Hats off to the new Audi TT Roadster

By Matt Kimberley

March 2 2015, 9:09 am

The TT has gone soft. Soft-topped, anyway. Matt Kimberley checks out one of the world’s fastest electrically folding roofs.

Unless you need your eyes testing you’ll have already noticed what’s new about this version of the TT – a folding fabric roof.

It raises and lowers in about 10 seconds, which is exceptionally nippy, and it will do it at up to 31mph, which is about as good as it gets. Top marks, then.

Its frame, which overlaps upon itself in a Z-shape during folding, doesn’t intrude into the boot, either, using its own separate compartment – although there’s only ever supermini-style luggage space as a result.

If you’re still stuck in the anti-TT camp it’s time to move on. Look at it! It’s a real gem of design work, somehow being made up almost entirely of straight lines but still seeming rounded and muscular.

The TT’s image is a bit ‘lifestyle’, yes, but less so than it used to be. Audi is aiming for something like 75% sports car and 25% lifestyle, not the other way around. And did you know that the Mk1 TT was designed first as a roadster before being turned into a coupe? Heritage.

Spacious, it isn’t, unless your luggage needs stretch no further than a loaf of bread and a spare pair of socks. At 280 litres there is more space in there than in a Volkswagen Up (251 litres), but less than a Ford Fiesta (295). The boot ceiling is a bit low, too, so larger cases just won’t go in.

The two-person cabin is spacious, though, and thanks to a decent array of cupholders, pockets and a lockable storage compartment behind the seats, most people will get by without worrying too much.

The sweet spot in the range for rainy old Blighty is the 2.0-litre TFSI with quattro four-wheel drive. The steering is precise and quick, with distant echoes of true ‘feel’. Up front, the engine pulls hard but predictably, with a nicely throaty noise, and even in the soaking wet test conditions the quattro system prevented wheelspin at every turn.

Nothing about the TT Roadster is intimidating unless you count the visibility – or lack thereof. It’s a good job there were blind spot warning indicators and a reversing camera on the test car – although the latter was half-obscured by dirty water droplets.

The roof does a good job of keeping noise out, but is let down a bit around the window seals.

As a whole the package feels by far the best in the Dynamic mode in the Drive Select system. For daily driving you might want to switch to Individual mode and mirror the Dynamic settings but choose Comfort suspension.

It’s about as cheap as it is spacious. This model, in range-topping S line spec but before options, is £37,555 on the road. The diesel model is the cheapest entry point at £31,995, but the relatively clattery engine is about as sporty as cabbage soup. Petrol power starts at £32,045; just £90 more.

The TT Roadster is a genuinely enjoyable thing to drive. Yes, it turns heads, but no one can criticise it for putting style before substance. It may not have the purest or most thrilling driving dynamics in the class but with quattro on hand it really is starting to feel like a junior sports car. I can think of many people who’d buy one.