Audi TT Mk1 - not sure why it's got such a bad reputation?

[Emeye]

Well I've had my 2002 Audi TT 225 for a month now, and I'm really starting to fall for it!

It feels solid, feels special and it shifts and all the reviews go on about the handling, but I don't think it's too bad.

Yesterday I found an excuse to take it for a proper blast and ended up using the fantastic back roads into Macclesfield. Half the time I was ploughing through the st that farmers had kindly left on the road and the Quattro was completely unfazed.

I had my girlfriend in the car, so even though we were late maybe I wasn't taking the car up to the limit, but I was surprised how much confidence I had in the car.

Maybe it's because I was running 17s and not the 18s that the later cars came on, but I was happy! These were the same roads I used to commute on 12/13 years ago, and it made me realise I need to get out more often for a proper drive!

[10 Pence Short]

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

[*Al*]

10 Pence Short said:

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

lol I had a 225 quattro and hated it.

[Emeye]

10 Pence Short said:

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

Original...... and probably why the Audi TT has a bad rep.

[Alex97]

Mine understeered like a bh. The day I got rid of it was one of the best days of my life! I have an S2000 now it and the difference is night and day. The TT is a half decent GT car though.

Emeye said:

Half the time I was ploughing through the st that farmers had kindly left on the road and the Quattro was completely unfazed.

I wouldn't have thought the Quattro system would kick in with a situation like that?

[Emeye]

Alex97 said:

Mine understeered like a bh. The day I got rid of it was one of the best days of my life! I have an S2000 now it and the difference is night and day. The TT is a half decent GT car though.

Emeye said:

Half the time I was ploughing through the st that farmers had kindly left on the road and the Quattro was completely unfazed.

I wouldn't have thought the Quattro system would kick in with a situation like that?

I must be getting old, but I wasn't even getting close to understeer - the only time I felt the car sliding was when I hit some serious mud half way around a bend and I was deliberately trying to provoke it.

Even in the wet the front seems completely planted.

Must try harder!

[GKP]

They can be tyre sensitive, so understeer may be more pronounced with certain tyre brands. My Good Lady used to have 2003 TT (a 180 Q) and I quite liked whizzing around in it. It wasn't the most accomplished of handlers, I might even suggest the springs were a bit firm, but it got the job done.

[GreigM]

10 Pence Short said:

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

nearly 18,000 posts and all you can come up with is that tired old st

[sday12]

GreigM said:

10 Pence Short said:

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

nearly 18,000 posts and all you can come up with is that tired old st

No, his salon was on fire

[Torquey]

Compared to a golf or an astra it's a cracking car.
Compared to an elise, s2000, z4 it is a little way off.
IMO

[Emeye]

Torquey said:

Compared to a golf or an astra it's a cracking car.
Compared to an elise, s2000, z4 it is a little way off.
IMO

Agreed. Driven a VX220 turbo and driven/owned lots of other great handling cars, and maybe it's expectations (I didn't have any with the TT, just always fancied one) but I'm happy with my TT.

Oh and I'm running Pirelli P6000 that were on the car when I got it.

[Kentish]

Well, the 225 Quattro is an S3 underneath and those don't have a bad rep at all; the opposite in fact

I have run a 225 Quattro for 3 years and as standard they do feel a bit unsettled when changing direction at speed and they do have a bit of body roll and understeer when on standard suspension.

Spend £250 on the Golf R32 anti roll bars and uprate your front wish bone bushes with a Defcon 2 kit and you have a fine handling and pretty quick car. This upgrade really transforms a TT. For better cornering, a £400 coilover suspension kit will make the car feel great, good enough to track even.

The 1.8T engine is very tunable upto 270bhp with 0-60 in 5.5s and that's without any further upgrades, it's no slouch. A remap by VAGCHECK will only set you back around £300 for 50 extra horses ....bargain!

They are very solid which makes them feel a bit lethargic when pulling off a standing start but they rapidly build up speed, they are quicker than they feel. The interiors are excellent and high quality, the electrics can give problems at times but are generally much better than most french cars. The haldex 4WD has proved to be excellent on mine, we were hit badly by snow this year and I did not get stuck at all even on raods where the only other vehicle was a snow plough. For spirited driving try switching the ESP off, it feels a lot more responsive to being thrown around bends.

Looks wise, they are still a beautiful design and that is of course what draws most people to them.
To say they are hated is rather unfair as they were a massive success, especially in the UK and Germany. They were a stunning design unlike anything else in 1999.

[redgriff500]

Torquey said:

Compared to a golf or an astra it's a cracking car.
Compared to an elise, s2000, z4 it is a little way off.
IMO

This is entirely the point, it depends what you are comparing it to.

Hence the old Mondeo received rave reviews as it was the most 'sporty' rep mobile. But the Cougar based on the Mondeo was slagged off because it was being compared to sports coupes and it didn't cut it.

[10 Pence Short]

GreigM said:

10 Pence Short said:

Were you late for a, er, hair appointment?

nearly 18,000 posts and all you can come up with is that tired old st

It was being ironic.

[Gad-Westy]

I must say I have a bit of a soft spot for the Mk1 TT. I also quite liked the MK4 Golf 1.8T I had which I guess is quite a similar car underneath. Sure, they aren't sportscars as such but they're a nice, stylish, and relatively comfortable GT cars. Would quite happily own one as long as I had something else for the balls out B-Road blasts.

[Kentish]

redgriff500 said:

Torquey said:

Compared to a golf or an astra it's a cracking car.
Compared to an elise, s2000, z4 it is a little way off.
IMO

This is entirely the point, it depends what you are comparing it to.

Hence the old Mondeo received rave reviews as it was the most 'sporty' rep mobile. But the Cougar based on the Mondeo was slagged off because it was being compared to sports coupes and it didn't cut it.

The TT could be more fairly compared with the Cougar, or a GTV, 406 coupe, or any other GT type of coupe from the late 90's.

If you make that comparison it does highlight the TT as an excelllent car.

I've owned a GTV (a Spyder) and whilst the handling was lovely into bends it would lose traction at a lower limited than the haldex equipped TT. As much as I loved the Alfa the build quality was nowhere near in the same league as the TT and the Spyder suffered awful skuttle shake which was not a trait to instill confidence to press on harder into a bend.

You can't really compare a TT to an Elise, how do you comapre them anyway - if it was on equipment the Elise would not do so well

If it was on handling the Elise is brilliant of course. Passenger space and straight line speed, that again would be a different story. It's like comparing chalk with cheese

It just depends on your needs and expectations.

[havoc]

Had a cabrio 180 for a week as a loaner and it was pretty dire.

Looked nice, if soap-bar-like, although I don't like grey cars.
Inside looked nice, and quality wasn't bad.
Engine was torquey but dull and didn't sound like much, nor did it respond well to being redlined (no point).
Chassis was awful...I had a diesel Mk1 Focus at the time and it was A LOT more entertaining and involving. The only good things about the TT were that the turn-in was pretty good and the grip on smooth tarmac was fairly high...show it a broken back-road though and you genuinely didn't know what it was going to do.
Ride was crashy and 1-dimensional - despite both running on 17"s with very-low-profile tyres, the Focus was both more compliant and better resolved.


It was so bad that after 3 days 'experimenting' with it I gave it to the wife and went back to using the Focus...in Summer!

[SmoothRB]

A poor mans hairdressers Porsche Boxter.

[TASS]

The bad rep comes from it being seen as a styling exercise, more form over function and the early ones had a habit of ending up in ditches.

[David87]

There was nothing strictly wrong with the one I had, but it was monumentally dull and that's still a big problem.