Audi TT Review 2024

The Audi TT is about having your cake and eating it, too. This is a sports car that says you can have the looks, performance and luxury of a coupe, without the drawbacks of high running costs and poor practicality.

It's smaller and lighter than many of its rivals, so it's a doddle to drive around town and park, but also refined and comfortable enough inside to drive every single day, no matter how long your commute to the office is. 

Having four seats and a flexible boot means it can moonlight as a family hatchback (just) when required, yet it remains great fun to drive, with sure-footed handling, positive controls, and a range of fast petrol engines. Combine these qualities with its relatively low running costs, and you've got a brilliant all-round package. We suspect that owning an Audi TT would be as hassle-free as having a sports car gets, so what's the catch then? 

Well, the mature driving experience it delivers robs the Audi TT of some of the drama and excitement that some sports car buyers want, and rivals that are rougher round the edges do feel more memorable to drive as a result. If you want a coupe as your only car, the Audi TT is a compelling choice, but it might leave the keenest drivers unfulfilled.

If you're in the market for sporty coupe there's no shortage of options, but few feel as well polished as the Audi TT. Premium buyers who want similar levels of practicality and a roomier cabin (but also a six-cylinder engine and rear-drive excitement) will be well-served by a BMW 2 Series Coupe. Those looking at a higher-spec TTS would be well-served with the fast M240i model. 

Other alternatives include the excellent Toyota Supra and (if it's a roadster you want) the related BMW Z4. The Ford Mustang is an altogether different beast. It's hugely charismatic - especially with the V8 engine option - with feisty handling, but it's also deeply flawed, with a cheap feeling cabin and ruinously high fuel costs.

If your budget is a little lower, but you still want a fun driving experience and a manual gearbox, the Toyota GT86 and Mazda's folding hard-top MX-5 RF will fit the bill; but neither is as refined or well built as the Audi.

Several high-performance hot hatches can match the straight-line speed and tenacious four-wheel drive grip of an Audi TTS, but it competes more closely with driver-focused, mid-engined two-seaters such as the Porsche Cayman and Alpine A110.

When it was first launched, the Audi TT's interior instantly became the benchmark that all other relatively affordable sports coupes would be judged against. Not only did it look stunning, but the fit and finish was of a level never seen at this price.

The dashboard plastics are soft and squidgy, and more expensive materials feature in abundance. There's metal in the centre console and chunky grab handles, faux suede in the doors, and a lots of stitched soft leather, too. You can add a splash of colour with orange, blue or red inserts, while the high-spec TTS has carbon inlays.

Even now, the sheer quality of the materials used inside, and the precise way everything fits together, mean rivals such as Alpine A110 pale in comparison, and it makes the Ford Mustang feel like cheap children's toy. All of the major controls have a reassuringly solid heft to them. Buttons and dials click into place like the bezel of a luxury watch, with the only exception being the plastic shifter paddles on the automatic versions.

Stylish details like the frameless rear-view mirror and the TT's trademark turbine-style air vents add a touch of class, and with the optional climate control, you get a neat digital temperature readout set into their centre.

The Audi TT's driver focused approach to cabin design has just one screen, a 12.3-inch panel mounted directly behind the steering wheel, in place of normal dials. It's the same layout as in the R8 supercar, and makes the Audi TT feel super sporty, but the absence of an additional display in the centre of the dash - while great for removing clutter - does create some issues with its usability.

Your front passenger will be craning their neck attempting to skip music tracks or find a radio station, so it's best to let the driver do the DJ-ing using the steering wheel buttons or big rotary dial in the centre console. On the plus side, the LCD display is very bright, with colourful, clear menus that are logically laid out and fairly easy to learn. It comes with eight speakers, DAB radio, Bluetooth and USB connectivity as standard, but frustratingly, navigation was a pricey option on all but the highest trim level, so many used examples won't have it, and this was before the days when Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were commonplace.

