ShareThisIt's not exactly what you'd call going green, but Audi's newest high-performance sports car, the TTS, comes only with a four-cylinder engine.
However, it's plenty robust. Depending on whether you're driving the coupe or the roadster, you can accelerate to 60 miles an hour in a tenth of a second under or over five seconds. Driving carefully, you also perhaps can duplicate the 21/29 miles per gallon on the government's city/highway cycles.
All of this comes courtesy of Audi's direct-injected and turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder engine, which delivers 265 horsepower to all four wheels via Quattro all-wheel drive. Contributing mightily to the equation is Audi's dual-clutch automated transmission.
Called the S tronic, the dual-clutch is a manual gearbox, but there's no clutch pedal. One automatic clutch operates first, third and fourth gears, and the other works second, fourth and sixth.
In the manual mode, where the driver shifts with steering-wheel mounted paddles or the shift lever, sensors and computer wizardry tell the transmission what gear will be selected up or down. When the driver taps the paddle or shifter, the shift happens almost instantly. The driver also can order the transmission to shift automatically with both normal and higher-revving sport modes available.
All in all, the dual-clutch automated manual arguably offers the best of both worlds: the fuel economy and crisp shifting of a manual, and the seamless response of an automatic.
With the addition of the TTS coupe and roadster, Audi now offers 10 variations of the TT, up from six in 2008. The TT also uses the new 265-horsepower four, along with what is now the less powerful motor, the 250-horsepower 3.2-liter V6.
The TTS competes in select company against other hot sports cars like the Porsche Boxster and Cayman (including the S models), the Mercedes-Benz SLK models (including the AMG), and the BMW Z4 (including the M version). They are, of course, basically toys for the wealthy or enthusiasts who can manage the monthly payments.
Base price of the tested TTS Roadster is $48,325. That includes a full complement of safety equipment, including stability and traction control, antilock brakes, side air bags, knee air bags, antilock brakes and tire-pressure monitoring. Also: sport seats, automatic climate control, satellite radio, remote locking and a rear spoiler that automatically deploys.
With options that included a navigation system, 10-way power seats, Bluetooth connectivity, rain-sensing windshield wipers and a motorized convertible top, the suggested delivered price was $55,075.
If you're not overly enamored with the dual-clutch gearbox or the TTS badge on the trunk, you can get a slightly slower TT Quattro Roadster with the same 265-horsepower engine and save a lot of bucks in the process. It starts at $40,125. However, the only transmission available is a six-speed automatic, albeit with a Tiptronic manual-shift mode.
Increasingly, manufacturers of convertibles are going to folding metal tops, which are complicated and steal trunk space. It's incongruous at a time when fabric technology has advanced to the point where soft tops likely can last the life of the car.
Audi commendably continues with a quality fabric top that, when folded, forms its own cover. With the touch of a button, it opens or closes in less than half a minute, with no need to operate any latches. The TTS also has a small but useful trunk.
Inside, the driver and passenger are cosseted in deep and comfortable sport seats with solid side bolstering. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes, and the speedometer and tachometer, despite the lack of daytime lighting, are white on black and easy to read. A big left-foot dead pedal helps steady the driver's torso on curving roads.
Audi has resisted the current fad of installing pushbutton starting. The TTS uses the old reliable ignition key, a switchblade-like affair that disappears into the remote locking fob.
A couple of minor roadster downsides: the sun visors do not swing to the side, the CD changer is inconveniently located inside the glove box, there's no center storage console and the tiny cup holders are located right next to the parking brake lever. There is a storage cubby at shoulder blade level between the seats, but it's an awkward stretch to access it.
On the highway, the TTS has sharp handling with a comfortable, supple ride, surprising in a sports car that is less than 14 feet long. Credit the magnetic ride system, which uses shock absorbers filled with fluid and flecks of metal to continuously adjust the ride to road conditions.
It works in both normal and sport settings, which are selected by a console-mounted switch. The sport setting improves handling marginally but also stiffens the ride considerably.
In the transmission's automatic mode, there's also a choice between a normal and a sport setting. In the latter, the shifts to the next higher gear come at higher engine revolutions. It's not a mode you would choose to enhance fuel economy.
Accelerating from a dead stop, there's some slight hesitation until the turbo kicks in. Then the power comes on in a rush and stays there.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. For more columns, go to scrippsnews.com)
DriveWays with AUDITTS-SPECS
