The acceleration is a delight as is the power steering — which I don’t have on my car

The acceleration is a delight, as is the power
steering — which I don’t have on my car. I think the typical driver will be
a 30-year-old male, although I should think women will like it. It seems
like a huge amount of money, but I guess the price is about right for what
you get. Performance is not so important to me, but knowing it is there if
you need it is great. And there is
something else I regret: not asking who on earth Jane is, and how come she
knows so much about defence?

Katherine Willis, 39, sub-editor from Croydon, Surrey

Usual car: Peugeot 106

“It is gorgeous.

I was really nervous because of the gear changes, but if you
just leave it in automatic it couldn’t be easier I love the shape. My only gripes are the quite oppressive amounts of
road noise on motorways and the age-old TT problem of poor side visibility
— at junctions you feel like you are peering through two letterboxes, the
roof line is so low.

Other than that, the TT V6 is such a comprehensively magnificent car that it
is a continuous cause of painful regret that I do not own one. This is a car that plugs right into your
synapses; its Sport mode is thrillingly sporty, but equally, if you are in a
Radio 2 kind of mood, you can just stick it in D and drive it as an
automatic.

And now the TT has the engine to match its looks, the V6 from the impressive
VW Gold R32 which at last allows you to push this four-wheel-drive limpet to
its limit.

Wisely Audi has not tinkered with the appearance too much, realising that the
original was the best. Audi has been
developing the DSG shift for nearly 20 years, since the days of their World
Rally triumphs. Changing gear via paddles mounted behind the steering wheel
is nothing new. What makes the DSG special is its extraordinary smoothness,
its lighting-quick cog-swaps and its ease of use.

It makes other clutch-less manuals feel like they have been programmed by
Maureen from Driving School.

Just what the brand manager
ordered.

This week our testers all happen to be colleagues from Jane’s Defence Weekly. Jeff wrote in on behalf of his office and when they overheard him talking to
me on the phone and discovered what the car was, our conversation was
drowned out in a chorus of “Me, pleases”.

I have tried to think of a witty segue from Jane’s Defence to the TT but,
aside from the standard issue car journo’s anti-German tirade, I can’t think
of anything. And anyway, this is just the kind of car to make you warm to
our Teutonic cousins.

There is no need to introduce you to the various delights of the original TT,
but its slick new gearbox and engine require some formalities. SPECIFICATIONS

Price: £31,405

Engine: 3.2-litre, V6, 247bhp

Performance: 155mph (limited), 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, 28.8mpg

CO2: 235g/km

Worth considering: BMW Z4, Porsche Boxster 2.7, Nissan 350Z, Mazda RX8

Just when you thought the Audi TT was becoming pass?when every new car
seemed to ape its profile (Diahatsu Copen) and pilfer its interior jewellery
(Nissan 350Z), along comes Audi to stick a dirty great V6 engine in it,
transforming its personality.

What is more, they have mated it to possibly the finest sequential gear change
fitted to a production car, the Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG), and it might
well even be the best way to change gear Ever. Well made, crisply designed and very pleasing to drive, though..