A four-wheeled icon with Golf underpinnings, the Audi TT rolled out in 1998. Designed by Freeman Thomas and Peter Schreyer, the compact sports coupe and roadster is going the way of the dodo after calendar year 2023.
Never a big seller in the United States, the TT moved a meager 461 units in 2022. Declining sales prompted the Volkswagen Group-owned automaker from Ingolstadt to pull the plug on its long-running model, but nevertheless, the TT isn’t going away without the proverbial bang.
Priced extremely close to how much a Corvette Stingray costs at the moment of reporting, the TT Roadster Final is a US-exclusive special edition limited to 50 units. Excluding the $1,095 destination freight charge, Audi of America wants a whopping $67,800 for this fellow.
What makes it special, though? Still a Golf underneath the sheet metal, the TT Roadster Final comes in a special green paint with pearl effect. Unique styling elements also need to be highlighted, along with the S line visual package, carbon-fiber inlays, Palomino Brown stitching, magnetic ride, extended leather, Audi exclusive floor mats, 20- by 9-inch forged wheels, and a gray soft top.
Said gray, together with the finish of the wheels, contrasts beautifully with the Goodwood Green paintwork, and the same can be said about the brightwork in relation to the car’s exterior color. Goodwood Green is a nod to the first-generation TT. Also worthy of note, Audi previously offered a gray top on the TT Roadster 20th Anniversary edition. The roof isn’t manual as you might expect from a Miata, but features an electrohydraulic system that requires merely 10 seconds to raise or lower said roof.
Photo: Audi
The soft top can be raised or lowered at speeds no higher than 31 miles per hour, which is America’s way of saying 50 kilometers per hour. The S sport seats sweeten the deal with heating for the driver’s and passenger’s necks. Another nice touch comes in the form of built-in seatbelt microphones. Pictured on 255/30 R20 summer tires at every corner, the TT Roadster Final hides a 2.0-liter turbo I4 under the hood rather than the 2.5-liter turbo I5 of the RS.
It's hard to fathom why Audi didn’t choose the RS for this edition, but alas, the Volkswagen Group works in mysterious ways. The 2.0-liter mill develops 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet (350 Nm) at full chatter, and the only transmission available is a 7-speed DCT. Known as DSG in Volkswagen vernacular, this dual-clutch box bears the S tronic moniker over at Audi.
Haldex-type quattro is also standard, with the Torsen-style quattro being reserved for rear-biased vehicles. Audi says that the TT Roadster Final requires 5.5 seconds to reach 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour), a far cry from the Corvette Stingray’s officially claimed 2.9 seconds.
Going forward, the TT nameplate will return sometime this decade in the Audi lineup. Believed to be an electric crossover, the TT’s replacement is “a new emotive model in the same price range.”
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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