In fact, later Vorsprung and TTS versions were the only models featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring (it wasn't even an option on lower trims) and the implementation isn't as good as in Audi's other cars. Your apps share the screen's real estate with the dials, and the lack of a touchscreen slows things down, too.

For most functions, you'll end up using the buttons on the steering wheel, and learn to just glance down at the screen while driving, but entering addresses is fiddly. If you're driving alone, it's smart to do this before setting off, but there's a touchpad on top of the control wheel that lets you trace out letters and numbers to find post codes.

If you are expecting the Audi TT to fill the role of a family car then it'll leave you disappointed. Measure it against its two-door rivals, though, and the Audi is a surprisingly practical choice, partly thanks to its four-seat layout.

The TT is one of the smallest cars in its class. At 4191mm long, 1966mm wide (including mirrors) and 1355mm tall, it's barely bigger than a modern supermini. It's more compact than a Toyota Supra and BMW 2 Series, and makes the Ford Mustang look like a tank.

True, those rear seats are small (even kids won't want to sit there for too long) and the sloping roofline and tiny side windows give anyone in the back a fairly accurate picture of what travelling inside a postbox might feel like. Clambering into them is also a real challenge, and the poor access makes trying to fit a child seat (using the integrated ISOFIX points and Top Tether) a proper wrestling match: you're unlikely to come away unscathed. 

Still, they'll often come in handy for stowing bags or thick coats during the winter months, meaning you don't feel as hemmed in as you would in a strict two-seater. They also fold flat, creating a much bigger boot area. 

With the seats up you can fit up to 305 litres of luggage in the back - about the same as a small hatchback - but if you fold the seats down you're left with a broad, perfectly flat load bay that can take up to 712 litres of stuff. That's big enough to carry awkward items like a bike with its wheels off, and the hatchback design makes it nice and easy to lower bulkier cargo inside without damaging the paint; giving the TT surprising flexibility.

You do pay a price for the low-profile exterior design, though, and more conventional looking rivals like the BMW 2 Series Coupe are roomier inside, especially if you often want to carry more than one passenger. Up front, Audi gives you a few places to stash loose items, including a shallow covered tray in the centre console and armrest, reasonably deep door bins, and a narrow glovebox.

Your takeaway coffee will fit neatly into the centre console, and there's a second flip-out cupholder hidden inside the armrest, but neither can hold a water bottle without blocking access to the gear stick and infotainment controls.

The TT has been offered with a wide variety of engines over the years. For much of the car's life, the entry-level engine was a 180PS 1.8-litre turbo petrol, but the 2.0-litre turbo petrol was much more popular with buyers, developing between 200PS and 245PS depending on the version. There was also a 2.0-litre diesel giving 184PS.

In 2018 the range was simplified, and the 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TDI diesel were discontinued. That was no great shame as the 1.8 wasn't quite as scintillating as a TT should be, and the diesel, although quite and smooth, didn't have the sound or the rev-happy nature that suited the TT. And besides, it was hard to look past the 2.0-litre petrol anyway. It's very quick and sounds fab, and despite being happy to rev, the turbo also gives it a vast slug of mid-range urgency. This really is all the TT you need.

These mid-range powertrain options could be had in a variety of forms, with either front-wheel drive or quattro four-wheel drive, while the gearboxes available included both six-speed manuals and the S tronic dual-clutch automatic transmission. We prefer the front-drive cars for their lighter feel, and the manual gearbox for its greater level of engagement, but to be honest, you can't really go wrong whatever format you choose: it's simply a matter of personal taste.

With 306PS the TTS is quick enough to beat a Porsche Cayman off the line, with standard four-wheel drive to make deploying all that performance as simple as keeping the steering straight and flexing your right foot.

The Audi TT is a very undemanding sports car to live with day-to-day. It certainly keeps things in the cabin quieter than in, say, a Ford Mustang or Toyota GT86, filtering out more unwanted engine and tyre noise than either.

