Paris show: Audi TT Sportback shapes up

AUDI formally peeled the covers from its stretched TT Sportback concept on the eve of the Paris motor show, describing it as “a new member of a potential TT family”.

As expected, the five-door “coupe” joins the new third-generation production TT Roadster on the floor of the Audi stand at the show, again underlining the German company’s apparent intent to milk its compact sports model by expanding it to a full range of vehicles that is expected to include crossover-style sports activity vehicles.

So far, four TT configurations have been reveal this year, starting with the TT Allroad at the Detroit show in January.

The TT Sportback is powered by a 294kW version of its 2.0-litre 2.0 TFSI engine, driving all four wheels through a seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission and Audi’s quattro system.

A four-seater, the Sportback is said to take just 3.9 seconds to accelerate to 100km/h – 0.8 seconds quicker than the new third-generation 228kW TT S Coupe and 0.4 seconds swifter than the current second-generation 2.5-litre 265kW TT RS Plus sports flagship.

Apart from 294 kW of power at 6400rpm, the four-cylinder engine generates 450Nm of torque between 2400rpm and 6000rpm.

Fuel consumption is said to be 7.0 litres per 100km, for carbon dioxide emissions of 162 grams per kilometre.

The Sportback sits on a stretched 2630mm wheelbase – 1200mm longer than the standard two-door coupe – for an overall length of 4470mm (+290mm).

Although the Sportback is designed to carry four people, the roof is 30mm lower than that of the Coupe, at 1380mm.

While the TT Sportback sits on the VW Group’s modular MQB steel platform – the same as the Audi A3 and VW Golf – the cabin structure and exterior shell is of aluminium to reduce weight.

Like the bigger Sportback models in the Audi range – the five-door A5 and A7 – the TT Sportback has a long curved roof ending in a liftback hatch with a sharp trailing edge.

The wheel arches sport wide flares, deliberately giving the add-on look of a modified sports tourer. At the back, big oval chrome-tipped exhaust pipes protrude from the bumper that has – strangely for a modern high-performance car – no diffuser.

At the front, laser lights supplement LED headlights, but only coming into play above 60km/h. As well, the headlights have an anti-dazzle function that blacks out the portion of the lights directed at on-coming cars.

The interior is dominated by a wide 12-inch screen directly in front of the driver, dispensing with what has become the usual screen in the middle of the dash.

Air-conditioning controls are located in the middle of the centre air vents, thus deleting another panel from the centre console for a clean and sophisticated look.

Wheels are a massive 21 inches, with 255/30 tyres.