hopelessly, in the dry it’s a hoot – direct, grippy and with lots of lovely, fierce power.

It sounds glorious – especially at the top end where it bellows, and the manual gearbox is much snappier than before.

And when you’re done slavering over its curvy body, you can always immerse yourself in the cabin, which is beautifully appointed. In here, there’s the feeling of development over the last model with many of the styling cues, such as the round air vents, held over.

If beauty is in the detail, then I came over all gooey for the internal door pulls: leather stitched with a fine sliver of aluminium down one side.

Classy, elegant and trans-historical, I reckon. Just like everything about this car really.

Fact file

P11D value: £24,437
CO2 emissions (g/km): 183
BIK % of P11D in 2007: 23%
Graduated VED rate: £150
Insurance group: 17
Combined mpg: 36.7
CAP RV (3yr/60k): £12,275/50%
Monthly lease (3yr/60k): £411

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