New Entry Level Audi TT For 2012

Us Brits are the biggest Audi TT customers. We buy more of these unique coupes and roadsters than anywhere else in the world and this week Audi announced you can order a brand new one for £24,070, £3,070 less than than the previous basic TT and £1,250 less than the basic roadster.

Back in the late nineties/early noughties basic versions of new mainstream cars were usually rubbish. Any car nut could tell you had the basic version of the car you own because it had big plastic black bumpers, you had to stick your key in the door to open it and you had to use all your energy up to wind down the window. CD players were an optional luxury back then!

Nowadays it's usually hard to tell a basic car from a well equipped one. Take the Volkswagen Polo for example, the only way to tell the basic 'S' version from the others at first glance is that the door handles and wing mirrors are black and plastic, that's it.

So what has Audi done to make it cheaper? A basic coupe used to cost £27,140 and for that it came with a 2.0L TFSI petrol engine with a 6-speed manual gearbox, 208 bhp, a 0-62mph time of 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 152mph. Most Audi TT buyers tend to concentrate more on the style rather than the power and speed so the new base coupe will come with the same 1.8L TFSI petrol engine you can get in the roadster today. It also comes with a 6-speed manual but this engine is slower obviously. It will have 158bph, a 0-62 time is 7.2 seconds and the top speed will be 140mph but it will be cheaper to run of course. CO2 will be 7g/km less and MPG will be 1.3 more.

Standard creature comforts include combined leather and Alcantara upholstery, Concert CD/Radio with iPod connectivity and 17-inch alloy wheels.

So the lower price sounds great until you compare it with the rivals. It's still more expensive than the base Volkswagen Scirocco (£19,845), the forthcoming Hyundai Veloster (£17,995), Renault's Megane Coupe (£16,495) and even the basic rear-wheel drive petrol BMW 1 Series Coupe (£22,650).

Of course if it's the TT you really want and you feel that it's still pricey, there's always the option of a used one.

Prices used to compare are for the cheapest entry level petrol versions. Engines in entry level rivals vary in size and economy.