Audi’s unique ‘design coupe’ the TT has reached the end of its road in Singapore, but luckily it goes out on a high  
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TT Fun Fact #1: This is the facelifted Audi TT, and sadly, it’s also the last one. Now 21-years-old, the TT has reached the end of its life with Audi announcing that this third-generation is the last version of the TT as we know it, since it’ll be replaced by an electric coupe of some sort. 

Why? Sports cars of all types have taken a hit with buyers switching to sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and coupe-like SUVs. Don’t believe us? Ju-Len literally just test drove the Audi Q3 Sportback, which is what happens when you cross a TT with a regular Q3. 

READ MORE: Want something to blame for the TT’s death? Here’s the Audi Q3 Sportback! Although the TT isn’t dying it’s just..morphing into an EV…but is that really death? We can’t answer that profound question here. 

TT Fun Fact #2 : In 1998, Audi had zero SUVs. Now, it has seven (Q2, Q3, Q3 Sportback, Q5, Q7, Q8, e-tron).
To get up to speed on the TT, we’ve the reviews on CarBuyer.com.sg – our first drive of the third-gen model in 2015, and the mildly-updated base 1.8-litre version in 2017. 

This 2.0 model replaces the 1.8 as the only rung on the TT ladder. For Singapore this is the sole offering, with front-wheel drive and a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox – note the 1.8 had a seven-speed, Audi doesn’t delve into reasons for that change.

That’s partly why, increased power and displacement aside, the 2.0 is thirstier than the 1.8 (5.9L/100km versus 6.6L/100km now) but you likely TT buyers out there aren’t probably going to care about that.

Since the TT has always been about design and emotive driving, you will care about its looks, and if you think this one looks much more like the hotter TT S model (which was never sold here officially), you’re right: There are the more aggro front air intakes, more sharp angles and ridges, the front lip spoiler, and, around the side, the little kink just ahead of the rear wheels. 

The TT still looks great, few other coupes can be this compact without looking squashed or pug-faced (compare the previous-gen Mercedes-Benz CLA), keeping in mind the TT is, at 4.19-metres long, shorter than a VW Golf’s 4.25-metres, but wider and lower as befitting a sporty coupe.  

Two doors and a hatch mean extra reinforcements for strength, but the third-gen TT has lots of aluminium in its construction.
TT Fun Fact #3 – The Audi TT is MQB-based, but it has its own unique platform.
It’s a special specimen and not just a garden-variety VW Group MQB platform coupe and keeps its weight low at 1,340kg with a driver. 
What will also entice TT fans is more power, the 2.0 allowing for a 50hp and 120Nm increase over the 1.8, for a total of 230hp and 370Nm. In a small, light coupe like this, it’s readily noticeable in the way the TT rabbits up to speed and fires out of corners with more alacrity, accompanied by the 2.0-litre engine’s enjoyable snorting. 

Turn the ESP to Sport mode and you can have a bit of squealy-wheely fun too, it helps tremendously that the TT is fun to drive at all speeds, certainly more precise and involving than a VW Scirocco.
You don’t really need to be doing twice the limit to feel it – in stark contrast say, to the raging, previous-gen TT RS which was the single car most responsible for multiple speeding tickets from CarBuyer staffers. So if you calm the hell down, the TT does it with you and it’s day-to-day okay since the ride is firm but not disgustingly crashy, there’s the expected road noise, but it’s not overwhelming. 

That makes the TT 2.0 a great coupe for Singapore, since it’s easy to park and drive, tolerable to live with if you haven’t acquired the lifestyle destroying devices known as children (to use a Ju-Lenism).
The boot is decent, at 306-litres, and has a very wide and flat loading space, while the vestigial rear seats fold down for 712-litres of space.  

TT Fun Fact #4 — The TT and R8 are the only Audis with the four-rings emblem on the bonnet
We still enjoy the TT’s interior very much, and in fact it reminds us again of why we dislike the current regime of touchscreen-everything, something put into greater contrast considering the TT doesn’t even have a central infotainment screen. It’s all piped through the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit instrument panel.
TT Fun Fact #5: The third-gen TT was where Audi’s Virtual Cockpit debuted in 2014. 

A design icon that still packs a zingy drive with surprising practicality, and a cabin that feels coupe-unique, it’s a great choice for a Singaporean sports coupe buyer. Given that we’ve already found that electric cars drive far more homogeneously than petrol-powered ones, the next ‘TT’ might not have half the character this one does.

Til then, and probably long after, the TT is looking like something worth holding on to. 

Audi TT 2.0 TFSI