Hi there
Right rang Audi Stoke yesterday, requested test drive for today. Arrives at Audi 11am, to be met by sales guy on his day off but as its his car he come in so I could drive it. He gives me the keys immediately and off I go with him in the passenger seat.
I shall try to cover as much as possible but I was only driving for circa 45 minutes so in that short time its hard to give a full proper review, so lets get started:-
The car had 3700 miles, had pretty much every option including the Recaro seats which look nicer than those in the EVO, more upmarket but not quite as supportive but still damn good. The sound system is also excellent, its not quite as a good as the Rockford Fosgate system in the EVO, but the Audi sounds deeper due to the car been built better if that makes sense. Anyway start the car, press sport and turn ESP off to get things started.
First thing I notice is a much lower clutch biting point than the EVO, I nearly stalled, but after 2 mins adapted to the clutch and its nice and feels more meaty than the EVO's, certainly feels like it can be abused a lot more. The other instant thing I notice is the engine sound, its very fruity and nice, infact its surprising how good it sounds and I am talking engine noise not exhaust noise.
So I ask if I can take the car on my own route and the sales guy is yeah feel free, its my day off drive where you want, so I headed home, then towards OcUK and finally back to Audi to cover all my favourite roads.
First of all lets talk about Audi's steering, first thing I dislike is the flat bottomed steering wheel, its just annoying. What I do notice though is the steering has excellent weighting, heavier than the EVO with a very good weighty/meaty feel. However it does suffer from Audi dullness, there is little to zero feedback and the steering is not as fast as the EVO's. However due to the TT's compact nature and sitting close to the floor I can feel the car communicate to me through my ass, so even though there is very little feel through the steering the car does communicate. If Audi added more feel and got rid of the flat bottom steering wheel it would be fantastic in this area as the weighting is spot on. So the steering, it could have been worse, but it could also still be better. Question is would fitting some different bushes or a different GEO setup improve feedback through the steering?
Handling and grip on this car is what impressed me the most. It was damp and 5c outside, the car had Summer tyres on and in these conditions the car was glued to the road just as much as my EVO on its winter tyres. Fair enough this Audi was on 19" wheels with much wider rubber so more mechanical grip. But every long sweeping corner I took it either matched the EVO or beat it in corner speed. This truely impressed me by the sheer levels of grip available, which I put down too Summer tyres, wider contact patch and the fact the TT RS is about 100kg lighter than an EVO X. Still this impressed me as the EVO X is a superb handling and grippy car. I then took the car to a local 30-40mph small roundabout which is very wide so great for testing a cars limits. The EVO X 30 mins earlier was happy going round here at 32mph in damp conditions, it was sliding by 33mph but with the EVO you just add more throttle and turn in harder and AYC will do its magic allowing you to increase speed to over 35mph (when its AYC works). The TT RS started to loose grip around the same point and then pushed wide, giving more throttle resulting in pushing more wide, tightening up the lock just pushed wider still, so on tighter stuff the Audi understeers and you can't add power to sling it around faster it just pushes more wide. Still however the difference is hardly noticable. I'd say the Audi has more mechanical grip on offer due to fatter tyres and because it weighs less but at the limit it just pushes wide. The EVO X has slightly less mechanical grip but its AYC system will let you go faster and it will also hang the back-end out and happily play, basically more fun. The EVO X also seems tighter in tighter turns and is happy to get on the power that bit earlier and sling shot you out the corner, wheras in the Audi you may have to wait or get in the power a bit slower otherwise you will run wide. Basically if you drive the Audi with in your mind that you need to be smooth in essence it will be near as damn it EVO quick on a country road. Wheras the EVO you can chuck it a lot more and get on the power a bit earlier and it will be ever so slightly quicker but slight.
The brakes were powerful and very sharp, certainly more than adequate and as good as the EVO's stopping wise, maybe just a little over assisted and not quite as progressive, but still very good indeed. The car stops very well!
