Audi TT Roadster review

This is where Audi strikes back. It does do cabins well. The pre-facelift TT, now over four years old, still hasn’t been surpassed by any rival. This new one doesn’t really push on in any area, but does contain a few neat features.

Heated seats are standard, controlled by a rotary dial in each outermost airvent. Press to cycle through the heated seats, or – if specified – twist to vary the warm air being blown into the back of your neck from vents in the seat. It’s not new – Merc came up with it years ago – but Audi’s Neckscarf is effective. Drop the roof (a swift, silent, slick operation) and there’s enough heat sources working on you to stay warm. Airflow is well managed to – the pop-up mesh wind deflector isn’t standard on all versions, but works well. Make sure yours has it. It used to be glass in older TT Roadsters. That looked cleaner, better, but this is more effective.

The 2014 TT was the first recipient of Audi’s Virtual Cockpit dashboard. It’s a peerless system, never better integrated than in the TT. That hasn’t changed. Functionality has been increased, mostly without issue, although the visual integration of Apple CarPlay is clumsy. But on the whole the system is so intuitive that you barely need the control interface on the centre console – you can do everything via the clickwheels and buttons on the steering wheel.

It’s a lovely looking cabin. Maybe a little dark with the roof up, and lacking space behind the seats, but just so effortlessly elegant and satisfying to use. If not without issue. Let’s start with the driving position, a long time TT bugbear. The pedals are too far up the footwell. I suspect this has something to do with the limitations of the hatch- and crossover-focused MQB platform which normally sites drivers higher and more upright.

Here, to maintain the arms-bent position you want while holding the steering wheel, your knees are forced to frame your hands. It’s a pain. Not literally, but prevents you getting snug in the car, of wriggling down and pulling the wheel into your chest. Of feeling at one with the car. And the super sports seats aren’t actually that super-sporty.

Your luggage faces similar restrictions. A 280-litre boot is good for a roadster, but your load had better be shallow or squashy. One last thing. We get the sense Audi had taken a bit of cost out of the TT Roadster. It’s not much, but the perception of quality has dropped a fraction – most notably in the area of the dashtop and doortop plastics which looks ever so slightly shiny.