2016 Audi TTS sure footed sports car fun

The Audi TT exterior design is one that can be considered a bit polarizing, either you like it or you don’t. In most cases the design has been a winner with sports car enthusiasts. With a full redesign for model year 2016 the TT has become a bit more aggressive with, as usual for Audi vehicles, a big touch of elegance. Select the TTS and you get an even bigger helping of all of this.

The 2016 TTS gets a big bump in its sport car-ness with 292 horsepower a sizable increase over the regular TT, that’s a welcome 72-hp more. The compact 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine also exhibits 280 lb-ft. of torque. Putting performance at your finger tips, or should I say your right foot.

Of course, Audi engineers never just stop at horsepower they add suspension mods that increase handling abilities and that only starts at lowering the whole package. The TTS is also fitted with Audi’s magnetic ride four-mode adjustable suspension system that heightens the handling abilities and ride comfort.

A bevy of “S” trim items make the TTS stand out with just enough pizzazz to make the owner of a normal TT pine with envy. Front and rear sport fascias and side sills along with “S” mirrors and the requisite quad exhaust tips. The TTS also receives an unobtrusive adaptive rear spoiler. An Audi must are the LED headlights and taillights which have become an Audi signature look.

When owning a modern day sports car one must have an adaptive driver’s sport seat. The TTS has one that will not only cuddle you in comfort it will keep you firmly planted where you belong during more sporting drives. Not only is the driver seat adjustable in all the normal manner it has power adjustable side bolsters so that nearly all drivers of varying sizes can find just the perfect hold on their body.

An added feature that is perhaps this side too far on the side of video gameness is what Audi calls its “virtual cockpit.” Incorporating video graphics and color palette, the system takes the place of a typical display screen mounted center dash. While this puts everything right in front of the driver in the instrument panel it takes any relevance from the passenger, everything is controlled by the driver. Though there remains an MMI control knob on the center console there is little the passenger can do without having the ability to see what they are manipulating. As a driver, I sure don’t want my passenger haphazardly changing what I see on the IP. From the driver viewpoint all the information is easy to read.

Bottom line here with the Audi TTS is it is a driver’s car and even though a manual transmission isn’t in the picture Audi makes one of the best manual mode automatics on the market. With steering wheel mounted paddle shifters the TTS makes one nearly forget about a truly manual gearbox.

In true Audi fashion, power to the road is transferred via the quattro all-wheel drive system one that has seen arduous testing during international competition on racetracks around the world. If there is one all-wheel drive system that can be considered the pinnacle in the world it would be Audi’s quattro system.

Audi tells us that the exterior and interior design cues are influenced by Audi’s supercar the R8. We can see the influence but must be truthful and say there is little that can substitute for the massive power and aggressively good looks of the amazing R8.

Facing reality and getting back in the driver’s seat of the TTS I can still get an adrenaline rush as the TTS turbo kicks and pushes me back in the seat as I head for the Northern California coast for a fun run along the rocky shore.