Huey52

Dynamic mode. Have I mentioned dynamic mode?

USA-RET

LOL, yeah, I did read something about "dynamic" eliminating the lag issue.

The base TT could be a consideration, but with my trade-in's value not sure the dealer could get the numbers to work (for me).

I either wait a year and trade for a 2018 base TT or trade now for a 2017 TTS.

Huey52

Bird in the hand? We're not getting any younger.

f1point0

Thanks for the great write-up, and I pretty much came to the exact same conclusion. For me, in the end it was between the M2 and the TTS, and the TTS just made more sense as a daily driver, especially here in the NE. It doesn't hurt that so many like you are also reporting that the TTS is an amazing driver's car. It's making me look forward to my ED in 2 weeks even more!

Fun101

Same here. I came very close to buying the M2. It was originally the top of my "top 2" when I was shopping but I went with the TTS and I'm SO glad I did. For me the RWD was the biggest reason I favoured the TTS at the time. Snow IS a factor during my winter commute. I even considered keeping my MINI Paceman as a winter car and the M2 would have been summer. However, now that I own the TT, I think it outshines the M2 for several reasons. USA-RET used the word "classy" to describe the TT and that's absolutely right. The M2 has a lot of hype right now because it's the next coming of the M1 (aka "the unicorn"). It's also being touted at a baby M4 but you can't have your cake and eat it too but only pay for a cupcake. There has to be some trade down vs their pricier M3/4. You will definitely find it in the interior. The same giant door handles as the 235, the same tablet like nav screen plopped on top of the dash. The interior seating is sub par. The blue stitching looks great but that leather is not the good stuff and there's no available option. The back seats are almost as small as the TT's so it's not really more practical than a TT for cargo. As for overall exterior design, I do like the M2 over their 235 but it's still kinda the same ol' same beemer. The new TTS design is gorgeous!

I also can't get over how much I'm enjoying the virtual cockpit on the TT. Once you get used to what, when, and where to press, it's absolutely fantastic. And I have found that my passenger can see it no problem when needed. The view can be toggled between a smaller or full view.

I got a kick out of this comment because I often say "tricks are for kids". When I was debating the M2 vs TT back in February, I was in touch with a BMW salesman. He knew the TT was my other contender so he sent me this article to try to dissuade me from the TT. In sales I think it's important to know your audience because while he thinks this was a slamming article, he failed to recognize that even though I like my cars and I like spirited driving, I AM the demographic in this article so it actually helped sway me to the TT. The "fun or deadly" comment is spot on. LOL!

I'm loving my TTS...and having a ton of fun behind the wheel!

Check out the article:
The 2016 Audi TT Is Your Parents' Perfect My First Sports Car

USA-RET

Great article and pretty much spot on in all regards (save the under-powered part to which I cannot attest).

I am going to visit another Dealer (one that sells both VW and Audi). I was told by a BMW salesman that the Audi dash, shifter (pretty much everything you look at in an Audi is straight out of a VW). Doing a Google search for comparisons of the two, I found no similarity. Could I be getting "fibbed to"?

More to come................

Tailwagger

Thanks and congrats. We'll see how we all feel a year down the road, but despite only having about an hour total in the car, I can't deny that I'm hopeful the TTS is one of those cars that you become even fonder of over time. The long term reviews I've read coming out of the UK (see CAR for example) seem to suggest that is the case. Fingers crossed. Mine wont be arriving for another month and half, if I'm lucky. In the interim with nothing better to do, in an attempt to keep myself amused I've been re-reading every write up on the car from here to down under for going on about the dozenth time.

Which makes it funny that the Jalopnik article came up. I read it a while back and it was one of the ones that somewhat raised my old fart hackles. Likely due to their youth knows all perspective (self-righteousness is something all ages can exhibit as I fully intend to demonstrate within a sentence or two), it seemed they got close but missed an important portion of the demographic they were profiling. People who owned the cars they referenced and as they said found them too expensive, impractical and powerful to fully enjoy on the street. Check. And so sold them deciding that it made no sense investing many tens of thousands in an object of other people's desire only to see it sit idly in the garage except for a few minutes early Sunday morning. Check. But then... and this is what they missed... spent all the proceeds times three on a truck, trailer and half a car to go off in search of the kind of automotive nirvana they thought they were getting from a showroom dream but realized could only be attained by attempting to live out some of the fantasies inspired by their childhood memories of Clark and Stewart, Donahue and Posey.

