I had a couple of Audi TTS’s back in the day, mk2 and 3 - brilliant little cars, great to drive!
I did replace the mk3 with an Audi s5, big mistake as it didn’t drive anywhere as nicely as the TTS and I sold it 4 months after buying it - engine and gearbox didn’t work well together…..
Good to see some love for the TT.
I had a Mk1 TT225 back in the day. A beautifully compact coupe, great styling and a lovely interior. Mine had the ESP added after the early high speed stability issues but not the rear spoiler.
Modified by AMD up in Bicester to around 290BHP (not bad for the time) with a remap, sports cats and Milltek exhaust. H&R suspension and Porsche 993 brakes finished things off. I really enjoyed that car, such a lot of fun.
I remember when the original TT came out it looked truly original, the first one I saw on the road had me gawping. The subsequent designs lost that and became (as is so often the case) larger but less interesting. They were possibly more stable at high speed than the original though!
I think it is a design that has aged well, alongisde the A2 and the sleek aerodynamic 1980’s 100 it has a timeless modernity/Bauhaus look. Not many recent Audi designs have been in any way memorable and the recent range is, to my eyes anyway, largely afflicted by ‘grille inflation’ amongst other horrors and mostly horrible to look at.
Bruce
It’ s a shame that avarage customers neglect the 3 Touring and saloon in favour of SUVs my dealer told me that it affects the resale value a lot. In the future, replacing the 1 i’d like a 3 Touring btw
The A2 was really clever with its aluminium space frame construction. It always felt bigger than it was and could swallow four and their luggage with ease. The 1.4TDI was pretty much bullet-proof and was quite capable of averaging 65mpg, sometimes hitting the mid to high 70s on a long motorway run. The cars light weight meant that its always felt sprightly even if ultimate performance wasn’t anything great. It’s major weaknesses were the sunroof that would almost always break and that Audi didn’t give it quite enough suspension travel, so it would regularly hit the bump stops on UK roads and broken springs now and then were a part of normal running.
I kept mine garaged for ages in the hope that I could give it to my daughter when she passed her test. I was gutted when she rejected it and then went and bought an Audi A1, which I’m not entirely convinced is the better car - certainly not as clever.
Sensible enough to go for the (excellent) diesel though. Lovely colour on that one.
Not a standard BMW colour though, it’s a vinyl wrap. You might remember it being parked out the front of the factory on the last forum visit Richard.
I do recall.
It’ s a pity that Audi ditched the A2 at the end. It’ was and would be today a game changer in its class, It was a Dr.Piech brainchild as was the following and even more radical VW XL1, a little more than a pure concept, built in very small number, rarer than a Bugatti and with supercar price tag
The Audi 1 is quite mai stream built on the same Polo platform
I rather imagine the A2 was too expensive to build for the market slot with its aluminium construction. Way ahead of its time and a car I always would like to have owned. I see that Matt Prior from Autocar bought one recently for £500 or so and tried ‘hyper miling’ (I think that’s the term for attempting to drive to obtain maximum economy) - he more or less managed to hit 100mpg. I can’t vouch for what techniques were required to achieve that!
Peter
Yes, it wasn’t a cheap car and I believe that Audi asked as much as they dared, but still lost a packet on every one. If only they had been able to iron out some of the more annoying facets (the aforementioned suspension being prime villain) with a MK2 version, it would have been amazing. I drove mine with a fairly heavy foot all over the place - even down to my Father’s place in France, out to the Focal factory once, and up to Mull a few times, and it could be great fun throwing it about on the country roads provided you knew where the pot holes lay. I would guess that if you drove it like there was an egg in place of the accelerator pedal then 100mpg might just be possible.
A couple of other strengths; It was very versatile as you could remove the rear seats and the lower rear cargo cover to effectively turn it into a minivan. And the climate control was superb - the AC always ice cold year after year. The most remarkable thing was that after I laid it up in the garage for a few years, when I came to clean it up to sell to an A2 “enthusiast”, the AC still blew ice cold.
The A2 turned out to be a failure, yes - not profitable enough! Similarly, other brilliant cars had the same fate such as the bmw i3 which was discontinued to protect the dull current i3 line looking like regular cars, although the little i3 is still way more advanced as a concept and thinking than any current electric bmw.
Luckily, there is still the Panda!
I was out walking once Richard and passed through a supermarket car park where there must have been at least 50 lovely Audi A2’s. I always thought it was a quirky little car that didn’t really fit in with the Audi line-up. It turns out this gathering was an A2 owners club. The people were friendly and very enthusiastic; until then I hadn’t realised what a cult following this little car had.
It’s been some time since I’ve posted here …… About 18 months ago I was fortunate enough to pick up rather a special Jaguar .. a 2006 Jaguar Super V8 Portfolio .. Only about a couple of hundred of them were made with a tranche coming to the US and a smaller number going to the Far East .. none to the UK. The model was repeated in 2009 .. only 2 years of manufacture. A long wheel based XJ 4.2 liter supercharged V8 with 400+ ft/lbs of torque .. the color is black cherry which reacts stunningly to neon lights and sharp sunlight.
The car is reserved for date nights, Sunday drives and special occasions … my son insists on being picked up in it when he flies in to visit ..
The car only had 54K miles when I acquired it and had obviously been looked after ..
Stunning car to drive and surprisingly nimble here on our mountain roads .. there’s a wonderful sense of confidence when driving.
Carpets need vacuuming ..
About 20+ years ago there was a TV commercial made by Cadillac that said something like “When you turn it on does it return the favor?” .. this Jaguar does. Every single time. The sound, the smell, the touch of the wood and the leather. I bought this car to bring it back to its peak and then move it on. After 18 months I’m afraid the “move it on” part is not going so well.
Hold on to it. That’s a very rare piece of British craftsmanship and engineering and at its best.
Enjoy it!
That’s an absolute belter. I definite keeper…enjoy
I took a look at the new Neue Klasse i3 saloon at Goodwood yesterday. It looks to me to be a taller and longer car than the current 3. Styling did not meet with approval from anyone else in my family but I like it and prefer it to the iX3. Touring version to follow apparently. What attracts me is the potential range so I will be watching closely.
I’ve been invited in to BMW to ‘build’ one and get a price. And then I’ll likely just buy a better looking current one at a discount…
I think they are taking orders only for the loaded ‘First Edition’ which is a bit of a manufacturer wheeze.
I’d like to see one in the metal but at first glance I Iike the surfacing and clean, less aggressive styling than some of their recent models. I might be interested in a Touring at some point down the line, I like an estate for carrying our bikes and boats.
Bruce
