Audi TT first 2 weeks experience

Abyss

Abyss

Abyss

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,548
Location
Nottingham
audittsmall.jpg


Have had my new car for a couple of weeks now, and thought I would share my first impressions of it (categories shamelessly stolen from parkers):

2003 Audi TT Mk1 1.8T 225 bhp Coupe in black with 6 speed manual


Performance
The 1.8T engine is fairly responsive however doesn't feel urgent. planting your foot down gets you fast very quickly however it doesn't break your neck and is deceiving how quick you are going. The power band is pretty wide with plenty of torque from 1500rpm all the way up.

Acceleration at motorway speed in 6th gear is acceptable and will comfortably overtake without dropping down a gear.


Handling
For a 1.5 tonne car it handles well. It's never going to rival the likes of the mx-5 or the Lotus Elise, however considering this a car that I would comfortably drive all day long it is vary stable around corners. There is no noticable body roll and pushing it really hard will kick the back end nicely in a controlled manner. The ESP is fairly relaxed and lets you push quite hard without cutting in, however I have yet to turn it off for a comparison!

The suspension is very hard which is to be expected. Poor roads are very noticeable however not uncomfortable.


Comfort
The TT is never going to be as comfortable as the Avensis for motorway crusing however it is comfortable enough to sit in all day with the only downside being the slight intrusion of the engine noise into the cabin (3k rpm at 70 mph).

On B roads the seats hold you very well and the non existant body roll makes it an extremely comfortable car when pushing it hard.

A very good driving position with plenty of reach on both the seat and wheel makes finding a comfortable position extremely easy.


Practicality
The TT is always going to be an impractical car, however the rear 2 seats are (just) usable for very short journeys for short people (ideal for picking my gfs sister up when she comes round or picking up mates from the pub). This does however rely on at least one of the front passengers being fairly short.

The boot space is very good for a coupe, and with the rear seats folded down (where they will stay most of the time) it will easily take 2 large suitcases or 2 sets of golf clubs. Storage in the cabin is poor, with two cargo nets in the door and a small glove compartment.

With an average mpg of 30 - 35 and servicing every 20k / 2 years this is a fairly economical car to run considering what it is.


Equipment
Equipment level is pretty good, leather, climate, heated seats, 6 disc changer, xenon lights. It does however lack the optional extra cruise control and bose sound system. The cruise can however be added later fairly cheaply.


Behind the wheel
The TT has in my view has the nicest interior of any sub 30k car on the market in the last 10 years. Everything is extremely well crafted with plenty of real metal inserts and solid buttons. The layout is logical and easy to find everything. My only gripe is the wing mirror adjuster which feels like it has been added afterwards.

The car does have one rattle, this is down to the rear parcel shelf which is poorly constructed and causes a plastic creaking noise, however this is easily fixed.

Overall the interior is very well put together and stands the test of time exceptionally


Other
There is a couple of niggles I have noticed with the car so far:

Wipers - They are the standard ones as opposed to aero blades, however I have since bought a conversion kit

Bonnet release - This is so stiff I thought I was going to break it, however after some working its a lot better. I still want to strip it down and lubricate it properly though

Boot - The boot tends to bounce when shutting it and although it latches it doesn't fully shut. A more positive thunk shut solves this however I am going to look into adjusting the stops on it to stop this happening.




Overall I am extremely pleased with the car, and absolutely love driving it :D


Any questions please fire away!
 
Last edited:
I liked the TT but found it gripped rather than handled. The steering was pretty lifeless really. Interior was nicely built yet a bit of an aquired taste, certainly wouldnt describe it as the niecst interior of anything in the last 10 years, thats a fairly bold statement to make! It was pretty stylish back in the 90's but its this very fact thats made it date quite quickly. Can't knock the fit and finish, though. I found the noise in the cabin at 70mph to very intrusive indeed - infact we were both suprised at quite how noisy it was in the cabin for a fixed roof coupe. It was almost as noisy as an A4 cabrio inside :eek: I liked the performance, though, and I still think even now they look flash - not bad for a car released in 1998. I dont think the exterior looks old at all.

So yea. I liked it - but its odd how many of my findings were opposite to yours :p

I wonder if its a context thing - what did you drive before?
 
The only thing that suprises me there is that it's 3krpm at 70! That's fairly high for the majority of cars these days isn't it? The mini is about 3750 and that's only got 4 gears, not 6...
 
As we all know car's are a very subjective matter. Drive something better and something everyone else loves suddenly seems worse than it is. I personally do not like the Audi TT much, my mum still runs one and i couldn't describe it as a particularly nice car now, but yeah, totally subjective as others love them.
 
