Audi TT S Final Edition Review: A Low-Key Way To Say Goodbye

Audi has chosen to celebrate the departure of the TT with more than one car. There’s the TT RS Iconic Edition we wrote about a few months ago, but with a whopping, near-£90k price tag and only 11 coming to the UK, it’s not what you’d call accessible. That’s where the TT Final Edition comes in.

There are no production limits to this one, and it’s available on every TT bar the RS. So, that’s the 40 and 45 TFSI models plus the TT S, and you can have any of those as either a coupe or a Roadster. Plenty of choice, in other words.

Whichever you go for, you get a similar helping of extra trim niceties and equipment thrown at it. There’s the black styling pack, which decks the mirror caps, exhaust tips, rear spoiler and badging in - as you might expect - black, with the Roadster versions also getting the wind diffuser and rollover hoops in the same moody hue.

To go with this, there’s the extended leather pack, red stitching for the seats and Alcantara-clad steering wheel, and red piping for the floor mats. In terms of equipment, Audi has added the Technology Package to all Final Edition TT models, while the TT S benefits further from the Comfort and Sound pack, which adds a better sound system and a reversing camera.

Mechanically, though, none of the models is any different than before, and nowhere do they say ‘Final Edition’ on them. Are thusly-branded sill treadplates or a badge for the dash too much to ask?

And so, testing a £56,435 Audi TT S Roadster Final Edition as we’re doing here is more of a refresher course in the car we’re about to lose, rather than a voyage of discovery. Just how sad do we need to be once the TT disappears from Audi’s website? 

It’s not going to be long - the last TT rolled off the production line last November, so if you now want a new one, it’ll need to be from existing stock, and once those are gone, the TT’s story as we’ve known it is over. The name will return for an electric compact SUV, not a coupe.

Taking a look at the Tango Red example we have for the week, that seems a mighty shame. This is now a 10-year-old design, but you wouldn’t know it. If anything, given the hyper-aggressive car design trends and the influx of SUVs since the TT was first revealed at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, it looks even more handsome today than it did back then.

The same goes for the interior, which despite being a decade old can be compared favourably not just to stuff from other manufacturers, but also cars in Audi’s stable. It’s minimalistic, actually has physical controls for the climate settings, and doesn’t over-rely on scratchy piano black plastic in its construction.

On the move, there’s the usual smooth shifting from the seven-speed ‘S Tronic’ dual-clutch gearbox to enjoy, making the TT S an easy car to biff about in, even if a firm ride makes speed bumps, potholes and the like a tad bouncy.

In any case, the ride settles with speed. And speaking of which, the TT S is plenty fast. As before, you’re getting a 302bhp version of VW Group’s widely used EA888 inline-four, making for a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds. 

It never feels brutally quick, but a rapid rise in speed from that smooth inline-four is never far away. The four-pot engine is augmented by some five-pot-like warbling from a little speaker that lives somewhere around the firewall, which I feel like I should hate, but really, it works rather well.

Full-throttle upshifts are dealt with without a whole lot of drama - the cog swapping happens quickly, efficiently and smoothly, and without any raucous farts from the exhaust system. The TT S adopted a particulate filter a few years ago, so is on the whole a lot more subdued than it used to be in terms of soundtrack.

Although some fast cars from Ingolstadt have learned to get their drift on (we’re looking at you, RS3 and RS6), the TT S handles in a more ‘traditional’ fast Audi sense. And that’s to say, quite one-dimensionally. The Haldex-based all-wheel drive system will provide oodles of traction until it doesn’t, and then predictable understeer will follow.

It takes some doing to reach that point, though. And in anyway, the TT S is still plenty of fun to drive quickly. There’s fast steering with a variable ratio rack (not everyone’s a fan, but I’ve always got on with it well), and a keenness to change direction, no doubt helped by the fact the TT S has a lower centre of gravity than the S3 with which is shares many parts, and a bit less weight to cart around.

It’s a quietly impressive car rather than one that truly thrills, like, say, a Porsche Cayman, but that’s just fine by me. As has always been the case, this is a sports car that’ll slot into your life easier than most - it’s easy to get in and out of, all-round visibility is decent, and if you go for the coupe, you even get a decent bit of boot space and some rear seats for kids. And adults, if they don’t mind being a bit cramped.

Compared to the Iconic, the Final Edition feels like a much more lowkey way to end the TT’s story. It is, after all, more of a trim level. But that doesn’t matter, as underneath all the blackened trim and extra equipment is a car that remains great after nearly 10 years on sale. We’ll miss it when it’s gone.