2450 pounds. (a reduction of 660 pounds!)
306hp
wow. I never thought i’d see an Audi TT with such a low weight. I think the MK2 TT was a major design flop as I think the MK1 is one of THE great designs in automotive history…but this weight reduction is almost enough to make me forgive the MK2’s unforgivable design flaws. Audi, you’ve impressed me yet again.
Read more details at Fourtitude
it’s that shape….far beyond just a machine..into the realm of pure art….iconic, thought-provoking, timeless, old, new, beautiful, and always interesting.
2001 Audi TT 225 Coupe quattro, owned and driven hard by IEDEI since 2003.
How this lovely Amulet Red MK1 Audi TT flew into a house is beyond me….possibly launching off the side of one of the parked cars? Definitely bizarre. Hope all are OK.
src: Sun via Fourtitude
My Leica M8 is now fully capable, up and running with a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 lens. This is my first time ever owning and using a fully manual camera, and my first time owning and using a Rangefinder. What a machine—-really find it a fascinating piece of equipment. I just put it all together last night, and am still playing around with the settings. Less than 24 hours with it, and these are my favourite photos thus far. Lots more to come in the future, hopefully!
I have no idea what this Chinese cough syrup is made of…but it sure should looks hardcore:
All types of wonderful. In a sea of beautiful MK1 TTs is this ultra-sweet yellow Audi S3 that’s had a 3.2 V6 transplant and turbocharging.
src: Storm
The timelessly beautiful MK1 Audi TT. I’m not usually a fan of BBS wheels, but in all black on silver it does the trick quite nicely!
src: TT Forum UK
When the original Audi TT was being styled, one of the inspirations was the Porsche 356 and other rounded sports coupes of the 50s and 60s—-sculpted in terms of retro-futurist form and design. Last night when I parked on 47th and Park Ave. I saw this excellent example of a 356 and my TT parked right behind it. A stunning combination—-and a reminder of how classic design should be: clean, timeless, and beautiful. Automobiles can be art. I’m also struck at how the TT is not that much larger than the 356, which is great considering how bloated ‘modern’ cars are becoming these days.
I believe so! From everything I minimally know about the MK3 development process, this is by far the closest thing i’ve seen consistent with the descriptions i’ve heard. Same kinda roofline, but very progressive design. I really think this photo, which accompanied a technology press release….is the first official hint at the MK3 TT’s design!
src: autoblog
the Alfa GTV6 belongs to Automobiliac, the E30 325i belongs to Motoring Con Brio, and the TT is mine. We took a nice drive to somewhere random; which culminated in me beating them handily at a friendly bowling match *cough*.
It’s no secret I love my 2 Audis. 9 years with the TT, and almost 6 months with the A3! Surely the only geek thing to do would be to collect die-cast versions of my cars and recreate my garage, right!?
To be fair, I have an A3 2.0T titanium edition—-whereas the 1:43 model i’ve bought is actually an RS3. To my defense they don’t sell the 8P RS3 in the US market or else I would have bought one. A second defense is that my A3 has the same wheels as the RS3 (titanium rotors) and spec’d out as close to an RS3 it could legally get in the US market cosmetically.
The MK1 Audi TT is just all types of wonderful. I’m not just saying that because I have one in the garage—-but because before I got my car—-i fantasized day and night about it, sort of how I fantasize day and night about the Alpine A110 and ur quattro now. The TT is more than a car, it is true art—-representing a point where history met with the modern world—–technology fell in love with the vintage. It could have been produced in 1965, or it could have been produced in 2005.
These photos are not of my car, however I stumbled across them looking at photos on Flickr. These are taken by Chun Yi of his impeccable 2000 225.
Quattroworld has a great feature about Don Istook and his long-time Audi racing history–including Ur quattros, S4s, and TTs–culminating recently in his delivery of the 1st North American TT-RS. Fellow Audiphiles will surely appreciate the stories about his previous race cars that he built from the ground up, as well as some of his perspectives about these cars and experiences.
“Now, what I didn’t mention was that we got the truckload of parts on Friday…and we had to race Saturday morning! Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day…but I WAS racing at Road Atlanta in the early 80’s when Jo helped out Tom Brennan, after Tom had written off one of the Porsche factory D Production 924’s. Jo secured a brand new 924 D Production tub for Tom…had it shipped to the track…and that car WAS literally built in one day…made the DP race and finished 2nd!! So, with that in mind…we got all the “stuff” put on the car and just made the grid for the start of the race.”
LINK: quattroworld
the ‘new’ Fiat 500 is one ugly car……super tall, oddly out of proportion, and decorated like a child’s toy. I only like the fact that it has a ‘Fiat’ badge on it; otherwise it sucks. I parked next to one earlier today, and was appalled by the comparison of size.
Sometimes i just stand in my garage…..wait i’m lying—-i go to the garage A LOT these days just to hang out and catch a nice view! I can’t help it.
TOMORROW, i am picking up my new car. After driving my 2001 Audi TT every single day as my daily driver for the last 8 years of my life, I am adding another car to my garage. The TT now has 115k+ miles on it, miles that have been filled with life, moving, adventure, love, stress, happiness, sadness, soul, nostalgia, future, hope, satisfaction, worry, and time. We forget how much we experience in our automobiles—and it is a special thing. In the last 8 years I have owned the TT, i have lived in 8 different apartments. The TT felt like more of a stable ‘home’ to me in my time of transitions. When i got the TT in 2003, I was a medical student living in Chicago—-struggling to find my future, struggling to cope with my own stresses, unmarried, and to be honest; pretty lonely. I have taken the TT to all settings of life, from the backroads of Brooklyn through forests in Vermonts to the sweeping race track turns of Road America. I rarely get attached to material objects, and I rarely hold onto things more for a couple of years—-but the TT is an exception to my rules. There isn’t a week that goes by where people don’t stop me to ask questions about the car, every commute is accompanied by glances, staring, and admiration. The car is still gorgeous, and unique in terms of iconic design in the modern era of plagiarism. Most of all, every time i come home after a hard day at work—i park the car in my apartment building’s garage, lock the door, and always glance back at it in admiration of it.
My opinion of the car? To me, the MK1 (first generation) Audi TT is one of the all-time iconic coupes. Prior to purchasing it, i dreamt and fascinating about the car quite intensely. Prior to owning it, I had never felt such attachment to a shape, a design, or any automobile. In the 21st century—where cars are now churned out to be mass produced profit counters—-the TT represented a creative hurrah by duplicating the gorgeous concept car design into a production reality. The interior of the TT is by all accounts one of the most expensive interiors ever put into a non-exotic production vehicle. The humble beginnings off a shortened MK4 Golf chassis are nothing to be ashamed of—as the structure was reinforced, shortened, and optimized for the TT specifically. The 1.8T engine which was placed in my 225’s bay is a uniquely reinforced engine which is like no other Audi or VW engine produced from that time. Double intercooled, K04 (big) turbo, and beefed up internals, heads, hoses, and structures. Easy to modify (my car is estimated at about 275hp after tuning), and easy to love driving—-adding a few simple modifications to the suspension (Koni shocks/Neuspeed springs/Neuspeed 22 inch sway bar) really make the car a total joy to drive. I have timed my 0-60 runs between 5.0 to 5.5 seconds consistently. A borla exhaust has added a deep rumble, and the lightweight 18″ SSR Type C wheels have reduced the unsprung weight and increased the agility in handling. The TT always puts a smile on my face, and I love the car more now than i did 8 years ago. I have often joked with my wife that I would like to keep the TT for many many years—-and to be that old grandad who keeps a beautiful german coupe locked away in the garage—–it is looking more and more that this will be the case (hopefully!).
So long story short, I am keeping the TT tomorrow, and adding another family member. The TT will now become my ‘weekend fun car’. This is the beginning of the “IEDEI Auto Harem”! More details on the new car tomorrow—-but for right now I will just say that the new car is practical, handsome, very nicely appointed, and very fun to drive. I look forward to revealing it tomorrow!
My friend and photographer Sal Coppola from Brooklyn took this photo at a family get together, where a relative of his brought his beautiful Alfa GTV. The blue TT is Sal’s car.
This parking spot reminds of my parking spot.
Walter Rohrl is part of the team behind the Porsche 911.
some of us from the QW TT entourage went out for a drive on Saturday. Obviously as you can see there is still snow in places! But a beautiful day, and some wonderful roads with some of the best cars made in recent years——the TT is still a magical car to own and drive…
(foto taken by IEDEI)
(foto taken by Sal Coppola)
I haven’t washed the TT in what feels like months. It had started to look like a Jackson Pollock painting—-so today, after hours of work this weekend—i decided to take the car in for a wash. I really don’t like washing my own car—it is a time consuming flush of an activity! So i’d much rather pay others to do it, which is exactly what I did at my local Brooklyn hand wash. I was joined by some interesting company.
(today i realised my car is quite low…as the R8 was almost the same height)
NYC winters are generally boring, cold, and without snow. This year is a beautiful concoction of endless snowfalls leading to a fantastic daily commute! Here’s a crappy cell phone photo to show my struggles of daily parallel parking in heavily restricted side streets of manhattan! I would have it no other way. Luckily when it snows here, all of the “alternate side rules” get suspended; which means open parking spots for me without some of the fights I have had with other drivers in the past….all part of my NYC experience.
(and yes, that is the IEDEI mobile)
Not sure who the photographer is, but i absolutely love it.
(click to enlarge)
IEDEI 
