KEY POINTS:
Sooner or later, we're going to have to stop making hairdresser jokes about the Audi TT. The first-generation model, launched in 1998, was style (lots of it) before substance, being based largely on the Volkswagen Golf. The second-gen version, which arrived last year, was very much its own car and pleasing for the enthusiast.
In short, the TT is now a car to be taken seriously. Especially with the launch of a more driver-oriented version, called TTS.
What's new? Under the bonnet, the TTS gets a re-engineered version of the familiar Volkswagen Group 2.0-litre direct-injection turbo engine.
And we do mean re-engineered: with outputs of 200kW/350Nm, this S-version is now top of the TT tree. And priced accordingly, of course: $109,500 for the coupe and a $5000 premium for the roadster.
With S-tronic dual-clutch transmission (Audi's version of VW's DSG), it rockets to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds.
Impressive. Given that the entry TT - which has a detuned version of the same engine - makes 147kW/280Nm and hits the open-road speed limit in 6.4 seconds.
In fact, Audi reckons the TTS is so good, it has dropped the 3.2-litre V6 TT. Makes sense: the six offered just 184kW/320Nm, was slower to 100km/h and consumed an extra 1.4 litres of fuel per 100km.
The TTS rides on 19-inch alloys and is kitted out with Audi's trick magnetic-ride suspension.
The company line "The TTS represents Audi's Vorsprung durch Technik [advancement through technology] in its very latest form. This sports car owes its superior performance to a raft of innovative concepts."
What we say Can't argue with the technology, although most of it is familiar because it appears in other Audi and Volkswagen models. The company's uncanny ability to extract large power outputs from small-capacity engines - yet still offer the potential for great fuel economy - is truly impressive. Quattro four-wheel-drive, S-tronic and magnetic-ride suspension are known-and-loved quantities.
The TTS is really a remix of some familiar ingredients, but with a bit more spice.
On the road We sampled the TTS around the Pukekohe racing circuit. A track is normally the undoing of a road car - even a sporty one - but with the magnetic ride suspension on its firmest setting and the S-tronic flicking between ratios at bewildering speed, the TTS was loving it. Even the boomy exhaust from the four-pot turbo engine sounded great.
Our time with the TTS on the road is coming soon, but for now it's mission accomplished: this Audi has enthusiast credentials.
So what's stopping you? All those hairdresser jokes, obviously. It takes more than a great sports car to erase a decade of image in-jokes.
