Audi TTS (2014) first official pictures

By Damion Smy

First Official Pictures

03 March 2014 19:00

This is the third-generation Audi TT that’s due in showrooms by the end of 2014. While it’s a more creased, hard-edged design, it still carries the crucial curves that set tongues wagging when the first TT rocked up in 1998.

It’s not as convincing as the original, is it? It’s a culmination of cues from the Audi Sport Quattro concept shown at the 2013 Frankfurt show, and the Audi Allroad Shooting Brake Concept that was displayed at the Detroit show in January. Audi has shown the regular TT and the more potent TT S model.

That angular version of the single-frame grille is like Hannibal Lecter’s mask on the classic TT silhouette: a bold garnish to the curvier, organic body design. Xenon LED headlamps as standard, with the Matrix Beam lamps currently offered on the A8 saloon optional.

Its 4.18m length is slightly shorter than the current car, but sits on a 37mm-longer wheelbase (2505mm), is 10mm narrower at 1832mm but is identical in height (1353 if you must know) yet sits 10mm lower on 18in alloys. Blending the current trend of sharper, trouser creased-styling with the original’s seductive curves hasn’t resulted in aching beauty, but the TT hallmarks remain: the crease over the front wheel, teardrop glasshouse and rounded-off tail. The badge is now on the bonnet, a la Audi R8, for the first time instead of its current position on the TT’s grille.

The design team, which includes the UK’s Steve Lewis, has incorporated more three-dimensional detailing, alluded to by (now former) Audi designer Wolfgang Egger at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. That includes the sharp edges around the headlamps, as well as taillights protruding beyond the rear body curves.

This is the first sportscar built on the VW Group MQB platform – VW’s high-tech, much imitated modular architecture that enables cars to be lengthened, lightened, tightened and powered by just about whatever fuel customers may want. For TT Gen III, that means the aluminium spaceframe body is a core feature, like before, and is wrapped around more ultra- and high-strength steel underpinnings. That means it’s 50kg lighter than the current car, thanks to form-hardening of its metallic cocktail, with the 2.0-litre TFSI model now carrying 1230kg.

This is brilliant – that new digital dash cluster that was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January. From the new sports seats (that are 5kg lighter), the simple, clean and sophisticated cabin has binned the central screen to show all functions in front of the driver in a single display. The 12.3in ‘Audi Virtual Cockpit’ display is customisable and boasts stunning 3D-effect graphics, positioned behind that stunning flat-bottom three-spoke steering wheel. Again, it’s straight out of the Sport Quattro Concept and is to that shown on the VW T-Roc concept that will also be at the Geneva motor show. Oh, and there’s a 13-litre increase in boot size…

The engines will be largely carry-over, with the four-cylinder 2.0-litre engine offered in 227bhp for the TT that gives it a 0-62mph time of 6.0sec. Choose the six-speed S-tronic instead of the six-speed manual and add Quattro all-wheel drive, and it’s 5.3sec. Want more? You’ll need the 306bhp TT S that can run from 0-62mph in 4.7sec.

If that’s not enough, you may want to wait for the snarling five-pot TT RS with as much as 400bhp from its 2.5-litre, and a 0-62mph time in as little as 4.0sec. It should arrive in 2015 when the seven-speed S-tronic transmission lands, as initially the TT will use a six-speed manual or six-speed dual clutch gearbox. The third-gen Audi TT will be in UK showrooms before the end of 2014.

The 2.0-litre diesel carries on, too, with 184bhp and 67.2mpg for 110g/km CO2. The biggest difference will be the availability of the diesel with front-wheel drive, as it’s currently quattro-only.

The Audi TT arrives in UK showrooms in late 2014 and should start at £25,000.

By Damion Smy