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Shell shocked
He says, "It has more direction." (So if I liked the absence of direction, my views are history.) "The cabin is moved back, the nose is longer, and looks longer still because we've moved the cut-line of the bonnet down to the bumper. There's a new graphic around the rear number plate. It all helps to stop it looking like a copy of the original.
But we've kept the iconic lines - look at the clamshell line of the bonnet over the wheelarch, or the tail lamps [which, by the way, have lovely perspex boiled sweets inside - PH]. We also kept the tail shape.
We experimented with integrating the spoiler, and with making a higher tail to get the aerodynamics we needed. But it didn't look like a TT so we went for the electrically lifting spoiler instead. It was the most expensive solution, and boy we had fights with the cost people."
'The technology of the car it powers is all set for a far more serious sports car than the last TT'
You might remember the Shooting Brake concept - a TT with a vertical tailgate. Will that happen? Audi engineering chief Ulrich Hackenberg told me that will - but not as a TT. It might cannibalise the TT itself. So instead, he says, they're looking at using that tail-end style on Audi's Mini competitor. Yes - a new A2 is coming in about 2009, but it won't be an economy five-seater this time.
There will be a TT Roadster too, in about a year's time. And more powerful versions of the TT as well. Hackenberg says the V8 won't fit, but just smiles sweetly when you suggest this V6 with FSI or a turbo. And a diesel? 'If we win Le Mans' is the message. But he goes on:
"The TT is a sporty car, so it must be sporty diesel engine." Fair enough from the firm that's already winning races with a V10 TDi. So isn't your new 170bhp four-cylinder diesel sporty enough? "Enough questions." Code for 'No.'
Well, even if there's more to come, 250bhp V6 ought to do very nicely for now. The technology of the car it powers is all set for a far more serious sports car than the last TT. Could it be as big a shift as when the Golf GTI went from gen to gen 5? Or when the SLK went from version 1 to version 2? Audi has given itself every chance. If it mucked up now, well, that really would be frustrating.
Paul Horrell
Read Audi TT Car Review
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