Audi TT Roadster
Audi TT |
Engine | In-line four-cylinder |
Displacement | 1781 cm³ |
Bore * stroke | 81 * 86,4 mm |
Compression | 9,5 / 9 : 1 |
Octane number | ROZ 98-95/98 |
Engine control | DOHC |
Valves | 5 per cylinder |
Enginemanagement | Bosch ME 7.5 |
ROZ-requirement | 98 - 91 |
Torque | 235/280 Nm at 1950-4700/2200-5500 rpm |
Max. power | 132/165 kW (180/225 HP) |
Rated speed | 5500 rpm |
Transmission | Five speed-front / five speed-Quattro |
Steering | Rack and pinion |
Front suspension | McPherson-struts |
Rear suspension | Twist-beam axle / 2 transverse- und one longitudinal arm with all-wheel drive |
Brakes f/r | Discs in front internally-ventilated |
Tyres | 205/55 R 16 (7") / 225/45 R 17 (7,5") |
Wheel base | 2422/2429 mm |
Length | 4041 mm |
Width | 1764/1856 mm |
Height | 1349 mm |
Drag coefficient | 0,32 |
Trunk | 220/180 liter |
Tank capacity | 55/62 liter |
Basic weight | Approx. 1310/1475 kg + driver |
Top speed | Approx. 220/235 km/h |
Manufactured | Starting in 1999 |
Additionally | Six speed transmission (later) |
'Driving without roof makes you open up'. This way the sales prospectus promotes the roadster TT; if everything would be that easy. But it shows the underlying thought when selling such a car: buy it and your personality will change. Clearly, buying such a car is not a rational decision, it is emotions. Looking further you would bump into the fact that its underbody is equal to the Golf 4. And a Golf 4 is by far no car you buy to change your personality. By the way, the design comes from California. The name is subject to discussion. Audi states, it originates from the Tourist Trophy, the unofficial motorcycle world championship on the Isle of Man. However, both letters could also be reminiscences to the legendary NSU TT.
The Audi TT has taken over the position of the engine and the axle construction from the Golf. Part of it is the twist-beam rear axle. Only in the all-wheel drive version the more modern multi-link suspension is used. Of course, in this case the boot space diminishes even more.
It is definitely astonishing what the Audi engineers managed to do taking into account the motionless basis of a Golf. The TT turns around the aerodynamics of a car. It is not the bonnet, windscreen and roof that show a rising line, breaking off in the rear to a more or less sharp edge, but from the roof the upper edge slowly drops to the big tailgate. It is not easy to present something new nowadays, but Audi managed, receiving numerous prices and honors. Another very interesting feature are the darkly dimmed front headlights.
Talking about design. The designers for the interior of the car were inspired by another, mostly rather insignificant component of the car. Due to the long-pulled rear the filler cap is markedly present. It is clearly horizontally arranged and Audi voted against a usual gas cap cover. If you do not want to hide it, bring it out. Thus they developed an aluminum part with outer ring which is held by seven socket screws. The eighth one is absent because of the hinge. And because the design is so appealing, reminiscences are found at several places in the interior. However, the screws are replaced by well-shaped depressions: in the speed-shift, the airing nozzles, and the switches and in the middle of the steering wheel. Even in the seat rack you are reminded of this design, with a lot of love to the detail.
Because the vehicle descends from a big series product, it harvests of course also the fruits of this circumstance. In the course of time it receives the VR6 engine, the direct shift gear box and the Electronic Stability Program.
In addition, front axle and rear axle are tuned anew. This is done in such a proper way that the car immediately receives high marks for the chassis evaluation in some comparative tests. This stands in contrast to the fact that at the beginning of its car career the chassis was one of its bigger problems. The car was said to be too light in the rear, causing accidents this way. Its coupe brother even received a back spoiler to forgo any problems. But at the latest since the introduction of the Electronic Stability Program these problems are history. You can also enjoy for clearly more than 40,000 euros base price the stronger engine with the accordingly quickly changing gearbox, featuring fuel consumption values between 7.5 and 15 litres / 100 km.
Interesting might be an efficiency comparison between the four cylinder Turbo and the six-cylinder engine. At first, you should pay attention to the 100 kg of excess weight of the bigger engine and its more complex gearbox. Also a foot-operated clutch can transmit when required still harsher than an automatically indented one. Thus there are hardly any differences except for the higher top speed in spite of nominally less performance. As the different maximum speed points out, the car equipped with six-cylinder engine is quicker from a certain point onwards. Also its fuel consumption cannot be lower because of more cylinders and the additional weight. Only the sound compensates for the surcharge. Probably Audi should combine, nevertheless, this really interesting direct gear box with a four cylinder engine. There is even a variation with 110 kW (150 HP) at 5,700 1 / min which runs even more than 210 km/h.
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