Nas Toronto

Yeah I think my mind is set on TTS, the unknown maintenance $ is my biggest concern with the Porsche. I'll just wait till I can drive one (looks like March) and then go from there. Maybe at that time they'll have more information on the TTRS and then cause me to prolong my decision

Nas Toronto

4 doors would be practical but I love the new look of the TT. So the RS3 is out.

eric strauss

...reading Car and Driver since the 1060's with a continuous subscription. The Lightening Lap annual event is hugely entertaining, but not much else. Performance on that one track is not a great metric for ownership, daily driving and weekend fun. For example, the RS7, which is a phenomenal all-around performance car that brings hushed tones of reverence to many on these pages, was such a hot mess on the 2014 Lightening Lap Competition that the reviewers parked it before horrible things happened.

Audi RS7 at Lightning Lap 2014 ? Feature ? Car and Driver

My cars spend too small a percentage on the track to matter and I am unlikely to achieve those lap times, even with a gun to my head and fresh tires every few laps.

All three of those cars that I referenced are so much more similar that comparing a TTs to almost any other choice. None of the three are even close to being track-ready cars without a minimum of 10-15K investment. Neither is my S4 or RS5 for that matter.

For many folks, the idea of a hot hatch messes with their self image and a TTs is is more committed to style (and a beautiful one at that). For me, when my youngest daughter (at age 9) hit her head when I closed the hatch - that was the end of the TT series for us. By then the second gen and now third gen have lost the edgy art deco-like style that made me love it in the first place.

The VW R is missing the four rings, so for many it is below their social scale. I like to reward great engineering at great prices. Its pretty easy to build great expensive cars. Its bitchy hard to get it right for a reasonable price. The fun part about having the R, was that it's affordability allowed us to have a third fun car (A4 Cabriolet).

My wife loves the S3 and it may well be our next 4-door S-Car when her S4 lease expires. However, the rear seat is mostly unusable. The B9 S4 may be the trick, with its nearly two inches more rear leg room that the B8. We will have to see how that 8-speed Tiptronic and the software fares in the canyons. I keep trying to love the S6, as it is a great car. Just not in the canyons on the weekends...

Happy Motoring

Eric