Let’s cut to the chase. For fifty something thousand dollars, there are plenty of sports cars at this year’s 2015 New York International Auto Show that would embarrass the Audi TTS on the track. The Corvette Stingray and the Porsche Cayman own the TTS from a pure performance standpoint. Even the much cheaper Ford Mustang GT will give the Audi a brutal wedgie in any kind of race. So why buy the TTS? Who, exactly, is this car for?
Ten years ago the TT used to be all show and no go, a front-wheel drive aspirational status symbol impersonating a sports car. Even though it looked like a toaster, any teenage girl would have killed to drive one to high school.
Now, however, you can get a car like this 2016 TTS with nearly 300 horsepower flowing through all four wheels via Quattro. That’s interesting. And the styling has taken on a sharply creased, smartly tailored look, too.
But if I owned one of these things, the thing I would be showing off to everyone is the dashboard. Yep, that’s a completely digital display where gauges used to be. It’s from the future. Science, I think.
The Audi’s “virtual cockpit” can re-configure that important area right in front of your face depending on your needs. Want the navigation map right there? I know I do. Want a little speedometer right next to it? No problem. Or nothing but a big tachometer, front and center? It can even put your music choices right in front of you, which is much safer, really, than rooting through that iPod plugged into your aux jack.
So I’m still a little fuzzy on what the future of the Audi TT is as a sports car, but it can definitely show us the future of all cars, right on the dashboard.
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