Over the years I have fallen in love with a lot of cars
- but like women, you don’t always get the chance to try them out.
However, my old mate in Oz, John Weinthal managed it with the Audi TT
Roadster, with which we both were enraptured at the Bangkok International
Motor Show. And what’s more the one he’s just tested was the one with
the puffer and 4WD as well. John sent the following test report over
(actually he was gloating, I know his style)! So here’s what the Audi is
like. If you’ve got 4.290 million baht, Audi will even get you one over
here.
Words
from Weinthal - Few cars made as big an impact on me last year as the
audaciously styled Audi TT Coupe. But there’s always something even more
fetching around the corner. And from Audi in the year 2000 that means the
TT Roadster or convertible.
For me there was the added bonus that while the Coupe I
fell for last year had a 132 kW 1.8 litre turbo engine and front wheel
drive, the new roadster comes only with the superb inter-cooled twin turbo
edition of the same engine pumping out some 165 kW - plus Audi’s
full-time 4WD quattro system. It also has a six speed gearbox, electronic
stability program and a host of other safety and driving pleasure aids.
Safety items include the usual pair of front airbags
plus side airbags mounted in the seats, and stylish roll-over hoops behind
the driver and passenger.
Listing these items as stylish is wrong, really, as the
whole car is a styling exercise of the most extreme kind - and it works
totally for me. To my eye the Coupe just pips the Roadster as the ultimate
modern classic.
But that’s in the looks department. I’m also a
total sucker for any convertible - and this is one of the great ones.
(John used to have a vile Triumph TR2 when we were undergraduates together
- so he was a sucker for a rag roof even then.) Change one line on this
car and you’ll have spoilt one of the most thoroughly thought through
designs ever.
The 165kW engine lifts performance to another plane of
course, and the quattro system does the same for the handling. The
six-speed close ratio gearbox is also a gem to use, while the turbo
exhaust note is pure music.
A BOSE six-stacker CD player and total sound system
merely add to the joy of this jewel of a toy.
Notable features of the Audi include the smooth ride -
it’s remarkable for a sports car. While the TT Coupe felt as if carved
from a billet of steel the Roadster is excellent by even the best
convertible standards, but it does have some body flexing over our poor
roads. But it’s never uncomfortable nor does it lead to any instability
I could detect.
The twin turbo engine is, as I said, quite wonderful,
although there can be mild turbo lag from rest or if you’re a bit too
quick in demanding an instant response.
The roof is very easy to use and takes just 15 seconds
to raise or lower. That’s not as quick or quite as simple as the
terrific Honda S2000, but ultra-desirable as the Honda is, it’s a
million miles behind the Audi when it comes to styling. In fact I reckon
the only competitor in the style stakes is the Alfa Romeo drophead.
Though more expensive than the Alfa, the Audi still
falls well short of the Porsche Boxster S and the rather sooky auto-only
Mercedes SLK. To my eye, the Merc is also a styling disaster but I know
plenty of people who reckon I’m absolutely wrong on that one. (Me for
one, John!) Beauty is still in the eye of the beholder, and all that.
Car fans all, this is a gem of a car. The equipment
levels are unsurpassed from its leather seats to climate control air-con,
engine immobiliser and total car security system.
Mother, I need one.
Last week I asked which famous race team owner said,
“I have killed my mother”. It was Enzo Ferrari at Silverstone in 1951
when Froilan Gonzales, in a Ferrari scored the first F1 Grand Prix win for
Ferrari, as an independent marque, beating the Alfa Romeo’s that Enzo
had been campaigning for the Alfa Romeo factory for so many years.
So to this week. The car “Il Porco Rosso” (the Red
Pig) was only entered for one GP and killed its driver in practice for the
event. What was the car, and even more importantly, what was the
driver’s name?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected].
The top European sports personalities’ earnings were
under scrutiny last week, and the biggest earner was none other than Mrs
Schumacher’s eldest boy, with 54.4 million USD going into his piggy bank
last year. The next motor racer on the list was Mrs Schumacher’s second
boy racer in 7th position, while the current World Champion, Mika Hakkinen
was only 19th, earning a miserly 8.9 million USD for his troubles (and
tears).
Interestingly, both the Schumachers are handled by
Willi Weber, who at 10% is doing nicely thank you, and I think is actually
on a bigger slice of the cake than that. And he makes all that money
without having to even get in an Eff Wun car and drive his bollocks off.
Maybe that’s where I went wrong. I should have been a manager!