At the risk of confirming I'm a snooty old bag who thinks he knows better than these johnny-come-lately iPhone toting whippersnappers, I'll state for the record that having spent significant time at the track, there exist a few of us who thoroughly enjoy pounding the curbing and cornering at the limit but that aren't necessarily all that enamored with a road car thats at its finest when tooting around Laguna or the Glen. Rather focus shifts back to where the car is actually designed to live day to day... from Rt 66 to the back woods of Maine. All the cars mentioned in this discussion are more than competent and perfectly great choices, but make no mistake, none come off the showroom floor even remotely close to providing the sense of driver involvement and mechanical purity experienced when piloting a dedicated machine stripped to its bare essentials, caged, race seat and harness, solid mounts, no power steering nor assisted brakes nor ABS and shod with a set of fresh slicks. Once you accept that a contemporary sports car is nearly as compromised in and around a race track as it is in terms of off road capability or applicability for hauling long distance mail, why bother getting all wrapped up in arguing about which is the most hard core when none of them are in any sense hard core at all? All I personally desire for street use is a decent power to economy tradeoff coupled to solid body structure atop a chassis that doesn't **** me off, one that follows my lead as we serenely dance through hitherto unknown corners at speed. Yet again any of the cars mentioned here reasonably meet that criteria. Deciding which ones best fits comes down to any of a zillion other considerations. How far is the dealer, whats the resale, how many times you expect to head over the mountains to Tahoe each year, how tight a fit is the baby seat, can Nana slide in and out comfortably enough to not consider cutting us out of the will if theres a need to take her to bingo night in a pinch? Some sane, some not, all quite personal. But gramps needs a gentler sports car? Get me my dentures and then get the hell off my lawn J-kids.

Back on the street, one well executed decreasing radius off ramp taken fast enough in a TTS and assuming you're not comatose at the time... the thing tracks and sticks so well that its likely you could take a final set, nod off and make it through no problem... you conclude that unless your last name is Vettel or you somehow wind up driving on three year old balding snow tires in the heat of summer on an oceanside road covered with sand washed up from a recent hurricane, its going to take some serious stupidity to sniff the limits of this chassis on public pavement. Some seem to decry such supreme stiction so easily attained, but I suspect its more that the car comes off so damn composed that it presents a challenge to personal bravery/capability hence some proclaim it as soulless, unexciting, too tame. All cars are entertaining one way or another at the limit, but the more capable, the less likely you'll ever figure it out on a road test. I understand where they're coming from; my favorite car of the last decade was the MK VI GTI because with average rubber on it, I could make the tires sing long and hard in corners where the TTS will certainly just silently glide through at significantly higher velocity. Different styles of enjoyment. I will confess though that I do look forward at some point to defeating all the nannies and seeing just how composed the car really is au naturale, purely for curiosity sake mind you. As my son is just learning how to drive, perhaps the appropriate course of action is to do an AX or two together next year.

Turning back to the Jalopnik rascals, I have to accuse them of having missed the boat journalistically on this one. They really should have gone all Nader on the TT for the serious threat it represents to their generation's reproductive opportunities. The lack of a center screen all but guarantees youthful unwed TT owners will remain so. With nothing to divert a prospective mate's attention from the so easily attainable yet excessive G loads, surely no serious relationship can stand such stress until after the lease is up. I suppose, despite paying cash, maybe that is something I can find common ground with them on. Since ordering I've had a recurring nightmare that after the judge reviews the hard evidence and shames me for being the selfish, driver-focused bastard I am, hogging all that media and single zone air-con for myself, accusing me of intentional harm for promoting spousal neck and back pain due to craning, it's almost assured that the outcome of our divorce settlement will see my better half winding up close to 7/8s, financially speaking at least. And then I too will be left unexpectedly single, alone with a TTS. Not the worst of all possible outcomes now that I think of it.

Huey52

LOL and dead on Tailwagger. Well done, again!

Don't forget that you can hog the B&O sweet spot as well.

Huey52

Disreputable salespeople (most) will say anything to get a sale. e.g. No, the TT virtual cockpit is not straight out of a VW. It was first introduced in same and has now spread to other Audi models. Quattro is superior to 4motion, etc.

There are certainly some VW parts sprinkled about under the hood and why not, no need to reinvent a good wheel. Heck, there are some Ford parts in my 'beater Mazda.

I like VW layouts and instrumentation. However Audi is the VAG premium mark and as such is much more refined and distinctly appointed (think Toyota->Lexus, etc.).

Again, all the best with your hunt, which is actually a lot of fun, fibs and all.

Tailwagger

Crap, you're right. My better 9/10s. Damn... we're approaching the limit