Thursday and Friday we had a large family gathering (a funeral), and my cousin - who always drives something fun - showed up with a TT Coupe (the 225-horse variety). First chance we had, we swapped keys and he led us on a quick run through the Wisconsin countryside.

For a coupe, that car is exteremely nice. great interior with plenty of room (I'm 6'4", 230 or so). Lots of gadgets to play with. The ride is very stable, with a well damped suspension. The 1.8T has a broad powerband, with lots of go available from 3k to redline (6500). While it certainly wasn't quite as sharp in the handling department as my Stook, I think that it would be a much easier car to live with if you had to drive it year-round (here in chicago, anyway), and if the weather sucked most of the time. The AWD system was not in evidence, and the car behaved like a well sorted front-driver.

Driving the TT really brought home to me what a spartan ride the S2000 really is. I still love it, but I'm really gonna have a hard time driving my car all winter with the top up (with snow tires). Too bad I couldn't have kept my Prelude when I picked up the S. Life is hard.

FWIW, my cousin (a highly discriminating person, in my estimation) was very impressed with my car (bone stock except for some of Ricks interior stuff). To paraphrase: "that car makes no apologies about being a sports car".

I'm gonna try to get him out to at least one autocross next season, where I'll do my best to arrange a second ride-exchange.

Mike
already waiting for April, 2001

 

The TT, at least the FWD smaller engined variety reminds me of the Karmann Ghia. The Ghia was a sporty looking body on a Beetle. The TT is a sporty looking body on a New Beetle. Neither the Ghia nor the TT are true sports cars in my book. Nice cars. Very pretty. Fun. Somewhat practical. Rather Feminine. But just like the Ghia was no Healy, TR, or Elan, the TT is no S2000. Long live real sports cars!

 

I agree about the TT being the spiritual successor to the Karmann Ghia. But that's no bad thing. The original Ghia was beautifully made and a lot of fun for its time and price. It was also watertight, which you couldn't say about British sports cars then.

I always had a soft spot for the Ghia, and for the Scirocco and Corrado that eventually replaced it. The TT is just another evolutionary step in that genus, and a very good one. If S2000s and Boxsters didn't exist, I think I could be very happy with one.

 

Your cousin is very insightful and obviously "gets it".

IMO I would never own a TT. I really don't like the way they look. Just a question of taste for me, nothing technical.

 

When I was looking at buying my S (Feb, 2000), I wanted to try a TT225 Roadster, but they weren't available. The coupe is a different creature. Either variety is something of a fashion statement, but they are nice cars, which was all that I was trying to get across. My cousin has a woman & daughter to tote at times, so any of the roadsters was pretty much not in the running when he made the purchase. I think that - considering the buying constraints that he was operating under - he made a very good choice.

The looks of the thing are quite, ah... polarizing. I personally like the way the TT looks, but I have no trouble seeing why others might not be so impressed.

Mike

 

Hey Mike... you autocross your S2K in the Chicago area? Have I seen you this season? I ran a Green Corrado in G-Stock. We're getting a yellow 2001 S2K to run in A-Stock next season. And it's funny you mentioned the TT, because one of my teammates drove a 225TT. She was running it in AS, and even had an experienced codriver. The problem was that he was consistently only turning G-Stock times. The car is simply not cut out for A-Stock. When you look at it, the car is just like an Eclipse, which has 210hp and AWD. So while I agree with everything you had to say about the TT (I drive hers regularly on the street) it simply doesn't have the type of speed on the course that the Honda does. They shouldn't even be in the same class.

 

Hi Jason,

Yeah, we may have been at acouple of the same events. My season was cut short this year by some medical problems, but before then, I ran the first two TSSCC events in my silver/red. I spoke to another guy at event #2 who said he was waiting on a silver/red also, so there should be a few of them competing next season.

I suspect that your opinion on the TT225 is correct - as it didn't feel nearly as nimble as the S2000 does. Which is heavier, the GSX or the TT? I'll bet that it's close.

Mike

 

There's a couple Silver/Red now locally, and at least one Silver/Black. Somebody had a Red one at the last event, and there's a guy getting one for next season. We'll have three drivers in ours (2 in open, 1 in ladies) so there are going to be a ton of S2K's locally next season. It's going to be very fun!

I think the GSX is slightly, but it's AWD system is more biased to the rear. I had the TT on some dirt roads this past weekend (hard packed, but dirt/sand) and you couldn't coax the tail out with the throttle. I know you can do this with a GSX, and even an Audi A4 Quattro. The system in the TT is just not that great of an AWD system.

I ran the TT once in fun runs, and while it handles nicely, the gearing is too short for such a narrow powerband... you're always shifting. I was able to turn similar times to what I turned in my Corrado during the event, with FWD and 178hp. IMO the Audi TT225 should be moved to G-Stock, after driving one.

Glad to see another S2k locally... like I said, next year will be fun. Headed off to the TSSCC meeting tonight. There's talk of a possible ProSolo in Chicago. See you out there next season!