It helps that the 2.0 TFSI engine is very smooth (regardless of the power output) and transmits very little noise or vibration through the controls. In fact, you're unlikely to hear its raspy exhaust note unless you provoke it. Models fitted with the seven-speed S tronic gearbox are the most relaxing to drive on long motorway stint. It blurs through changes, shifting up smartly in 'Comfort' mode and holding each cog a bit longer in 'Dynamic'.

The six-speed manual in the 45 TFSI has a light clutch, but an overly long throw. Still, it also gives you more chances to interact with the car, since the TT can be a bit too effective at isolating its driver from the action.

Despite placing the driver close to the road surface, the only things likely to disturb you at cruising speeds are a flutter of wind noise from the door mirrors, and a rumble from the tyres. It's among the better choices of sports coupe for a refined daily driver. 

The TT received four stars (out of five) when it was crash tested by safety body Euro NCAP. That result might give cause for alarm, but it was one of the first models to undergo a stricter test regime that put the emphasis on active systems like automatic emergency braking, something the TT simply doesn't have.

It could be worse; the rival Ford Mustang only got a two-star rating in 2017 (upgraded to three after Ford fitted an auto emergency braking system) and scored well below the Audi in every category. The TT got an 81% rating for protecting adults inside, and 68% for children: the Ford gets a worrying 32% for the latter.

Although it misses out on the latest driver aids, every model has the standard safety kit you'd expect. Four airbags, electronic stability and traction control, tyre pressure sensors all feature, as do parking sensors. A hill-hold assist that stops the car rolling backwards is included, too, which is handy at elevated junctions.

Optional safety equipment included Blind spot monitors (showing you if it's safe to pull out or not), and traffic sign recognition. There's also a parking assistant option that will measure a tricky spot and steer into it for you, while you control the throttle and brakes but no radar-guided cruise control is offered.

The 45 TFSI and TTS come with Audi Lane Assist, which gently corrects the steering if you veer off course on the motorway, but this feature just isn't as useful as auto-emergency braking or advanced cruise control.

Audi placed a very middle-of-the-road 16th place out of 29 carmakers considered in the 2023 HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index. That's ahead of arch rival Mercedes-Benz, but behind other arch rival BMW.

However, that's for overall customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, when it comes to reliability specifically, Audi was voted by owners as the ninth most unreliable brand in the study. The TT wasn't namechecked specifically as part of the reason why (the A4 and A6 were mainly responsible), and the TT uses parts and tech from right across the Volkswagen group, which means weaknesses and headaches should have been worked through long ago.

With its premium badge and sporty image the Audi TT is not the cheapest car to insure. For instance, the 40 TFSI Sport starts in group 35; seven bands higher than the equivalent Mazda MX-5 RF 2.0-litre.

The most affordable version to cover is the 1.8-litre TFSI, which is group 32. Popular S line and Black Edition trims start in group 38, while the range-topping Vorsprung models go upward from group 41.

Pick the 45 TFSI, and manual Sport models sit in the middle of this range, with an insurance rating of 37. That compares favourably with the 2.3-litre Ford Mustang (39) but matches the much faster Toyota Supra.

Compared with some of Audi's own mainstream models, the TT's standard equipment list appears a bit on the stingy side. As standard the car has manual air conditioning, automatic lights and wipers, cruise control, power folding door mirrors, DAB radio and Bluetooth, plus luxuries like heated leather seats and 18-inch alloys.

The S line trim looks more aggressive, with lowered suspension, a sportier body kit, bright LED headlights and 19-inch wheels, while inside you'll find figure-hugging Super Sports seats with electric lumbar support.

Black Edition models - as the name implies - get huge gloss black 20-inch alloys, black door mirrors caps and a racy fixed rear spoiler (like the TT RS) but no additional interior equipment. If you want items like climate control or sat-nav, you'll have to pray that the original owner added them as optional extras. Most options were available in packs rather than as individual items, so buyers couldn't cherry pick the items they wanted.