ASCARI MOTORSPORT PARK, Spain — It is the oldest trick in the automotive parlor. Take one icon — say, just for argument’s sake, the Audi TT I am testing this week — go back in time to the ground-breaking original, steal a few design cues, dress them up with a few modern styling flourishes and before you can say, “My, didn’t Freeman Thomas get it right the first time,” you have a new car. Oh, there will be some grousing about “not pushing the envelope” and maybe a few anoraks — who, moi? — will remind you that the original, now so venerated, was actually perceived as being a bit soft when it was released in 1998.
Nonetheless, the new 2015 version is quite faithful to the original (the less-adored second-gen seemingly tossed under the bus). Oh, the lines on the flanks and rear fenders are more sharply creased and the front and rear overhangs even more dramatically muted, but even Audi’s official press kit points to a shape “intentionally evocative of the first-generation design,” pointing to the wide wheel arches, the trademark flat greenhouse space and, of course, the classic TT-embossed (as in Tourist Trophy, not Tradition & Technology) fuel filler flap.
2015 Audi TTS
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS's trademark embossed gas filler.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS's gas filler.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
What has changed dramatically, however, is the TT’s gravitas. The first gen was indeed a little soft, not just in shape but in intent. A little soft of suspension and lethargic of steering, it also lacked — subject to a recall that added an electronic stability control system and a downforce-producing rear spoiler — some high-speed stability. The second generation may have lost a little of the original’s cuteness, but it gained a whole bunch of sports car bona fides. By the time it evolved into the five-cylinder TT RS, it was as serious as a heart attack — faster, by Audi’s own reckoning, than its R8-née-Lamborghini Gallardo supercar on some racetracks. Big shoes, then, for the third generation to fill, needing to match the beauty of first and build on the superior performance of the second.
Something the new TT S promises to do. Although not imbued with the RS’s 360 horsepower (and yes, it’s almost assured there will be even higher-performance variants), the new S version of the 2.0-litre TFSI now boasts 310 horses versus the 265 of its predecessor. The TT S’s performance is further enhanced by a weight saving of some 50 kilograms, meaning that, after all is said and done, the new TT S’s power-to-weight ratio is but 10% less than the previously all-conquering RS, reflected in the TT S’s 4.6-second scamper to 100 kilometres an hour, half a second faster than the previous S and only 0.5 seconds behind the 2014 five-cylinder RS.
2015 Audi TTS
Handout, Driving
More impressive still is the little four-banger’s willingness to be flogged. Unlike so many turbocharged fours — even of the high-performance variety — this version of 2.0L TFSI revs hard and fast. Indeed, all of the TT’s engines — the European 2.0L TDI included — are limited to 280 pound-feet of torque because of limitations with the current six-speed double-clutch transmission. So the S’s greater performance is very much biased towards high revs. Below 3,500 rpm, then, both the 230 horsepower base model and 310-hp S feel remarkably similar and only as the now digital tachometer swings past four grand does the S seem to grow another lung. Then, it screams like a banshee up to its 7,000 rpm redline while the base model goes for a siesta at anything above 5,500. The S even adds a little bark to its bite, Audi feeding a little unburnt fuel into the exhaust at high rpm so that the TFSI gives a little Formula One backfire when shifting at maximum revs. McLarens may not tremble in fear but it does add a little drama to the soundtrack.
The chassis’ sportiness is likewise upgraded, more stiffly sprung and more rigid than previous TT’s. Indeed, where the previous S would tie itself in knots when pushed on a racetrack, the 2015 acquits itself quite well, only some smoke-prone front brakes limiting how much — and for how long — fun may be had. Spain’s Ascari is a supercar-worthy track — we’ve tested Lamborghini’s Huracan, Aston Martin’s Vanquish and BMW’s mighty M5 here previously — and the TT S didn’t feel out of place at all.
The 2015 Audi TTS gets performance upgrades and exterior design enhancements.
Handout, Audi
Grip from the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 2 245/35ZR19s had the S hanging on with a tenacity usually reserved for Pit Bulls and their vise-like jaws. Wet sections of the track — yes it can rain in Spain, especially in the plains — proved the worth of Audi’s quattro system, the added traction combining with the company’s vaunted stability control system to allow us to ignore the normally ominous damp bits with confidence.
Indeed, chassis-wise, the big improvement to the third-gen TT is that Audi’s Drive Select system now modifies quattro’s torque distribution to all four wheels. Economy mode, for instance, delays torque transfer to the rear wheels in its quest for fuel efficiency. Dynamic mode, conversely, speeds up torque delivery to the rear for superior turn-in. And torque vectoring — the distribution of power between inside and outside wheels — is delayed in Dynamic mode so that the tail can be drifted all slippy-slidey through high-speed turns. It all must work as, save for the aforementioned brakes, the S acquits itself surprisingly well at one of the highest speed tracks in the world.
