Audi TT

Ryan’s Audi TT

Text and Photos: Reinis Babrovskis

What’s common between the supercar Audi R8, classic Alfa 156, facelift VW Scirocco and the Audi TT Mk.II? It’s the world famous Italian car designer Walter de’Silva. His approach to creating a successful car design is very simple – curves, draw lots of them. Men like women with curves – it’s a fact, so why should cars be any different. And it works…damn well as well, I must admit.  

Designed as a small two-door sports car the original TT model was created by the Volkswagen group in California back in 1994. Audi TT went on sale in 1998 and was highly praised by car enthusiasts and motoring journalists all over the globe. The production of the original model was stopped in 2006, when the new Mk.II model was presented to the general public on April 6. The Mk.II retained the winning formula - 2 door sports coupe body with a beautiful exterior and interior design. Now slightly longer and wider, it kept the neutral front to back weight distribution by using aluminium parts at the front of the car and steel body panels in the back offering a sharp and precise driving experience.

As the car looks spectacular when leaving the factory premises in standard form, it is of no surprise that the Audi TT was Ryan’s choice after the Mk.5 Golf was sold. The 2007 Audi TT finished in lovely black really didn’t need much to personalise it the way he had intended. The front end of the car is equipped with the beautiful LED headlights giving the car an aggressive look, while the Cupra R splitter was added onto the front bumper to extend it a little bit. In profile the Audi TT looks very smooth and clean, the only attention seeker is the beautiful chrome petrol cap with the TT logo on it on the driver side. A revised small self-raising spoiler is located on the boot extending itself once the speed is greater than 75mph and retracting again below 50mph. Alternatively it can be manually controlled by the driver with the help of a switch on the dashboard.The rear lights once again just complete the overall smooth look.

Ryan’s Audi TT is equipped with the Inline-4 16 valve DOHC 2.0 TFSI engine which can also be found under the bonnet of the VW Golf GTI. The Fuel stratified injection technology system (TFSI) was designed to be used for the Audi Le Mans endurance race cars in order to offer improved fuel efficiency, huge power output while reducing emissions. Audi later decided to apply this system on their road cars, including the Audi TT model. The 1,984cc turbocharged engine is a proud stable for 197 angry horses (or 200 in a lower RPM range if you want to be precise) and produces a lovely torque figure of 280Nm. With the top speed of 149.1 mph and 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds it certainly isn’t going to be abused by many other sports coupes. The car is equipped with a six-speed direct-shift (DSG) gearbox, or if you speak Audi slang – S-Tronic system, which in other words mean your left leg can rest on the dash as there is no clutch pedal.

We all know that sports cars have to be lowered; it is a sin to leave a visible arch gap - it’s like heading to the beach while dressed in a suit. To tackle this issue Ryan opted for the FK Highsports, 20mm spacers at the back and 10mm at the front. Mercedes alphards alloys replaced the stock ones and look really smart.

The interior of the TT is sporty and luxurious. Equipped with a stunning red leather comfortable seats, flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, and beautiful dashboard with more curves yet again, it really is a place you want to return to. Black and red coloured gauges continue the sporty/race theme in here. Same as all the sport coupes in the production the passengers located in the back will sadly have to hold their own feet, and yeah, the head needs to be between the legs that you are holding due to the curved roof. In other words don’t invite more than one friend in the car at the same time.

Audi TT is certainly a stylish and sporty car that will make the people turn their heads as you drive past in one, and with the tasty upgrades Ryan has done it certainly gets thumbs up from me!