cdub
01-10-2005, 01:55 PM
After my sweet testdrive with Ken (Quattro30v) in the (then new) 3.2 DSG earlier this year (see old post), I found myself out with a friend looking at cars yesterday. He initially had his heart set on a Mini Cooper S, but after finding out that the waitlist is still 6 months strong, we went elsewhere. Right across the street was the Acura dealership. As a former Acura driver, I was enthusiastic about going and looking at their new rides. Since my friend was most concerned with size (lives and PARKS in San Francisco [:(]) we looked at the RSX type S. It is pretty slick and handles well, but I just think that they took a step in the wrong direction style wise from the Integra. Additionally, the salesman was less than helpful and very ignorant as to the stats of competing cars.
We then headed over to the Honda dealership to look at the Civic Si and Accord Coupe. Both were fine and Livermore Honda was very helpful. Since they knew that I was on good terms with the folks at Livmo Audi, they let us take the cars for for as long as we liked. The Accord was definitely a nice improvement from the old days, though they lifted more than a few features out of the Audi playbook.
After that my friend was more than convinced to get something other than a Mini Cooper. However, when we stepped into the Livmo Audi showroom and were greeted by the Sales Manager and several of the associates, a thought occured to me that the TT might just be the right car. My friend is definitely value conscious but certainly has enough intelligence to see the worth of an Audi. Plus, the TT is small like the Mini and good for shoehorning into tight San Francisco parking spaces. So I asked Ken and George what they had in a TT 180 with the 6 speed tip tranny and they handed us the keys to a shiny new black one.
We headed out for one of my favorite back roads in the area (Tesla Road) and my friend immediately commented on how solid the car felt. Now this is the same model that my mother has and she's been very pleased with it. However, she babies it. I wanted to see how it stacked up to the top of the range DSG that I had wrung out earlier. Coming from a heavy American car, my friend was very conservative in the car but still mentioned repeatedly at how good the handling was. He also liked the Tiptronic tranny and quickly started using the rocker switches on the steering wheel.
After driving for a half hour or so, he asked if I wanted to drive the car back. I of course hopped into the driver's seat and told him that I was going to show him what the car could do [:D]. So with rain lightly falling in the darkness (it was 6pm by that time) and miles of wet twisty mountain road in front of me, I casually turned the car around on a muddy gravel turnabout. With the driver's side wheels on the road and the other side in the mud, I announced that I was going to demonstrate what the ESP's primary function was [:p]
I stomped on the gas and watched as the little yellow "!" light furiously flickered while the car simply and smoothly pulled back on the road and shot off. Now remember, this was the frontrack model and there was no quattro to rely upon. Needless to say, my friend was very impressed. Next I wanted to show how good the brakes were since he had been very light on them while he was driving. So I waited until we were on a downhill stretch going at a good clip and then hit the brakes hard. The car strongly and smoothly stopped with no drama and more importantly, no ABS or ESP interference. The modulation is definitely nice in the TT. Over the remainder of the drive, I was very impressed with the acceleration. I didn't notice any pronounced turbo lag, though I did keep the revs up. Compared to the 3.2 DSG, the car showed very well. Obviously, I missed the exhaust note, the wonderful low-end torque, and the lightning quick DSG shifts.
Of course, I expected to be impressed by the 3.2, but the entry level 1.8t 180 Frontrack TT impressed me in its own rights by how well it performed at the limit. A dark wet mountain road is a challenge in any car, but even without quattro or a stickshift or burly V6, I loved the drive in the 180 TT.
As for my friend, despite the added bells and whistles of the Accord Coupe, the TT is the one that he liked best. I will not be surprised to find one in his garage very soon. As for me, as much as I like my A4 and the new ones too, the TT is fast becoming one of my favorite cars to drive.
Finally, I've said it before, but it bears repeating, Livermore Audi is simply one of the best, if not the outright best, dealerships around. They not only understand the need to let customers take their time and consider other cars, but they also make the deals when it comes time to buy.
We then headed over to the Honda dealership to look at the Civic Si and Accord Coupe. Both were fine and Livermore Honda was very helpful. Since they knew that I was on good terms with the folks at Livmo Audi, they let us take the cars for for as long as we liked. The Accord was definitely a nice improvement from the old days, though they lifted more than a few features out of the Audi playbook.
After that my friend was more than convinced to get something other than a Mini Cooper. However, when we stepped into the Livmo Audi showroom and were greeted by the Sales Manager and several of the associates, a thought occured to me that the TT might just be the right car. My friend is definitely value conscious but certainly has enough intelligence to see the worth of an Audi. Plus, the TT is small like the Mini and good for shoehorning into tight San Francisco parking spaces. So I asked Ken and George what they had in a TT 180 with the 6 speed tip tranny and they handed us the keys to a shiny new black one.
We headed out for one of my favorite back roads in the area (Tesla Road) and my friend immediately commented on how solid the car felt. Now this is the same model that my mother has and she's been very pleased with it. However, she babies it. I wanted to see how it stacked up to the top of the range DSG that I had wrung out earlier. Coming from a heavy American car, my friend was very conservative in the car but still mentioned repeatedly at how good the handling was. He also liked the Tiptronic tranny and quickly started using the rocker switches on the steering wheel.
After driving for a half hour or so, he asked if I wanted to drive the car back. I of course hopped into the driver's seat and told him that I was going to show him what the car could do [:D]. So with rain lightly falling in the darkness (it was 6pm by that time) and miles of wet twisty mountain road in front of me, I casually turned the car around on a muddy gravel turnabout. With the driver's side wheels on the road and the other side in the mud, I announced that I was going to demonstrate what the ESP's primary function was [:p]
I stomped on the gas and watched as the little yellow "!" light furiously flickered while the car simply and smoothly pulled back on the road and shot off. Now remember, this was the frontrack model and there was no quattro to rely upon. Needless to say, my friend was very impressed. Next I wanted to show how good the brakes were since he had been very light on them while he was driving. So I waited until we were on a downhill stretch going at a good clip and then hit the brakes hard. The car strongly and smoothly stopped with no drama and more importantly, no ABS or ESP interference. The modulation is definitely nice in the TT. Over the remainder of the drive, I was very impressed with the acceleration. I didn't notice any pronounced turbo lag, though I did keep the revs up. Compared to the 3.2 DSG, the car showed very well. Obviously, I missed the exhaust note, the wonderful low-end torque, and the lightning quick DSG shifts.
Of course, I expected to be impressed by the 3.2, but the entry level 1.8t 180 Frontrack TT impressed me in its own rights by how well it performed at the limit. A dark wet mountain road is a challenge in any car, but even without quattro or a stickshift or burly V6, I loved the drive in the 180 TT.
As for my friend, despite the added bells and whistles of the Accord Coupe, the TT is the one that he liked best. I will not be surprised to find one in his garage very soon. As for me, as much as I like my A4 and the new ones too, the TT is fast becoming one of my favorite cars to drive.
Finally, I've said it before, but it bears repeating, Livermore Audi is simply one of the best, if not the outright best, dealerships around. They not only understand the need to let customers take their time and consider other cars, but they also make the deals when it comes time to buy.