The Audi TT has earned itself to be considered one of the great icons of the German brand, offering both fun behind the wheel and a unique design. In 2023 it will celebrate 25 years since it began to be manufactured, in 1998 at the firm’s plant in Györ, Hungary, with that line inspired by the Bauhaus and a name, the TT, which refers to the Tourist Trophy, a motor competition that has been held on the Isle of Man since 1907.
Let’s get in situation. In the mid-90s of the last century, Audi had a flagship like the Audi A8 and began to rename the rest of the sedans. The Audi A4 replaced the Audi 80 in 1994 and the Audi 100 was christened the Audi A6. It was the first that adopted a new design language, which would be followed by the Audi A3, the brand’s compact that arrived in 1996. But something more was needed, which had been looking for a long time…
the genesis. The prototypes towards the Audi TT
The path towards the creation of a compact coupe, with a contained price (not affordable, we are talking about a premium brand) had already begun at the beginning of the last decade of the last century. You had to fall in love again, just like the Audi Quattro he had done it in the 80s by winning rallies.
Audi Quattro Spyder
It was at the 1991 Frankfurt Motor Show when the Audi Quattro Spyder was presented, a two-seater prototype with a central engine and Quattro all-wheel drive. It was more of a car with which the engineers could experiment, since its bodywork had been built entirely in aluminium, so its weight was very contained, barely 1,100 kg, 40% lighter. It was the path that the 1994 Audi A8 would follow, differentiating itself from the rest of the representation sedans.
moved with a motor 2.8-liter V6 Delivering 174 hp through a five-speed manual transmission, the car created such an expectation that Audi began to think about making a sports car. It wouldn’t be possible to follow his lead (every piece was unique), but discovering that the market was interested in an Audi sports car was the first step.
Audi Avus Quattro
In November 1991, Audi once again struck a chord at the Tokyo Motor Show with another aluminum-bodied sports car prototype that barely weighed 1,250 kg. It was the Audi Avus Quattro, reminiscent of the Auto Union Type C… except for its vertically opening doors.
It was moved by a spectacular engine W12 6.0 liter (result of integrating three blocks of four cylinders), with 509 CV and 539 Nm of torque. A six-speed manual transmission sent this flow of power to all four wheels (it had a Quattro traction system) and had a directional rear axle among other technological niceties such as the system that filtered exhaust gases, which would later arrive with few changes to serial cars.
Audi TT Coupe Concept
After these prototypes, many might think that an Audi R8 was in the making. And it was then that they decided to take a turn in their design and, at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Audi TT Coupe Concept. The name, in addition to the Isle of Man race car, was also reminiscent of the NSU TT sports car from the 1960s.
Given the success of the previous prototypes, Audi already thought this time about creating a model that could be taken to the assembly line. Adding, yes, a different design to the existing one. The person in charge of carrying it out was the American designer thomas freemanwhich under the guidance of Peter Schreyer, then chief designer of the brand, created a design for a coupe based on the PQ34 platform(on which the Audi A3 would sit).
This prototype very close to production practically traced the first sketches made (except that a rear window was later incorporated, thinning the C-pillar). That minimalist and symmetrical design was also transferred to the interior, created by Romulus Rost, and with which he won the Award for the best interior design of the year 2000.
Audi TT (8N) First generation. 1998
Torsten Wenzel, the Audi designer who brought the study to series production, defines the Audi TT as a moving sculpture”. The body of the Audi TT appears to be made from a single piece, and the front end without the traditional bumper overhangs accentuates its distinctive shape. “For us, the greatest praise was when the specialized press highlighted that not much had changed from the concept model to the production model; although, of course, we had to adapt many details due to the technical specifications of the production version, including the proportions. Most notable was the integration of a rear side window, which lengthened the car’s profile and increased the sports car’s dynamism.
The second element of the Audi TT was the circle, “the perfect graphic shape”, in Wenzel’s words. Inspired by the Bauhaus, each line of the Audi TT has a purpose, and each form a function. “Bringing out the unique character of the Audi TT Coupé by reducing it to its essentials was a very challenging and special task for us designers.”
Series production of the Audi TT began in 1998, based on the transverse-engine platform shared by the Volkswagen Golf IV and the Audi A3 introduced in 1996. Painted bodies of the TT were transported by rail from Ingolstadt to Györ, where it took place the final assembly (in the beginning it was an engine manufacturing plant exclusively), a unique production method in its time. A year later, the TT Roadster arrived, the convertible version.
The first-generation Audi TT was powered by four-cylinder turbo engines with outputs between 150 and 225 hp and a V6 unit with 250 hp. The highlight of the range of engines was the four-cylinder Audi TT quattro Sport, with 240 hp and of which 1,168 units were delivered.
