Used Audi TT Review (2014-2023)

Wind the clock back a few decades, and coupes were regularly used as family cars. Nowadays, everyone wants a high-riding SUV. But that does mean that sleek coupes like the Audi TT look quite exotic – even just burbling through traffic.

Coupes don’t sell very well any more, so the Audi TT doesn’t have many clear-cut rivals. There are options like the Mazda MX-5 or Toyota GR86, which are cheaper and sportier, then the costlier Porsche Cayman or the bigger Mercedes C-Class Coupe. The BMW 2 Series is the TT’s nearest adversary – and it’s still available to buy new, whereas TT production ended in 2023.

The appeal with the TT in particular is how easy it is to use everyday. Obvious practicality compromises aside, the TT uses the same underpinnings as a Volkswagen Golf or Audi A3. So it should be reliable, servicing costs shouldn’t be insane and it even promises nearly 40mpg when driven carefully.

It’s a commuter car that also turns to your personal entertainment machine on a twisty or flowing road. And every mile in the TT is another chance to enjoy its sublime interior…

…which is notable for its lack of touchscreen. The dashboard is disarmingly blank, with Audi’s Virtual Cockpit digital dials controlling all of the car’s features. With just air vents in the middle, the layout is extremely focused, and it tells both the driver and passenger who’s in charge.

The digital instrument cluster might’ve been introduced back in 2014, but it’s still one of the best of its type and you don’t miss a touchscreen. Controlled by the steering wheel buttons (or the dial behind the gearlever), the display can show a full-width sat nav screen, media info, driving info and telephony – all without taking your eyes off the road or hands off the wheel. The graphics are crisp and its responsiveness is top notch.

There are more instances of clever design – just look at the air vents. More specifically, the centre of the air vents house the air con controls and heated seat buttons, decluttering the centre console in the process. You wonder why other cars don’t do this.

Material quality is superb, with textured aluminium in prominent places and cool chrome detailing, plus suede-effect upholstery and little nuggets of leather. It certainly beats having gloss piano black trim everywhere.

Standard equipment includes driving modes, cruise control, air conditioning and rear parking sensors.

As you should’ve expected, practicality isn’t the TT’s strong point. You’re not going to be using it as the family car. Getting into the rear seats is very tricky, and back there you don’t have space to enjoy. Headroom is non-existent thanks to the car’s slick shape, while legroom is just about okay if the person in front isn’t particularly tall. Annoyingly, the front seat doesn’t remember the position you had it in after being folded, so you’ll have to re-find your driving position every time someone sits in the back.

You’d only be able to use the back seats for children, and it’s possible because there are Isofix points – although the space is too tight to comfortably fit a child seat. But if you haven’t got kids, the back seats should be thought of as extra storage space. Which you might need given how small the door bins and phone tray are.

The boot is actually a good size. Accessed by a large hatchback tailgate, the 305-litre space is on a par with something like a Ford Fiesta, although the litres are arranged in a long but shallow formation – again, because of the car’s shape.

The standard TT offers two petrol engines, with diesel engines being discontinued in 2018. Your choice is the 197hp ‘40 TFSI’ or the 245hp ‘45 TFSI’. Both are 2.0-litre petrols, and both offer the sort of performance you’d expect from a hot hatchback. 0-62mph takes 6.6 seconds in the 40 TFSI and 5.8 in the 45. We tried the more potent option, and found it more than enough to live up to its sports car billing – the less powerful one should feel like plenty for most drivers.

Most TTs are front-wheel drive, although Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system is available.

While both engines will return almost 40mpg when driven with a feather for a foot, the TT does incur high insurance costs. And cars that originally cost more than £40,000 when new are subject to a £600 per year road tax bill for the first five times the tax is renewed.

Want more power? Check out the TTS, with the same 320hp 2.0-litre petrol as the Golf R, or the furious TT RS, with a 2.5-litre five-cylinder whopper producing 400hp. Use all of it at once and you’ll hit 62mph in just 3.7 seconds from a standstill.

Driving the TT feels like a special occasion, but it’s also comfortable and refined enough to use daily. It’ll cruise happily on the motorway, and then join forces with you on a winding country road to put a smile on your face.

Even without four-wheel drive, it feels stable and grippy. And there’s a sense of safety from knowing the power is going to the front wheels – overstep the car’s comfort zone and you’ll just get understeer, whereas some rear-drive rivals can get a bit twitchy in wet weather or fast driving.

The majority of recent TTs come with a seven-speed S Tronic automatic gearbox. It’s alert and faithful for the most part but, like rivals, it has a tendency to hold on to low gears for too long in the Dynamic driving mode. We don’t want to be in second gear in a 30mph zone just because we want the sportiest response and red display graphics.

Happily, you can take manual control using the paddles behind the steering wheel. These are great to use and our 45 TFSI test car sounded lovely on downshifts.

If the driving experience is the be all and end all, there are better sports cars than the TT. While the steering is direct and responsive, we’d like a little more feedback to feel more keyed into what’s happening at the front. And the TT doesn’t quite have the cheeky fun factor of something like an MX-5. You’d have to go up to the TT RS for an aggressive, razor-edged character like you’d find in the Audi RS3 or Toyota GR Yaris. But those more specialised cars aren’t as good at the everyday as the TT is.