(engine revving)
- It's the German coupe that has roots
in a famous motorcycle race.
With a futuristic look, ahead of it's time,
it made it's Beetle brother look bloated
and out of place on the showroom floor.
It got a drop top, it got all wheel drive
and it got rally sport engineering, that gave it
a little more pferdestarke.
(wheels spinning on road)
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Audi TT.
(upbeat music)
- Zip.
- Zap.
- Zip.
- Zap.
- Come on guys, we need more energy.
This is our dream job, we can't phone it in.
(cans popping)
(slurping)
- Zip
- Zip, zap
- Zap, Zap
- Zap, Zip
- Zip, zip
(yelling)
Now you might be asking yourself,
how's a famous motorcycle race come into play here.
(motorcycle revving)
The Audi TT's name is rooted in the Isle of Man TT.
In the mid 90's, Volkswagen group design center employees
Jay Mays and Freeman Thomas, were cooking something
up at their office in Simi Valley, California.
They summoned the spirit of some fun German coupes
from the 50's and 60's before Audi was even Audi.
What they were vibin on was the NSU Prinz TT.
NSU started making a small, rear engine,
economy car called the Prinz.
In the early 60's they came out with the Prinz TT
to celebrate winning a bunch of Isle of Man TT's,
with their motorcycles in the 50's.
Hmm, they even made a souped up version called the TTS,
which was a hot boy like the
Fiat Abarth and Morris Mini Cooper S.
The TTS only had 60 horse boys,
but it still proved to be competitive
in racing in hill climbs.
Before it went out of production in the late 60's,
it lost the Prinz nameplate and was called the 1000 TT.
(engine revving)
They also made a competition centric model
from the factory with, brace yourselves, you ready?
Okay everybody, I believe in brace, 80 hrsprs.
What, that's not even a hundred.
That's called a misdirect.
Fast forward back to the 90's, Jay Mays and Freeman Thomas
stuck a TT nameplate on their unique design,
and I frickin loved it.
They got a concept car with a sporty, clean,
driver eccentric interior, ready to roll.
The Audi TT concept debuted at the
95 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany.
It received all the positive press.
It was introduced as an every day sports car
with forward thinking design,
combined with Bauhaus inspiration.
Focusing on simplicity, Audi said,
"The interior rests on the principle of as much as necessary
"and as little as possible."
They kept the possibility of production very hush hush.
But in 1998 a mere three years later,
which is actually really fast.
Production models began struttin off
the assembly line in Europe.
But they didn't just look like a fun little car,
it actually was a fun little car.
(engine revving)
Audi did the TT name proud by basing
the first gen TT on the VW A4 platform,
shared by the Golf, the Jetta, the Beetle,
the frickin, everything else.
You ever driven a Mk4 Golf GTI?
It's a fun little car, 1.8t, never lose.
The first TT came with the old faithful,
VW 20 valve 1.8t four cylinder, with either,
front wheel drive or quattro all wheel drive.
(upbeat music)
I use air quotes because it wasn't
a true quattro all wheel drive system,
but essentially, front wheel drive,
that would request the rear wheel's assistance
when traction was lacking, commonly known as Haldex.
The TT came as either a coupe or roadster,
the 1.8t made a respectable 180 hrsprs,
and was easily tuned.
(tires screeching)
And it was strapped to a five speed, manual transmission,
or a six speed auto transmission.
Initially, they planned to only offer it
as a manual but somewhere along the way
they probably thought, hey, we want to sell these things,
and step moms are gonna buy em.
So we should make some automatics.
The TT was considered a stylish, suave, sports car
that was a cut above a GTI, on par with a SLK,
but not quite up there with a Porsche Boxter.
It was well received by discerning
middle to upper class buyers who wanted to have fun,
be able to daily it, and look cute to boot.
The original TT's design was so revere
that it even inspired the design
for Kobe Bryant's first shoe by Adidas.
Love it or hate it.
(explosion)
Unfortunately, there was a bit of a problem
with the original cars futuristic, award winning design.
The aerodynamics (beep) sucked.
They tended to fly off the road during aggressive,
high speed lane changes, but, only in Europe.
It probably had something to do
with a particular German road,
that has infamous stretches without speed limits.
Route Sechsundsechzig, what that's wrong?
What's it called?
The auto what?
Nah, (laughs) nice try (beep) hole.
It was tarnishing the TT's great new reputation,
so Audi recalled the cars to tack on
a little bitty spoiler on the back.
And made some suspension tweaks
to keep the back end more planted.
Not too long after the TT was on American roads in 2000,
Audi came out with a 225 horsepower version
of the 1.8t that only came with quattro
and a six speed manual.
(tires screeching)
Horsepower was boosted by way of a bigger turbo
and revised intake and exhaust, zero to 60 times,
a very cool, 6.7 seconds.
Later in it's production a 3.2 liter VR6
(grunts)
was optional.
In 2004, nine years after Post Malone was born,
the VR6 TT was the first to come to American shores
with their acclaimed DSG direct shift gearbox.
The quick shifting, dual clutch, automatic transmission
had a slick manual mode and helped
the TT lunge, 60 miles per, in only 6.4 seconds.
This narrow angle lump of ingenuity pumped out 247 hrsprs
and made sweet, sweet, beautiful music.
(engine revving)
It's the same engine that came in the R32 Golf
which we cover in this episode of Up to Speed.
One of the best parts of the first gen TT
was the optional baseball glove interior.
It was by far one of the most unique interiors
ever put in a production car.
The premium leather and seat ball string
cup your business in real nice.
