2000 Audi TT Review (continued)
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Walkaround

Like Volkswagen's New Beetle, the TT is a production car that began life as an auto show concept car. And, like the Beetle, it drew on a legendary past to portray an exciting future. The response of show-goers was so overwhelmingly positive that VW-Audi brass decided to tool up and actually produce it. And we're glad they did.

You don't really need us to tell you the TT looks like nothing else on the road today. But perceptions of newness are often a function of how long the beholder has been on the planet, and for NCTD staffers who have been at this for awhile, the TT does conjure up echoes of other eras. For example, even though the basic layout is front-engine, front drive, its shape is strongly reminiscent of the original bathtub" Porsches, and Audi designers freely admit they were influenced by the mighty Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the late pre-WWII era.

Nevertheless, we think this car represents a unique design achievement-a blend of Art Deco, '50s Porsche, and contemporary engineering as original and distinctive as anything rolling today.

And, perhaps just as important, it's an excellent argument in defense of multiple applications for a single chassis, emphatic proof that cars using the same basic platform can be truly distinctive from one another, as well as their competitors.

The TT shares its underpinnings with Volkswagen's new Golf, Jetta, and Beetle, plus several cars we don't see in the U.S. market: the Audi A3, Skoda Oktavia, and SEAT Toledo. Each of these cars competes in its own well-defined niche, and each has its own character. We suspect that part of the VW-Audi expertise in character-building from a single platform lies in the elasticity of the platform itself. For example, at 95.4 inches, the TT's wheelbase is 3.4 inches shorter than the Beetle's, and the car is 2.0 inches shorter overall.

On the other hand, the TT is 5.2 inches wider than the Beetle, with a slightly wider stance, and, at 53 inches, its roofline is 6.5 inches lower. So, basically, there's no dimensional commonality at all, and it's impressive that VW is able to achieve economies of scale with such broad disparities."

Interior Features

We don't know the German word for gorgeous, but it certainly applies inside, where the TT is just as visually arresting as its exterior. The design eschews traditional luxury trim material-wood paneling-for burnished aluminum and stainless steel. It looks terrific.

Like the overall shape, the TT's detail touches delight with sheer inventive cheekiness. For example, the dashboard vents open and close by dialing their surrounding aluminum rings 90 degrees. The cupholders are a pair of aluminum circlets, the dashboard is secured to the center console by a pair of aluminum braces, and the racy-looking foot pedals are fabricated from stainless steel with rubber inserts.

Art Deco numerals on classic analog instruments reinforce the TT's 1930s heritage, when the 16-cylinder rear-engined Auto Union Grand Prix cars were adding fresh chapters to the book of racing legends. Side airbags are standard, along with the other usual passive safety features we've come to expect, a reminder that Audi is as mindful as anyone of the importance today's buyers place on safety.

The standard sound system is very good indeed, which makes us wonder if our test car's optional $1200 Bose unit, complete with CD changer, is really worth the extra money.

To be fair, there are some drawbacks imposed by the TT's radical exterior design. For example, the vertical proportions that give this car its cool chopped-top look-low roofline, high window sills-aren't conducive to ideal driver sightlines.

Most of our testers like a fairly upright seating position when we're behind the wheel, but even sitting almost bolt upright we found we weren't seeing much of the hood, and extending an elbow out of the window during warm weather cruising would be an awkward exercise. Overall, there's a sense of sitting down inside a deep bathtub, similar to-but not as bad as-sitting in a Plymouth Prowler.

Aside from the relatively low seating position, there's not much to complain about from a comfort point of view-just a couple of niggles. It would be nice if the upper mounts for the front seatbelts were adjustable, for example. Some drivers are likely to find them a tad low for comfort. And the rear seats rate as extremely cramped, even in a class of cars notorious for cramped rear seats. Color them useless.

However, comfort in the leather-upholstered front buckets is on a par with other Germanic sportsters. Here, too, Audi has added a unique design touch: cloth-and-rubber seat inserts that help keep driver and passenger centered when the road goes into a series of hurried kins.