[TW]Fox;14674471 said:
I liked the TT but found it gripped rather than handled. The steering was pretty lifeless really. Interior was nicely built yet a bit of an aquired taste, certainly wouldnt describe it as the niecst interior of anything in the last 10 years, thats a fairly bold statement to make! It was pretty stylish back in the 90's but its this very fact thats made it date quite quickly. Can't knock the fit and finish, though. I found the noise in the cabin at 70mph to very intrusive indeed - infact we were both suprised at quite how noisy it was in the cabin for a fixed roof coupe. It was almost as noisy as an A4 cabrio inside :eek: I liked the performance, though, and I still think even now they look flash - not bad for a car released in 1998. I dont think the exterior looks old at all.

So yea. I liked it - but its odd how many of my findings were opposite to yours :p

I wonder if its a context thing - what did you drive before?
Click to expand...

I agree the interior is a love/hate thing, I just happen to be one of those people that loves it, particularly compared to the s2000, MR2, MX-5, 350Z and Z4s I looked at.

The car is an addition to the 56 plate Avensis I use for work, however have driven many cars as hire cars through work, although all non-premium (e.g. Astra, A-class, Bravo, Focus, Mondeo etc). So in fairness the TT should be a step up!

Hxc said:
The only thing that suprises me there is that it's 3krpm at 70! That's fairly high for the majority of cars these days isn't it? The mini is about 3750 and that's only got 4 gears, not 6...
Click to expand...

It is a bit high for a car with 6 gears, I think its around 2800-2900 to be exact, however this is around the same as my Mk1 2.0L petrol Focus was.
 
Abyss said:
I agree the interior is a love/hate thing, I just happen to be one of those people that loves it, particularly compared to the s2000, MR2, MX-5, 350Z and Z4s I looked at.
Click to expand...

Interestingly we went for the Z4 over the TT in the end. I prefer the layout of the Z4 interior but there is no question that the TT was the better built car interior wise.
 
Hxc said:
The only thing that suprises me there is that it's 3krpm at 70! That's fairly high for the majority of cars these days isn't it? The mini is about 3750 and that's only got 4 gears, not 6...
Click to expand...

3krpm sounds about right for a 4 pot petrol engine? If anything it's quite low. Probably a long cog for economy...
 
[TW]Fox;14674556 said:
Interestingly we went for the Z4 over the TT in the end. I prefer the layout of the Z4 interior but there is no question that the TT was the better built car interior wise.
Click to expand...

you can see this when you look at high mileage TTs , most still look great inside
 
[TW]Fox;14675791 said:
I had noticed though that the plastics which have writing on were very shabby. I didn't view a single TT without ALL the text on the radio missing.
Click to expand...

have only looked at web pics so not seen that much detail, seats always seem to wear well ( then again with 8 stone hairdressers in them it's not a surprise ;) )
 
[TW]Fox;14675791 said:
I had noticed though that the plastics which have writing on were very shabby. I didn't view a single TT without ALL the text on the radio missing.
Click to expand...

That's weird, I didn't view a single one where the writing was missing.

Almost everyone I know preferred the interior of my TT to the Boxster too. I personally loved the interior, the only downside was that the drivers side seat was starting to show a tiny bit of wear from getting in and out but apart from that mine was as fresh as when it left the factory, impressive for an 03 car.
 
[TW]Fox;14675791 said:
I had noticed though that the plastics which have writing on were very shabby. I didn't view a single TT without ALL the text on the radio missing.
Click to expand...

This is true, I had a 2003 TT 225 and the text on the preset buttons had worn off.

I loved the car though, had it for three years and could not fault it (apart from the above).
 
I'd advise people to avoid the roadster models atm, my dad recently bought one new and we later learned that there's a relatively widespread fault with the roof mechanism. It basically jams for no discernible reason when opening/closing and has to be closed manually and then taken to a garage to be repaired (and as parts were apparently in short supply it often required a wait of up to 2 weeks), a quick google showed many other people with the same issue. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem the first time if Audi hadn't forgotten to include the locking tool for manually closing the roof in the supplied tool kit (the fact it was missing at all indicated to me that it must have broken before being sold to him) so driving home in the pouring rain, slowly, with the roof half open was not fun.

In the end, after it being in for repairs 6 times in 7 months, he traded it back in at nearly the same value he bought it for, luckily demand was still high for the roadster and a few letters from his lawyer also seemed to scare Audi into giving him a very good trade in price. That car spent a third of its lifetime in the Audi garage getting the roof fixed and re-fixed, utter joke tbh.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom