2004 Audi TT 3.2 quattro DSG - More Cylinders and Slick Shifter Answer the Call
If you're taken by its revolutionary styling, and most are, there are few things to dislike about Audi's TT. It's ridiculously nimble through the esses, amazingly stable at high speed and accelerates with the best of them despite its diminutive 1.8-L 4-cylinder engine.
But a 4-cylinder engine in a premium German sports car? Just the thought of it turns off many would-be buyers, especially on the left side of the Atlantic. And the premium sports car market is hardly soft, with the Audi now pitted against a new Nissan 350Z, Infiniti G35 coupe and Chrysler Crossfire, each jumping in where only the tried and true Porsche Boxster, Mercedes-Benz SLK, Honda S2000 and BMW Z Series, now a completely revised Z4, had previously dared to venture. Only the slow selling Honda sports a 4-cylinder engine. So what to do Audi?
What might seem obvious to onlookers took four years for Audi to develop, and now for the 2004 model year a robust 250-hp 3.2-L V6 is stuffed under the sexy bodywork. Gone are the peaks and valleys of the old 4-cylinder, replaced with a broad torque curve that reaches its topmost 236 lb-ft of torque between 2,800 and 3,200 rpm. The engine's increased displacement gets most of the credit, but sophisticated continuously adjustable inlet and exhaust camshafts, plus variable intake manifolds do their respective jobs increasing power and torque while improving fuel economy and reducing emissions.