In 1994 work began on a new Audi in California.
It was going to be small, sleek, stylized, and sexy.
Something of a departure from the range at the time.
Like the Boxy 80 for example.
In 1999, the Audi TT lures offers a small delay thanks to unused and untried laser beam welding technology.
Named the pony of the NSU's Isle of Man TT success has only been a new model in its own right.
Its bubbly body, decent turn of pace, and corrective barge ensure buyers the world over loved it.
There was a new sports car darling, and it wasn't Italian, American or British.
It was German.
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Since 1999, the Audi GT has been a mainstay on roads all over the planet.
You can barely walk down a road now without seeing a squat, curvy two door with four rings on its rump.
Now, Audi's onto the third generation, after a difficult but ultimately very successful second album, they're gonna get this one right.
Those people will go elsewhere for the sports car kicks.
To do that, they needed to up their game.
The look must be recognizably TT, but not so similar it looks like the old car.
The materials inside need to be nicer, smoother, more TT-ish.
Power and drive may be important to some buyers, but let's face it.
The looks are gonna sell more of these than anything else.
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It looks like a TT, albeit a more grown up one.
The last generation was a decent evolution of the original's curvy design, but this one really looks like a car that belongs in this decade.
Eight.
With more pointy and angry as though someone in the Audi design heard someone dismiss the TT as the hairdresser car.
And thought, right, we're gonna do something about this.
And actually went and did it.
It.
More stylized, more purposeful, and it really works.
Well, for me at least.
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The interior is super slick as well.
The climate controls built into the vent is smart and the clean look really suits the car.
This feels like an interior that moves open on its own a bit.
Now smart sure but the real party piece is its speedo rev counter setup.
It's, something special.
All the information you could possibly want is actually within the drivers instrument [iii].
Audi calls it the virtual cockpit.
So if you want a traditional speedo res counter setup you can have it.
If you want a giant sat nav map, that'll go there as well.
Want a trip computer?
That lives there.
Same with the radio and audio functions.
Basically, everything now lives right in front of the driver.
All the information.
Right at your fingertips.
And it seems to work quite well.
It can be a little confusing at first but once you get to grips with it, it's rather [UNKNOWN] The [UNKNOWN] is impressive.
It puts the driver in utmost control without having to take their eyes off the road.
However if they want to sell more of these, it will have to drive at least fairly well.
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The original TT came under fire for not only being a bit slippery pre-recall, but also being a bit un-sportscarish.
I recall people referring to it as a golf in drag.
As such, they said it wasn't all that good to drive.
The mark two was an improvement.
A quick blast in a TTRS plus showed me that.
But this has to go as well as if not better than it looks.
[NOISE] The one we're in is the 230ps two liter turbo charge.
Quattro.
And the Quattro can currently can only come with a DSG S-tronic dual clutch box gear box, which is mega smart and mega swift.
And we've used them a million times before, seeing then exactly what it's like.
The 230 PSNT is about 200.
In [UNKNOWN] horsepower.
In old money would be [INAUDIBLE] with 5.3 seconds with this gear box and the quatro set up.
You can get front driver with a manual and that takes about six seconds.
Top speed is a 155 miles an hour.
It is quite brisk.
[LAUGH] It sounds good.
It sounds really good, for a little two liter turbo.
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This is based on the M.T.B.
platform, same as the S3 and the Dolphin, and they [UNKNOWN].
The M.T.B.
platform itself is actually brilliant.
It's proved itself time and time again.
The car's been based on a keep winning awards.
What's because they're so very, very good.
The steering is decently weighted.
It doesn't appear to suffer from the old Audi foible of being a bit dead in the middle.
The Quattro, what it does it offers you that safety net.
It makes you feel nice and happy that it's there especially because we're currently in Scotland.
Now Scotland is one of the two regions of the world where Rain is made and is exported from Scotland to everywhere else.
However, because we've got that sure footing, it does feel a little bit safer.
You feel like you can push it a little bit more and it has that grip.
It will really hem you in.
It will really look after you.
When you give it a little bit more than you should, which in conditions like this can even be incredibly fun or incredibly helpful.
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This feels every inch of the sports car [UNKNOWN]
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So there we have it the Mark III LDTT.
It's legacy starts in the 90's with a little coupe that turned the world on it's head and then evolved into a really great little car.
Now it's moved its game on again.
The new TT is more than that, it's not nearly well sorted.
It's actually.
Very good to drive.
And yet it shares a platform with more everyday cars like the Audi A3, the SEAT León, the Skoda Octavia, and the VW Golf.
But it uses it so very well.
And the tech inside is a great leap forward on top of all of that.
The Audi TT has matured.
And if you're after a new sports car, I think you just found it.
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