T²

This one has200 horsepower and 281nm of torque that begins from 1,800rpm, all the way to 5,000 rpm. In reality you feel it happening about 2000rpm, but in real world situations, no one’s really complaining. Satisfyingly, it pulls away from the crowd in an instant. Its just one of those cars – no downshifting needed!

Alright then, so it has responsive power delivery and economical operation WHEN the right foot isn’t loaded with lead. Initially, we blew nearly ¼ the total amount of fuel it had while doing only 83km. That was atrocious really, but considering that we kept the tachometer needle above 4000rpm nearly 100% of the time, well, you really can’t blame Audi.

Noteworthy for quick and precise gear changes that delivers the power to the front wheels, Audi is betting their horses on the marketability of this 2.0-litre, S tronic.

This is ironically, the first time we’re driving the S-tronic twin-clutch automanual six-speed transmission, which is essentially the same tranny used in the Golf GTi.

Audi claims that the gearbox is capable of swapping cogs in 0.2 seconds, and having seen Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya loose in a manual Golf GTi to the DSG equipped equivalent, we believe them.

The S tronic, which we feel should be by default, offers a manual setting that allows the driver to shift the gears with that now familiar F1 style paddle that turns with the steering wheel or the console shift lever.

You of course, get to utilise it in fully automatic mode should you get lazy in nary a causeway jam and that sort of thing. The Sport setting holds the ratios in longer before the transmission attempts to upshift, and provides earlier downshifting.

We’re not too sure if the Sport setting made for shorter shifting times as well, but we sure felt it going on somewhere in that dual clutch autobox for sure. Audi claims this is indeed the case, and it has been in aid of optimizing acceleration.

Finally, to deceive the average Joe cum Audi TT owner into thinking that he’s a professional track driver, the transmission blips the throttle to match engine revs to the selected lower gear. Take that, heel and toe!

The new TT is definitely better than the old one, and whatever you loved on the old model just amplifies itself on the ’07 version. Personally, I think the steering is too light, and I would rather go for a rear wheel driven coupe given the drift enthusiast that I am, but for the sporting enthusiast who wants to arrive in style, this is one car that should be high on your options list!

Credits: Amery Reuben. Photos by Caden Wang (www.splutterphotography.com)