The Audi TT is a highly entertaining package -- good looks, great personality, terrific cabin feel, solid handling and a good price. Yet with the TTS here and the TT-RS on the way (well, not for us Americans, but...), the TT becomes something like The Girl Next Door who you just found out has two hotter siblings.
Choosing the S version of any Audi is like ordering a large combo meal – it avails you of more of everything. Your grand hunger for speed, handling and details is meant to be sated by more horses, a better suspension and sharpened bodywork. The TTS addresses this under the hood by adding dollop of forced-induction goodness to the already turbocharged 2.0T FSI engine, juicing its numbers by 65 hp and 51 lb-ft of torque over the base TT for a total of 265 hp @ 6,000 RPM and 258 lb-ft @ 2,500 RPM. The 3.2-liter V6 TT is also down, by 15 hp and 22 lb-ft. Outside, the TT S lords its burliness over both its staid siblings with an angrier front fascia, rear skirts and rocker panels, chrome mirror accents and 18-inch split-spoke wheels.
If all of that proves insufficient, you can dress the car in Solar Orange, or, as we preferred to call it, Orange Julius. And there's nothing wrong with that... if that's what you like.
But the performance – and color – issues aren't the only hurdles for the TTS to overcome. The initials "TT" don't merely serve as a model name, they are a way of life. TT, which stands for Tourist Trophy, is a holophrastic moniker that describes a car as well as its buyers, much the same way as "M3" and "Lexus". Just like the chicken and the egg conundrum, we're still not sure which came first: the Metrosexual or the TT. That means that anything wearing a TT badge needs to stand for something, and stand for it well.
Starting from the outside, one of the endearing qualities of the TT family is the perfect mix of spatial contradictions. We think of it as a small car, which lends itself to the idea of being a sports car. Yet it isn't that small – it's two feet longer than a MINI and 18 inches shorter than a G37 Coupe. Open the door and the cabin appears half buried in the ground, and small to boot. In truth, the car is no hassle to get into, and the cabin feel is just the right kind of enveloping: well and truly roomy yet still cozy, even intimate. The seats carry you far in comfort. The controls are merely a thought and a modest reach away.
The ergonomics, knobs and switches in the current TT don't make the same impact as those that sprang on scene in The Cabin, but they too are mindlessly simple to employ – save the MMI's handling of iPod tracks. When you flip through a folder, it lists the track's number, not the name, and although we're intimately familiar with the contents of our iPod, we have no idea which song is #86 and which one is #8624. That shortcoming has been addressed in the latest version of MMI and earlier versions can be upgraded, but still...
Cargo space is also laudable, especially when we fall back into that small car feeling. On a run to the airport, the hatch area had room for a large carry on bag, a larger suitcase, a backpack and a laundry bag, and there was still room. And we hadn't got to the back "seats" yet. The surrounding quotes are necessary because the TT S doesn't have thrones for rear passengers – it has a leather-trimmed parcel shelf that resemble seats. Forget about putting people back there. No, really, just fuggetaboutit.
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