Tough, timeless and great to drive, the Mk1 Audi TT is a terrific used buy. There are many variants but one of the most interesting is the 1.8 T Sport quattro, launched in 2005.
Its four-cylinder engine made 237bhp and 236lb ft, which is impressive by any standards, but a weight-loss regime stripped out the rear seats, climate control, parcel shelf and spare tyre to save 50kg, taking the weight to 1390kg. Not quite feather-light but enough for 0-62mph in 5.9sec.
Audi didn’t stop there. It relocated the battery to the back of the car to improve weight distribution, fitted stiffened and lowered suspension and a rear strut brace and installed a couple of hard-shell Recaros. As a final aesthetic flourish, the roof was painted black.
New it cost £29,995, but today the most expensive are around half that while the cheapest we saw was £3995 for one with 168,000 miles. Somewhere in the middle at £7200 is a rather fetching 2006-reg example with 81,000 miles. The private-sale car, which has been kept in a heated garage, has a full service history and is finished in red and black. It’s had a new cambelt and water pump, and a new clutch, says the seller.
Were we seriously interested, as with all TTs we’d check it’s been fed a healthy diet of 5W-30 fully synthetic oil and that the Haldex traction unit has had fresh oil every 20,000 miles. Unless it’s been repaired, rust isn’t usually an issue with aluminium-bodied Mk1s. Instead, we’d check the suspension is bearing up along with the interior, which can take a hammering from those stiff springs and dampers.