Performance wise the TT RS deploys its power very well from 2000rpm it surges and by 3000rpm its on full boil and pulls very strong towards 7000rpm and the gearing is much longer and far better suited to all types of driving and that 6th cog is great for motorway cruising. The EVO is a little more explosive in its power delivery and pulls harder to redline but thats due to 390BHP and shorter gearing. I am sure if the TT RS had TT S gearing it would be mental in the lower gears, or give it 400BHP and am sure it pushes you back in your seat that much harder. In higher gears the EVO did seem to pull better but in fairness its gearing is shorter and its got 400BHP. I am sure a TT RS with 400BHP in 5th will pull ahead of the EVO, not hugely but enough but beyond 150MPH I can see the TT RS really getting a shift on. What I did notice is the TT RS has a much better 1st gear, due to power coming in so early it pulls very hard in first, infact it does not seem torque limited it just induces whiplash and flies off leaving you grabbing for next gear, even more so its all so easy to do and it feels as if the clutch is happy for you to do it over and over again. A fast launch in the EVO requires more revs and then its torque limited so it never feels that great in 1st, its not until 2nd it blast off. So performance wise the TT RS is very impressive and I can fully expect a Stage 1 TT RS to be an R8 beater and easily a match upto 100mph to an EVO X running 400 horses, the EVO will keep up due to shorter gearing, but beyond 120mph the TT RS will start to pull away. The other impressive fact is on my test drive I average 23MPG, in the EVO with same driving would be around 19MPG, so its an improvement there, but in top gear on the motorway 40MPG should be just about possible, thats a good 10MPG better but I don't buy cars based on motorway MPG as its rare I sit on motorways. But Audi's 2.5l engine is very efficient and has fantastic powerband, kudos to them as its superior to Mitsubishi 2.0 engine plus sounds better.
Quality wise well its an Audi been compared to a Mitsubishi, the Audi is a far nicer place to sit and its feels more solid in its controls, clutch, gearbox, weighty steering etc.
I feel the TT RS is a very capable car and with its tuning ability probably one of the fastest Audi's on offer if you throw 2-3k at one and aim for 450 horses your gonna be beating R8's and much powerful cars such as M5's for sure. As 450BHP in a 1450kg car is not gonna hang around!
The biggest downside of this car for me is its image and price tag. A new one is 54k when a new EVO X FQ-360 is 36k and the EVO has SATNAV, Xenons, Rockford Fosgate Sound, DVD all as standard.
Both cars depreciate a lot, but the Audi is gonna loose big bucks in the first two years, even now a 2009 car with sub 10,000 miles and less than a year old are going for 37-39k region. I asked the sales guy if he thought he'd be able to find me one with SATNAV, Bose, Recaros for mid 30's and his reply was "yes just give me some time" and suggested 37-39k would get one with that spec. Still it is of my oppinion anything over 35k is too much because at two years old I feel they will be in the 30-32k region.
I think 33k right now would be a steal, 35k would be good and 37k reasonable, but any higher and your looking to loose quite a bit in depreciation.
To summarise the EVO has faster steering and better feedback, plus its more chuckable and its AYC can make it turn tighter and faster resulting in more fun. Plus it can obviously steat 5 in comfort and its a far cheaper car, you can pick 2009 FQ-360 up for 25-29k.
The TT RS is just better everywhere else, engine sounds better, it goes just as well, more usable powerband, better gearing and 6 of them too. It seems grippier though it does understeer but that could be fixed with some thicker ARB's. Its a nicer place to be and its more grown up. For me it would probably save me £10 a week in fuel and £200 a year in tax so probably talking close to £1000 in savings on running cost. But than factor in Audi servicing cost and more expensive tyres and that saving will probably only be about £500 a year, but still a saving, not that I care but some may find that interesting.
If both cars were the same price, Audi TT RS everytime as its just as quick on the roads, every so slightly more grippy apart from real tight turns due to lack of AYC and is of a far higher quality. Plus the tuning capability for very little money is far greater than that of an EVO X. 2.2k gets you close to 450BHP. 3k on an EVO X will result in circa 410-420BHP and then more is huge money and it will become not as drivable.
But in used car terms the Audi TT RS is at present a good 10-12k more and its not that much of a better car, if I could get one at 33-35k I'd be very tempted but at the same time would sell it on in 6 months if they started depreciation a lot as Audi's can loose money very fast, but sometimes RS cars can also hold their value.
So yes it impressed me a lot, more so than I expected and yes I would like to own one, it can be made to handle just as well as the stock EVO X, but it can go a lot quicker in a straight line, it sounds a lot better whilst doing it and it looks better too. I am sure one running over 400BHP is one hell of a rocket. To state when running 440-450BHP they can hit 60mph in 3.6s and do the 1/4mile in 11.69s, thats not far off R35 GTR performance, but with much lower running cost. The only problem for Audi is its still just a TT and its overpriced right now. If these ever drop sub 30k as used cars they will be great buys.
Now to test drive some Porsches 911's.
