Audi TT TDi Roadster review (2008 onwards)

Model: Audi TT TDi
Bodystyle: 2-door cabriolet
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel
Available – June 2008
Transmission: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive

What is it?

A whole new way of looking at sporty cabriolets. It is a smooth, free-revving sports car that looks really good, drives fast and impressively, and you can take the top down. So far so good, but so what I hear you ask. Well, this little car will do all of the above and still give you 51mpg combined and just 144 g/km of CO2.

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Where does it fit?

There are quite a few diesel cabriolets out there now. BMW led the pack with its 3-series, which you can get at 320d, 325d and 330d levels. But following in its wake are the likes of the Saab 9-3 cabriolet diesel and the Alfa Romeo Spider diesel. The BMW is a very good car, but it has a slightly ungainly steel roof, unlike the fabric one of the Saab, Alfa, and the TT tested here.

Tested: BMW 330d Cabriolet

Is it for you?

If you want all the fun of a top-down sports car but would like to run it on a budget, almost certainly. Perhaps the best usage of this car might be a regular commute, where economy requirements dictates a sensible car.

With this car you can show off, have a good laugh, and consume the same amount of fuel as on a much less desirable econobox. As desirable used as new, it will almost certainly hold its value very well too.

Tested: Alfa Romeo Spider

What does it do well?

Just drives really, really well. The new TT is a terrific car anyway, and a big step forward from its predecessor. Going diesel in a cabriolet is usually a process fraught with difficulty.Yes you get economy - but you also get things that are distinctly at odds with most people's idea of what open-top motoring should be about: clattery, unresponsive engines and general lack of smile-on-face B-road blastability.These are fatal failings in the Saab and Alfa Romeo, which are flawed cars in the first place - and made still worse by the addition of diesel engines.Not so this Audi. The key to this TDi is its new 168hp Common Rail turbodiesel. This is a very, very good engine indeed. It is smooth, quiet, refined, eager to rev, turbine-like and delivers max torque of 258 lb ft from just 1,750 rpm.It helps to move the diesel game on and get ever closer to that holy grail of diesel economy and petrol style smoothness. And of course there is no better car to put such an engine into than a cabriolet. The net result is no slouch - 0 to 62 mph comes in at 7.7 seconds, and off to a max of 138mph.

What doesn’t it do well?

As with all diesels, the red-line comes a lot lower than you may be used to from the petrol world. Indeed the torque maxes out at just 2,500rpm, though the red line doesn't arrive for another 2,000. You will need to substantially change the way you drive this car if you are used to a barnstorming MX-5 style B-road change-gear-every-five seconds type of driving. You can stay in the same gear and just use the throttle instead. As with all diesels, the engine is inherently heavier, and makes this diesel 120kg heavier than its petrol equivalent. However, you have more torque to compensate, and of course straight-line stability is helped by this greater bulk.

What's it like to live with?

Great. Audi's interiors are second-to-none and the car is very solidly put together. The seats are supportive and comfortable, and the overall ride is good. Standard equipment includes an electric roof, a very good 140-watt stereo, climate control, leather/Alcantera sports seats, and climate control.

Mores to the point, sat-nav will only cost you £650 extra, which is a heck of a lot less than the usual ludicrous £2,000 that these things often cost in German cars - and it is very nice to see.

How green is it?

It is a tribute to this car that being green is only but one part of its overall attraction. But this is the key party trick: 51mpg and 144 g/km of CO2. These are numbers more commonly associated with much more mundane motors and much more mundane motoring. Its extra-urban number is a cool 62.8 mpg - so if you have a long motorway commute this might be of great interest.

More pictures of the TT TDi Roadster from Live Search

Would we buy one?

Definitely. I drove this car at the same time as the new TT-S and this car is in no way inferior - and an awful lot cheaper to buy and run. At £29,000, the car is good value and, with important options like sat-nav so reasonable, you won't necessarily have to spend the earth on top to get the car to a decent specification.It is one of the only diesel cabrios - the other notable being the BMW 3-Series - that really convinces as a car that can square the circle of offering top-down sports car fun at the same time as diesel frugality. The car succeeds magnificently, but you may have to change how you drive to get the most out of it. Once done, you will have years of fun at a knock-down price.

Please note this page contains photos of the TDi coupe model as well as the Roadster. We apologise for this; it is due to a shortage of photos of the roadster TDi model available from the car manufacturer.

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More pictures of the TT from Live Search

Also consider

BMW 330d Cabriolet
Alfa Romeo Spider
Alfa Spider 2.4 diesel in Alfa Romeo feature