Audi TT Video Review & Road Test

By John Cadogan | January 19th, 2010

Driving a diesel performance car isn’t the same as driving a petrol one. It’s not better, nor worse. Just different.

Written Review: Audi TT Review.

David T

Nice video review, but where are all the videos from the most recent Full Throttle trip?
SNAKE

Nice review mate, is that putty road?

John Cadogan

Old Pacific Highway near Brooklyn – John Cadogan

Andrew

Umm why mention miles per gallon? We are in AUSTRALIA!
John Cadogan

Well picked up. Yes, we are in Australia. Still, miles per gallon does make sense to a lot of people. And you can look it up in the brochure if you want litres per 100, which is possibly the dumbest metric unit on Earth… John Cadogan

Mitch

Are we talking UK or US MPG cause they are different, 5.1 UK or 4.3 US.

It may be stupid but thats the measurement that all Australian go off.

PN

Agree. L/100km
kim

I think L/100km is very clever actually.

This way you can easily work out the efficiency of a car.

12L/100km uses 20% more than 10L/100km

compare with 19.6mpg vs 23.5mpg… which is a fair bit less obvious.

John Cadogan

That’s ridiculous — if Car A has 7.1 L/100km and Car B has 6.3L/100km, the mathematics of the relativity of their fuel efficiencies is still a mental arithmetic brain-bender. That’s 0.8 divided by 6.3 = … x 100. Quickly now. And leave the calculator alone.

Mitch

Should put it to the readers via a poll?

http://caradvice craigMM

more video reviews please! I liked the way this one was done.

John Cadogan

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback. Glad you liked the video — John Cadogan

http://www.halsed.com Darryl

Nice review John – really enjoyed the video.

A little off-topic here, but how many people did it take to film the review? Did you use a production company or do it all in house? Feel free to answer via my email if you don’t want to clutter up the comments here. Video production is a hobby of mine and I’m really impressed with what you guys have done. Kudos!

John Cadogan

Basically, two. I used a driver for the exterior driving shots and did the rest myself. Scripted and edited in-house — John Cadogan

Baddass

This is a good example of why I think CarAdvice should do more video reviews. Good presenting by John, pleasant filming and presentation, and honest analysis of personal opinion of styling and how it compares with rivals. Keep up the good work, and plenty more videos in the future please.

John Cadogan

Thanks — we’re working on doing more video in the future. Thanks a lot for the honest, positive feedback. John Cadogan

mike

Very good review john… you’ve got a natural flair for this stuff. Simple, easy to understand, but entertaining!

John Cadogan

Thanks. Appreciate the positive feedback. Although, as a journo, I am much more comfortable receiving death-threats (but what a pleasant change!) We’ll try to get more videos up and running as soon as possible. John Cadogan.

Carl

John…..I just want to echo most other readers sentiments and say i liked this review and look forward to many more, you have a no nonsense approach yet it is informative and entertaining……as far as the miles per gallon v litres per 100Ks it’s a bit like kilowatts v horsepower it can get very frustrating for us when only one figure is mentioned so just an idea for the future( if you don’t mind me for being so rude ) why not include both figures and if at all possible include the separate city and highway figures because in the past year I’ve moved from Sydney to a country town and the combined or city numbers are almost irrelevant as i do 99% of my driving on long empty highways, As far the diesel v petrol debate goes i must say I’m in the auto repair industry and have owned quite a few cars and driven even more but recently bought our first turbo diesel for my wife (a little i30 wagon)and the massive 255 NM of Torque out of a 1.6 litre engine is just addictive especially when over taking, i find myself grabbing the keys and getting in to drive before she does! i know as you mentioned it’s slower off the mark than the equivalent petrol BUT the acceleration from 80 to 100 is fantastic and in my humble opinion that’s where these small capacity diesels excel not just the regular 1,000 Ks on a tank (50 litres) of fuel we regularly get!!! With a couple of kids and a baby on the way my next car will have to be a 7 seater and a diesel of course, I’ve been waiting for the Territory diesel however Ford OZ are really dragging their feet on that one?? I’ve heard great things about the 2.2 diesel in the Sorrento and Santa Fe so i might have to go with one of those, OK good luck and MORE!!!reviews please.

John Cadogan

Wow. Thanks for all that. As a general rule I always use L/100km in print. (You’ll see it there that way in the online print version of the TT 2.0 TDI review.) I only used the miles per gallon thing conversationally, because some people (older farts like me) still think in those terms. The challenge with video is not what to include – it’s what to leave out. And you have to leave a lot of stuff out to keep inside 5mins. As a general rule, a 30-minute network news broadcast is equivalent, in words, to about one and a half pages of a newspaper. Makes you think. What I reckon is that the two types of review complement one another. (More data in the written report; more ‘feel’ in the video. John Cadogan

Callous Aussie

I like both so don’t stop using MPG.

Safety First

Good review John, don’t worry about all these youngsters being confused by MPG :p I’m guessing we are of similar vintage and used to play poker with left over pennies so we know that cars are MPG and Horse power creatures. (lol)
It’s amusing that people pick up on that yet walk into the yard and ask “what’s the milage” Both on the ODO and Miles to a tank.
Good work on keeping to the fact based rather than personal opinion too, appreciate the effort there as well.

The only criticism would be I reckon you commited a major Fopar…. Never, NEVER wear the same colour clothes as the vehicle you are testing… Now I am no fashion icon (corduary rules ) but Red Car, Red Shirt, RED SHOES???? It was pointed o0ut to me many many years ago that people taking delivery of their new car will often colour match their clothes and you’d be surprised of how many do, they also tend to be the “woodduck” variety of customer. Sorry but someone had to say it ;-p

John Cadogan

And fair enough, too. Yes, it was all a bit too red. Only…you don’t reckon I did it on purpose, do you? I mean, Audi gives us their greenest TT, only it’s RED??? Exactly the wrong colour. And, anyway, I like my red shoes. After the high heels, which I wear only on special occasions, they’re my favourite pair
John Cadogan

Nightshifter

IMO this thing only has the arguable and subjective looks going for it.
I’d get a 123d coupe over this.
CarlMc

I hope nobody got the impression that john was going fast,because the speed limit on the old Pacific Hwy is 70kph,on both sides of bridge except where the road has a sandstone centre then its 80kph then reverts back to 70,strange,since when you did drive on this road you could do 60mph,thats 100kph where it was possible, now they,RTA have turned it into a tourist drive with max.speed 70kph,go figure
http://caradvice enrico (basilio)

Hi John(Cadogan)
On 2ue you told me that the Mazda 3 (axela) skyactiv would probably have the same price of the basic predecessor $21,990 otherwise lot of people would have to change or downgrade.
Is that still the case?
I received an email stating that in japan the m.3 skt goes on sale for $21500 to $35000 UsD.
We dont know anything about this new car , i follow you John everywhere TV 2UE paper and car advise but you never rated this car ( against the opposition) or gave a forecast on possible price.
Can you fill that void please?

Regards
ENRICO (Basilio)