Audi TT 3.2 V6 quattro (2006) CAR review

Another Volkswagen hatch in drag?

Not quite. Where the old car shared too much with the Golf - to the detriment of the driving experience - this new TT is actually an ally/steel hybrid, with an extruded spaceframe chassis bonded and riveted to a steel rear section. Doors and boot lid are also made of steel, with the weightier elements located towards the back of the car to promote a superior centre of gravity and ensure a balanced axle load. Audi claims a 50 percent improvement in torsional rigidity over the outgoing TT. As well as that steel rear subframe, the Golf V-sourced four-link rear suspension is steel (remember, the old TT had a torsion beam set-up); the front suspension - MacPherson struts with triangular lower wishbones - is largely aluminium, as is the subframe.

The old car always over promised and under delivered, is this one any better?

Leagues ahead of the old car, certainly, although it’s similar in spirit. Four-wheel drive and shod with extravagant 245/40 section rubber, the TT clearly has a job to do - grip - which it does with awesome efficiency. Its electro-hydraulic speed-sensitive power steering is non-committal at low speed, but weights up pretty authentically the faster you go. It has superb body control and it turns in effectively. It even rides well, the optional adaptive magnetic damping - using a magneto-rheological fluid which alters when a voltage is passed though it - actually tuning the car's handling characteristics with a subtle efficacy that few adaptive set-ups ever genuinely manage. In other words, there's lots to like here.