Customers of the first generation TT had many options when it came to choosing special equipment. In addition to exclusive colors such as Papaya Orange or Nogaro Blue, the TT could be equipped with special factory-fitted accessories, such as the “baseball glove” design for the leather seats of the Audi TT Roadster (a detail of the concept that came to production).
In its eight years of production, 178,765 units of the first generation Audi TT Coupé (Type 8N) rolled off the production line until mid-2006. Between 1999 and 2006, 90,733 units of the Audi TT Roadster.
Audi TT (8J) Second generation. 2006
In the following two generations, the designers maintained “reduction to the essentials” as the dominant design philosophy, which is evident, for example, in the minimalist appearance of the exterior and the elegant, driver-oriented interior.
The round shape and circular motif remained characteristic features of the TT range and were unifying elements in the exterior and interior design. For example, in the aluminum fuel tank cap, the round outlets for the air conditioning system vents, the gearbox trim frame and the characteristic gear lever knob.
The second generation TT was launched in 2006 in its version with a Coupé body. In 2007 the TT Roadster would arrive, both based on the platform of the second generation Audi A3. There were many novelties in the mechanical section. Since the arrival of TT 2.0 TDI quattro, the world’s first series-produced sports car with a diesel engine to sporty versions: in 2008 the TTS, equipped with a 2-litre turbocharged 272 hp engine, was followed a year later by the first Audi TT RS, with an engine 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo with 340 hp. Adaptive dampers were also offered with the Audi magnetic ride system, which adapted the dampers to the profile of the road and the individual style of the driver.
In 2010 came an update of the model and, obviously, there was also a 2010 Audi TT Roadster. There were changes compared to the previous version in bumpers, grille or headlights. The latter could be double xenon and have daylight from light-emitting diodes. The TTS and TT RS retained the rear wing that rose from 120 km/h. As for engines, the 2.0 TFSI with 211 hp replaced the replaces the 2.0 TFSI 200 CV and the 3.2 250 CV. And in 2012 came the Audi TT RS Plus, which took the 2.5 five-cylinder engine one step further, to extract 360 hp from it.
Audi TT (8S) Third generation. 2014
The third generation of the Audi TT was presented in 2014 and took the opportunity to reduce its weight. The TT Coupé, with a 2.0 TFSI engine and manual gearbox weighed 1,230 kilograms on the scale, 50 kg less than the previous generation. Its design continued to be based on the lines of the original TT, with many details in the side view or the round fuel tank cover with the typical TT letters. Shortly after its launch, the Audi TT Roadster 2015 would arrive, following the same premises.
The two bodies had organic LEDs (OLED technology) as a great novelty, which radically changed the look of the car. And minimalism was uploaded to the interior as demanded by the model with the Audi virtual cockpit, a digital instrument panel with versatile and highly detailed screens, which replaced the analog gauges and the MMI monitor. It seems incredible that later cars opted for larger and larger screens in the middle of the dashboard, when they were not necessary.
Of the mechanical range we could not resist doing a test of the Audi TT RS, which squeezed the 2.5 five-cylinder to 400 CV. And beware, the Audi TTS reached 310 hp, a really good figure too.
It was in 2019 when the update of the model arrived and also the Audi TT Roadster 2019. Its lines sharpened a little more, gaining a sportier image, the single frame grill It obtained a three-dimensional framework and the air intakes grew, equating the access version to the sports variants.
With no diesel in the range, you could choose the 2.0 TFSI engine four-cylinder turbocharged with 197 hp or 245 hp… like the one that equipped the TT Roadster 20 years edition that we tested. Above, sports versions such as the Audi TTS that powers the same block up to 306 CV and the radical Audi TT RS with the 2.5 TFSI five-cylinder 400 CV.
Various special editions also arrived. The purest, perhaps, the Audi TT Tourist Trophy that we tested:
The last one presented, the Audi TT RS Coupé iconic edition, in Nardo Gray color and limited to 100 units. In it, the firm brings together the most outstanding aspects of the design and technology of a quarter of a century of the Audi TT to celebrate this 30th anniversary.
The future of the Audi TT
Will there be more Audi TT? In 2019 (four years ago!) we already reported that withdrawal bells were ringing. The TT will disappear as we know it and will be replaced by an electric model that would not maintain its same philosophy. How times have changed in barely five years, because in 2018 there was talk of a new family based on it, with a four-door model based on the Audi TT Sportback Concept presented in 2014: a saloon with a sporty appearance and the air of a coupé. which ultimately did not make it to production. Then they had also presented the Beijing Hall 2014 the TT offroad Concept, a kind of crossover.
That is where the shots of a future TT could go. A kind of Audi eTTron with silhouette of crossover sports shorter than a Q3, but also lower. Would the market demand it as it did with the original sports cars that led to the TT?
