The soft top Audi made a conscious decision to keep the cloth hood for the new TT Roadster. The soft top concept fits in perfectly with the philosophy of puristic open-top motoring and also offers a number of benefits over a folding steel hard top. The cloth hood, incorporating reinforcements made from steel and aluminium as well as a large glass rear window, has a very lightweight construction – not only does this reduce the overall weight of the TT Roadster, it lowers its centre of gravity too. It sleekly blends in with the car's lines and takes up only a small amount of space when folded down. Thanks to the new Z-fold, the front section of the roof lies on top of the cloth like a cover. It locks into place to lie flush with the body, dispensing with the need for a tonneau cover. The soft top is available in the colours black and dark grey. The TT Roadster 3.2 quattro comes as standard with an electrohydraulically powered soft top, which is available for the 2.0 TFSI as an option. This version of the soft top opens in just 12 seconds at the push of a button, and can even be operated on the move at speeds of up to 30 km/h. The fully automatic hood incorporates an additional layer of soundproofing beneath the black headliner for even better acoustic and thermal insulation. The manually operated roof is operated by means of a central catch. A mesh wind deflector that extends and retracts electrically can be ordered as an option to smooth the airstream in the interior – none of the competitor models are able to offer such a convenient solution. The body and safety Like the TT Coupe, the body of the TT Roadster is also built on the principles of Audi Space Frame (ASF) technology, featuring a pioneering hybrid construction that showcases the brand's tremendous expertise in lightweight design. The body is made from 58 percent aluminium and 42 percent steel. This material mix makes the Roadster extremely light, with the 2.0 TFSI tipping the scales at just 1,295 kilograms when unladen. To ensure that the load is distributed evenly between the axles, the steel components are located principally at the rear of the body – the bulkhead behind the passenger compartment, for example, is made from steel. This particular component, which anchors the high-strength roll-over bars with their elegant plastic covering, has a fundamental role to play in the body's overall rigidity. The side sills are also specific to the Roadster: they consist of extruded aluminium sections containing numerous reinforcing ribs. The A-pillars have been strengthened too and a high-strength steel tube integrated into the frame of the windscreen. Already impressive in the outgoing TT Roadster, static torsional strength has been more than doubled in the new model – this translates into outstanding vibrational comfort and precision handling. A full ensemble of restraint systems promise the greatest possible passive safety. In the event of an impact from the side, aluminium beams and padding in the doors are called into action along with the head and thorax side airbags. Two-stage full-size airbags and the Audi backguard system are on hand to limit the consequences of a collision from the front and rear respectively. Pages: [1] [2] [3] [4]

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