While complementing the rest of
the cars design language, quite well.
And it's got frickin baseball stitches on it.
You think you're a jock in your Tacoma?
Oh yeah, does it have frickin baseball stitches? No?
Did your car even inspire a single pair
of basketball sneakers?
What's that? No? No?
In 2006, it was time to spruce things up a tad.
(engine revving)
The first gen had been around for eight years
which is kind of a long time for car generations.
The Mk5 Golf had debuted in Europe in late 2003
and since the Golf and TT are litter mates,
attached to the same Volkswagen auto group mama cat,
(cat meows)
it was time that this little kitten received
platform upgrades similar to the Golf.
I mean its only fair.
The second gen TT was produced from 2006 until 2014.
It was a tad wider, a tad longer,
and it's base engine was now
the 2.0 TFSI turbo four cylinder,
featuring direct fuel injection
and a nice bump in performance.
Another awesome upgrade was fully independent,
multi link rear suspension, which improved handling.
This was a big deal when this happened in the Golf.
It also had optional magnetic ride dampers.
This made the TT a nice, cozy, daily cruiser
with one twist of the knob.
It could stiffen up a bit,
for a spear to drive in the canyons.
The only other well known performance car
with this tech at the time, was the Ferrari 599 GTB.
It was also made with alumininimum.
(clears throat)
(mispronouncing aluminum)
Just give him time, he's had a tough week.
(mispronouncing aluminum)
It was also made with aluminum body panels
to achieve the better weight distribution.
He's got it, thank you.
Base power with the new two liter turbo engine
was up to 200 hrsprs, 20 more than the previous gen.
And again, the 3.2 VR6
(grunts)
(car zooming by)
was optional, you can get it with a six speed
or the new DSG auto transmisson.
That means paddle boys, look out for them rapids,
uh oh, waterfall, paddle boys, paddle boy.
(makes water drop sound)
Which Audi now called S tronic because
their the same as VW, but they don't wanna be the same.
With the new generation TT,
customers can get into a two liter turbo diesel
that made 165 hrspr and a respectable amount
of low end tuerks, 260 of them tuerks.
(tires speeding up)
But that was for Europe only.
On the other end of the spectrum,
Audi did enthusiasts a real solid,
by releasing an angry, badass TT,
with a 2.5 liter, five cylinder turbo.
That's right ladies and gents, the TT RS.
(background clapping)
(engine revving)
It almost didn't come to America
because, you know, (beep) us, right?
American enthusiasts actually sent a petition
with over 10,000 signatures to one of Audi's execs
in Ingolstadt, and apparently that worked.
The TT RS arrived in our ports in late 2011,
almost two years after it was unveiled
at the Geneva Auto Show.
The 2.5 liter turbo five cylinder cranked out
355, just beautiful, silky (beep) horses.
It was good for 60 miles per in 4.1 seconds.
It not only accelerated quickly
but also had a higher top speed of 174 miles per.
I've driven a TT, and I would never go that fast in one.
It only came with quattro and the drive train components
were beefed up to handle the big boost in power
which was around 155 more horsies than the base trim.
MagneRide was also standard as well as
big (beep) brakes and big (beep) rotors,
like any factory performance machine from Europe.
It got a pair of Recaro seats.
But what about TT's that went beyond public roads?
I'm talkin bout, real (beep) race cars.
(engine revving) (tires screeching)
Like the original Prinz TT, the Audi TT
was an excellent race car too.
The first and second gen saw and continued to see
tons of action in all kinds of racing.
I'm talkin hill climb, German VLN Endurance Racing,
British Touring Car Championship,
the German Touring Car Championship.
As well as tons of American club racing.
In 2013, American Audi tuner 034 Motor Sport,
sup dudes, teamed up with German team Rotek Racing
to enter a converted, front wheel drive TT RS
in the NASA's, the race guys,
not the space guys, 24 hours of Thunderhill.
And guess what?
They frickin won the whole thing.
The first ever front wheel drive car to do so.
Pretty sweet.
2014 was the beginning of the current third gen,
A-K-A the Mk3, this time it was based on
VW's new MQB platform shared by all the Golfs,
Jettas, the small Audis, the little Suvs, everything.
The new TT kinda looks like a baby R8 in the front, kinda.
And those tail lights, they kinda look like an R8 too.
And wouldn't you know it, we got ourselves another TTRS too.
This time with a very impressive, round, 400 hrsprs.
(engine revving)
Again, powered by a five cylinder turbo motor,
this car does it's group before fathers proud.
The zero to 60 time of around 3.6 seconds.
It's been called an R8 hunter on the track
by the auto journo's who don't like me,
but I like them, and race car drivers alike.
And what about aftermarket tuners
gettin their hands on em.
450 to the wheels easy and some people
are reporting 600 horsepower, as quite doable.
(engine revving)
This current gen though is the last of the Audi TT.
Audi's got their eye on doing a bunch of crazy stuff
with electric cars and unfortunately,
the low volume Niche TT, has gotta go.
I know, it's kinda sad,
maybe they'll come out with a TT electric.
They had an autonomous TTS a few years back
that did some goofy stuff at Pike's Peak.
Maybe they'll combine it all and come out
with a slick coupe that got all the latest tech.
And maybe, just maybe, Adidas will call me
and say "Hey James, we'd like you to have a shoe,
"would you like it to be modeled after an Audi TT?"
And I'd say, "No, thank you, no thanks,
"make it after a Golf."
Pumphrey 502
This shirt smells like Little Caesars,
like I feel like nakey Jakey wore it, yeah.
(mispronouncing aluminum)
I love you.