Right rang Audi Stoke yesterday, requested test drive for today. Arrives at Audi 11am, to be met by sales guy on his day off but as its his car he come in so I could drive it. He gives me the keys immediately and off I go with him in the passenger seat.
I shall try to cover as much as possible but I was only driving for circa 45 minutes so in that short time its hard to give a full proper review, so lets get started:-
The car had 3700 miles, had pretty much every option including the Recaro seats which look nicer than those in the EVO, more upmarket but not quite as supportive but still damn good. The sound system is also excellent, its not quite as a good as the Rockford Fosgate system in the EVO, but the Audi sounds deeper due to the car been built better if that makes sense. Anyway start the car, press sport and turn ESP off to get things started.
First thing I notice is a much lower clutch biting point than the EVO, I nearly stalled, but after 2 mins adapted to the clutch and its nice and feels more meaty than the EVO's, certainly feels like it can be abused a lot more. The other instant thing I notice is the engine sound, its very fruity and nice, infact its surprising how good it sounds and I am talking engine noise not exhaust noise.
So I ask if I can take the car on my own route and the sales guy is yeah feel free, its my day off drive where you want, so I headed home, then towards OcUK and finally back to Audi to cover all my favourite roads.
First of all lets talk about Audi's steering, first thing I dislike is the flat bottomed steering wheel, its just annoying. What I do notice though is the steering has excellent weighting, heavier than the EVO with a very good weighty/meaty feel. However it does suffer from Audi dullness, there is little to zero feedback and the steering is not as fast as the EVO's. However due to the TT's compact nature and sitting close to the floor I can feel the car communicate to me through my ass, so even though there is very little feel through the steering the car does communicate. If Audi added more feel and got rid of the flat bottom steering wheel it would be fantastic in this area as the weighting is spot on. So the steering, it could have been worse, but it could also still be better. Question is would fitting some different bushes or a different GEO setup improve feedback through the steering?
Handling and grip on this car is what impressed me the most. It was damp and 5c outside, the car had Summer tyres on and in these conditions the car was glued to the road just as much as my EVO on its winter tyres. Fair enough this Audi was on 19" wheels with much wider rubber so more mechanical grip. But every long sweeping corner I took it either matched the EVO or beat it in corner speed. This truely impressed me by the sheer levels of grip available, which I put down too Summer tyres, wider contact patch and the fact the TT RS is about 100kg lighter than an EVO X. Still this impressed me as the EVO X is a superb handling and grippy car. I then took the car to a local 30-40mph small roundabout which is very wide so great for testing a cars limits. The EVO X 30 mins earlier was happy going round here at 32mph in damp conditions, it was sliding by 33mph but with the EVO you just add more throttle and turn in harder and AYC will do its magic allowing you to increase speed to over 35mph (when its AYC works). The TT RS started to loose grip around the same point and then pushed wide, giving more throttle resulting in pushing more wide, tightening up the lock just pushed wider still, so on tighter stuff the Audi understeers and you can't add power to sling it around faster it just pushes more wide. Still however the difference is hardly noticable. I'd say the Audi has more mechanical grip on offer due to fatter tyres and because it weighs less but at the limit it just pushes wide. The EVO X has slightly less mechanical grip but its AYC system will let you go faster and it will also hang the back-end out and happily play, basically more fun. The EVO X also seems tighter in tighter turns and is happy to get on the power that bit earlier and sling shot you out the corner, wheras in the Audi you may have to wait or get in the power a bit slower otherwise you will run wide. Basically if you drive the Audi with in your mind that you need to be smooth in essence it will be near as damn it EVO quick on a country road. Wheras the EVO you can chuck it a lot more and get on the power a bit earlier and it will be ever so slightly quicker but slight.
The brakes were powerful and very sharp, certainly more than adequate and as good as the EVO's stopping wise, maybe just a little over assisted and not quite as progressive, but still very good indeed. The car stops very well!
