German Car Zone

The TT, which got a major redesign for the 2008 model year, is in direct competition with the Porsche Boxster and Cayman, the BMW Z4, M Coupé and Roadster models as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLK.

If you're a car fan with a good memory for numbers, you know that the most powerful TT was the 3.2 quattro which developed 250 horses. On the other hand, you can prod up to 295 ponies in the Porsche models, up to 333 in the BMWs and up to 355 in the SLK. So on paper, Audi's little sports coupe and roadster needs some firepower to match the rest of the German brands.

For 2009, Audi is cranking up the heat a notch with the TTS, the latest and most-powerful version of the TT.

V6 out, 2.0 TFSI back in
The idea of popping the 3.2-litre V6 out of the engine bay and stuffing an overboosted 2.0-litre four might sound like a step backwards. However, the smaller engine makes more sense handling-wise, since it's lighter and provides the TT with better weight distribution. As a result, the car is better balanced and understeers less than with the V6.

For S duty, the 4-cylinder gets direct injection and produces 265 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque from 2,500 to 5,000 rpm. The only gearbox offered is the 6-speed double-clutch automated unit dubbed S tronic, which suits us fine.

With the new guts, the TTS gets to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds, which is about a second quicker than the TT 3.2. But Audi tinkered with the exhaust and the car belts out a rather alluring, raspy engine note that backs up its sporty pretensions.

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