2002 Audi TT Roadster

And if you order the baseball seats, you get ball-glove leather not just to sit on, but in the interior door panels, wrapping the steering wheel, shifter and emergency-brake handle—even on the kneepads of the aluminum braces that link the center console with the instrument panel.


What you won't notice, at least at first glance, are all the storage areas in what otherwise appears to be a tight cockpit with room for only two people. But there are enclosed storage areas behind the seats, netted storage in the doors, a tray above the passenger's knees, as well as pair of aluminum cupholders and a surprisingly usable 6.4 cubic-inch trunk (in Quattro TTs).


As well designed and beautiful as the TT's interior may be, don't allow yourself to be mesmerized. Although it's an artistic beauty, it's also a motor vehicle, so let's turn that key and see if the TT Roadster is as beautiful on the road as it is in the driveway.

Front-wheel-drive models have the low-boost, 180-hp 1.8-liter turbocharged four and a 5-speed manual. Quattro TTs get a high-boost 225-hp version of the engine and a 6-speed manual.

The TT Roadster's engine has only four cylinders and a mere 1.8 liters of displacement, but with five-valve heads and a high-pressure turbocharger, it produces 225 horsepower and maintains its maximum 207 lb.-ft. of torque all the way from 2,200 rpm to 5,500. TTs come only with manual transmissions: a five-speed with the 180-hp (front-wheel-drive) version and a six-speed with the 225-hp model, which is available only with Quattro. (A Tiptronic automatic gearbox becomes an option late in the fall of 2002.)


Audi says that the Quattro roadster will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds and will cover a quarter-mile in less than 15 seconds; it's electronically limited to 143 miles per hour in North America. Despite such performance, the 225-hp engine is rated at 20 mpg in town and 28 on the highway (assuming, of course, that you don't spend much time at the car's maximum, double-the-posted-limit speed).