Performance wise the TT RS deploys its power very well from 2000rpm it surges and by 3000rpm its on full boil and pulls very strong towards 7000rpm and the gearing is much longer and far better suited to all types of driving and that 6th cog is great for motorway cruising. The EVO is a little more explosive in its power delivery and pulls harder to redline but thats due to 390BHP and shorter gearing. I am sure if the TT RS had TT S gearing it would be mental in the lower gears, or give it 400BHP and am sure it pushes you back in your seat that much harder. In higher gears the EVO did seem to pull better but in fairness its gearing is shorter and its got 400BHP. I am sure a TT RS with 400BHP in 5th will pull ahead of the EVO, not hugely but enough but beyond 150MPH I can see the TT RS really getting a shift on. What I did notice is the TT RS has a much better 1st gear, due to power coming in so early it pulls very hard in first, infact it does not seem torque limited it just induces whiplash and flies off leaving you grabbing for next gear, even more so its all so easy to do and it feels as if the clutch is happy for you to do it over and over again. A fast launch in the EVO requires more revs and then its torque limited so it never feels that great in 1st, its not until 2nd it blast off. So performance wise the TT RS is very impressive and I can fully expect a Stage 1 TT RS to be an R8 beater and easily a match upto 100mph to an EVO X running 400 horses, the EVO will keep up due to shorter gearing, but beyond 120mph the TT RS will start to pull away. The other impressive fact is on my test drive I average 23MPG, in the EVO with same driving would be around 19MPG, so its an improvement there, but in top gear on the motorway 40MPG should be just about possible, thats a good 10MPG better but I don't buy cars based on motorway MPG as its rare I sit on motorways. But Audi's 2.5l engine is very efficient and has fantastic powerband, kudos to them as its superior to Mitsubishi 2.0 engine plus sounds better.
Quality wise well its an Audi been compared to a Mitsubishi, the Audi is a far nicer place to sit and its feels more solid in its controls, clutch, gearbox, weighty steering etc.
I feel the TT RS is a very capable car and with its tuning ability probably one of the fastest Audi's on offer if you throw 2-3k at one and aim for 450 horses your gonna be beating R8's and much powerful cars such as M5's for sure. As 450BHP in a 1450kg car is not gonna hang around!
The biggest downside of this car for me is its image and price tag. A new one is 54k when a new EVO X FQ-360 is 36k and the EVO has SATNAV, Xenons, Rockford Fosgate Sound, DVD all as standard.
Both cars depreciate a lot, but the Audi is gonna loose big bucks in the first two years, even now a 2009 car with sub 10,000 miles and less than a year old are going for 37-39k region. I asked the sales guy if he thought he'd be able to find me one with SATNAV, Bose, Recaros for mid 30's and his reply was "yes just give me some time" and suggested 37-39k would get one with that spec. Still it is of my oppinion anything over 35k is too much because at two years old I feel they will be in the 30-32k region.
I think 33k right now would be a steal, 35k would be good and 37k reasonable, but any higher and your looking to loose quite a bit in depreciation.
To summarise the EVO has faster steering and better feedback, plus its more chuckable and its AYC can make it turn tighter and faster resulting in more fun. Plus it can obviously steat 5 in comfort and its a far cheaper car, you can pick 2009 FQ-360 up for 25-29k.
The TT RS is just better everywhere else, engine sounds better, it goes just as well, more usable powerband, better gearing and 6 of them too. It seems grippier though it does understeer but that could be fixed with some thicker ARB's. Its a nicer place to be and its more grown up. For me it would probably save me £10 a week in fuel and £200 a year in tax so probably talking close to £1000 in savings on running cost. But than factor in Audi servicing cost and more expensive tyres and that saving will probably only be about £500 a year, but still a saving, not that I care but some may find that interesting.
If both cars were the same price, Audi TT RS everytime as its just as quick on the roads, every so slightly more grippy apart from real tight turns due to lack of AYC and is of a far higher quality. Plus the tuning capability for very little money is far greater than that of an EVO X. 2.2k gets you close to 450BHP. 3k on an EVO X will result in circa 410-420BHP and then more is huge money and it will become not as drivable.
But in used car terms the Audi TT RS is at present a good 10-12k more and its not that much of a better car, if I could get one at 33-35k I'd be very tempted but at the same time would sell it on in 6 months if they started depreciation a lot as Audi's can loose money very fast, but sometimes RS cars can also hold their value.
So yes it impressed me a lot, more so than I expected and yes I would like to own one, it can be made to handle just as well as the stock EVO X, but it can go a lot quicker in a straight line, it sounds a lot better whilst doing it and it looks better too. I am sure one running over 400BHP is one hell of a rocket. To state when running 440-450BHP they can hit 60mph in 3.6s and do the 1/4mile in 11.69s, thats not far off R35 GTR performance, but with much lower running cost. The only problem for Audi is its still just a TT and its overpriced right now. If these ever drop sub 30k as used cars they will be great buys.
Now to test drive some Porsches 911's.
