I would have gotten a TT if it was a true Quattro, but it's not. The TT and the A3 both have an eletronically controlled AWD system much like the BMW and mercades AWD. I personally hate it.

If it was true Quattro (Torsen) I would be driving a TT instead of a Mini.

Just my opinion.

 

Since I have a 2002 TT 225 Coupe & a 2006 Mini Cooper (non-s) on order, thought I'd weigh in, though your mind seems made up.

Common ownership with VW or no, I've owned 3 Audis in a row, and the build quality is really good. I still have my 2000 A4 1.8T and with 107K miles it is a vault - no rattles, no squeaks, literally rides and drives as when new. The '02 TT I purchased used from a private party with only 16K miles on the odo - meaning I had 34,000 miles of bumper to bumper coverage, which combined with TT's rapid depreciation = one hell of a used sports car buy - I paid 26K for a pristine car which 15 months earlier had stickered at $40K. Handling with quattro is very good, and the addition of a neuspeed 19mm rear sway bar makes the handling more neutral. If you chip a 225hp tt (Giac about $500), hp jumps to about 260 and torque is way up too. FWIW, my TT also average about 24 mpg in normal driving, if I'm not putting my foot down. Interior quality of the TT, materials, fit, finish is awesome as has been noted on other posts, and having driven a few Coopers & MCS's I have to give the nod to Audi, though I have heard and am hopeful that the newer build Coopers are much "tighter." I haven't taken delivery of My Cooper as yet, but from numerous test drives, I'd agree that the Cooper is roomier inside (high beltline of the TT makes you sit "down inside") and visibility out is much better. Control effort all around, particularly steering, much lighter in the Mini. Ride quality is comparable. My TT had one annoyiing rear hatch rattle that was fixed under warranty. Aesthetics are subjective, but to my eye the TT is just beautiful, though I love the look of the mini too. Both have the quality of looking like nothing else on the road. Either car you get displays your good taste IMO. Happy motoring

 

TT AWD is called Haldex. R32 has it as well. Seems alright to me.

 

Haldex is pretty much a rear wheel "assisted" front wheel drive.


with haldex, you can get stuck in snow if 2 of your wheels have no traction, with torsen, you need to be in deep ***** (all wheels sliding) to be stuck.

 

When I was still looking at TT as a possibllity it was largely because of the virtues of the torsen AWD that I presumed it had. It is now only of hypothetical interest since MINI is the winner but is the TT Quattro (the one with a torsen AWD transmission) only sold in Europe?

 

All TT Quattros have the Haldex system. There was some debate when they first came out about they're being a "real" awd system, that debate is pretty much yesterday's news amongst the Audi cogniscenti. TT owners are pretty fervent, mod-oriented, check them out on Audiworld.com. I really enjoyed mine, I found the quattro in the TT225 to be pretty transparent, helpful in wet weather, never saw snow here in Houston. Ironically, my early production 2000 model (one of the first 500 in the US in May 1999) 180FWD is usually considered the stock handling benchmark. Some early highspeed crashes resulted in a recall/redesign that changed out the front control arms to add more understeer, altered shock/spring rates, and the spoiler on the tail. More enthusiastic drivers contended the crashes were due to the early car's high, less forgiving limits, and the redesign "dumbed" the car down for the masses. Those control arms are like gold since after the recall you could not buy the old style ones anymore.

 

There is no TT with TorSen Quattro system, all TT Quattro are Haldex.

 

thanks for the clarification. i knew the new A3 Quatrro due here in 2006 actually was a VW Synchro AWD transmission. So I quess Audi is treating Quattro as a brand rather than as technology. I am still surprised that they wouldn't use Torsen-based Quattro in all their vehicles as a differentiator and superior technology but who knows what lurks in the minds of marketing departments.

 

I was driving to Nashville on Wed of last week and a very attractive brunette in an all black TT convertible and I had a fun time through about 100 mi of the drive. I admired the car as I thought it looked very stable and controlled at ....lete us say....speed.


Maybe I don't travel in the right circles but my friends with TTs did not keep them long and although they liked them really did not exhibit the passion that most Mini owners do.

 

Usually they use TorSen on longitudinal engine model, and Haldex on transverse engine model.
The Quattro will be far more superior if they can put a real LSD on their model rather than those Electronic Slip Differential (which is open differential with electronic braking). I really hate those electronic differential, since they eat up brakes.

 

I quess then this is a particularly silly case of marketing triumphing over engineering. One would think the TT would be the flagship for what Audi can do in performance engineering.

Now if only I could get a MINI with an Audi interior....;-)

 

I have never seen fast TT on truck.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bQeUxFgHyw

 

TT is a nice interior, and the exterior is super classy, but that's about where it stops. The 3.2 is NOT WORTH IT at all. Only an Auto tranny!!? HA!

Mini FTW

By the way..


Lotus Elise > MINI Cooper > Audi TT

 

There are 2 Audi TTs that park in my office lot every day. I am going to go challenge them both to a duel & I will report back

 

The DSG (2 gearbox) version is pretty clever. The new TT seesm to be much bigger than the old one (saw one yesterday).