The 2015 Audi TTS's climate controls are minimalist and intuitive.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS has a game-changing interior. It is luxurious and high-tech.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS's climate controls are brilliantly simple.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS's interior is extremely well-designed.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The most impressive thing about the new TT, however, is that despite all this talk of refreshed exterior styling and performance upgrades, its real innovation is how Audi has yet again managed to revolutionize the automobile interior. It’s been almost a decade since Audi set the luxury world on its ear with then-unparalleled materials quality and avant-garde styling. Compared with the rather bland and pedestrian dashboards its Teutonic competitors proffered, the new Audis were Rolls-Royce-like in their sumptuousness, their leather and wood trim rich and the accommodations palatial compared with the equivalent BMW or Mercedes. Since them, both have largely caught up: What could Audi do to renew said leadership? What was left to innovate wondered the pundits.
Behold then, oh ye skeptics, the all-new TT which, almost assuredly, will herald yet another revolution in interior design, forcing all who pretend to luxury to yet again follow Ingolstadt’s lead. The bit that’s getting all the headlines is TT’s new Virtual Cockpit, Audi’s only slightly pretentious name for the 12.3-inch high-resolution TFT screen that replaces the standard analogue gauge set. Configurable through three basic settings (two in the basic TT), the big screen can be mostly map, mostly gauges or, in the case of the TT S, one ginormous tachometer for those times — mondo-rapid corner 14 at Ascari, being a prime example — when there’s precious little time to discern what gear you should be in.
The 2015 Audi TTS's digital cockpit is revolutionary.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS gets an upgraded MMI infotainment system.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
The 2015 Audi TTS has a brilliant new interior that will set a new standard for the industry.
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
2015 Audi TTS
PHOTO: Handout, Audi
But the interior’s real revolution is more organic than digital. Since the beginning of the iDrive era, the problem with onboard computers has been the proliferation of buttonry required to manage all those megabytes. To those raised on the simplicity of analogue Chevys, the centre console of a Porsche or Mercedes can seem like an Apollo moon rocket in their complexity.
Audi has conquered the unnecessary convolutions by simply putting the switchgear where it is used. So, for instance, the air conditioning controls — fan speed, temperature and foot/body/head split — are now little rotary knobs located in the centre of the dashboard’s three main vents. The two seat heater switches are, likewise, in the centre of outboard vents by the A-pillars. In other words, the climate controls are right where you’d look if you were trying to alter your climate. Along with a simplification of the MMI menu, it means that the dash only has about six toggles. I’m not sure if it comes across in photographs, but the TT’s interior design is the cleanest in recent memory and will no doubt leave competitors scrambling to match the ergonomic efficiency of its design.
And, I suppose, that fits in with Audi’s purpose. What was once a revolution in exterior styling is now revolutionizing interior design. As long as something is being revolutionized, I suspect Audi designers are happy.
2015 Audi TTS
Handout, Driving
Basic TT still feels sportier than ever
Even the basic TT feels sportier than ever, its turbocharged 2.0-litre TFSI four-banger pumping out 230 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque compared with the current version’s 211 ponies and 258 lb.-ft. It’s enough, were we getting the price-conscious front-wheel-drive version offered in Europe, to induce noticeable levels of bad boy torque steer. Our AWD models, however, will feel much more connected to the tarmac, quattro’s new electrohydraulic multi-plate (front-to-rear) clutch and side-to-side torque vectoring “presses the Coupe smoothly into the corner,” says Audi. That may be an exaggeration, but the base TT is not the Golf-hand-me-down of yore. And, according to Cort Nielsen, Audi Canada’s public relations spokesperson, we can expect only modest pricing increases over the current model’s $51,600 MSRP.
2015 Audi TTS
Handout, Audi
What does TT stand for?
The TT in Audi TT doesn’t stand for “Technology & Tradition,” or indeed anything automotive. Rather it is an homage to a long-forgotten part of Audi’s heritage, NSU, and that company’s success at the Isle of Man’s Tourist Trophy motorcycle races. Yes, the TT is named after a motorcycle race, specifically evincing memories of NSU success in 1953 and ’54 with its single-cylinder, yet incredibly complex Rennmax racer. The first consumer product to wear the iconic designation was the 1959 Quickly TT, a piffling little moped designed for Europe’s then still-struggling economy. Five years later, the almost as dinky NSU Prinz 1000 TT and TT S was introduced but at least it had four wheels. It would be 30 years before the moniker was used again with the introduction of the very-close-to-production TT Coupe concept at the 1995 Frankfurt auto show.