Browse over 9,000 car reviews
What's the difference?
Lamborghini's Aventador S is the last living link to supercars of old. Wild-looking bedroom-poster material, gigantic anti-socially loud V12 that actually spits flame and the kind of performance that will rustle the jimmies of even a seasoned supercar driver.
It harks back to a time when supercars actually sucked, but it didn't matter because they were proof you had both the money and patience to nurse it into life and then wring its neck, because that was the only way it made any sense. While the Huracan is a thoroughly modern supercar, the Aventador is an unashamed, unabashed, hairy-chested, head-banging, rock ape.
Do you remember when you first saw an Audi TT? I can go first. It was 1998 and I’d been backpacking through Europe for months and had arrived in Paris just as all my money had run out.
Anyway, as I was beating myself up for spending way too much on a fridge magnet in a souvenir shop (it had a built-in thermometer) when one drove past me.
I saw the Audi badge but before I could work out what it was it turned the corner and was gone.
The mysterious Audi was silver and it looked like it was from the future, but actually it was the original TT, the first one, and being about October ‘98 it would have only just come out.
I would never have believed you if you’d told me at the time that 25 years later I’d be a motoring journalist and that I’d be reviewing the final Audi TT ever.
And here we are with the Audi TT Final Edition. That’s right, Audi has decided to discontinue this sports car after 25 years of production and it’s made this commemorative TT Final Edition that adds unique fettling and some nice features.
So, is the TT Final Edition worth buying? What’s so good about it? And how much more does it cost over a regular TT?
I found out after spending a weekend on some great roads to say goodbye to this icon. Oh, and I still have the fridge magnet.
The Aventador isn't the best car you can buy for the money and truth be told, it isn't the best Lamborghini, which is a bit tough when you remember the only other car they make at the moment is the V10 Huracan. But it's all about the theatre as much as being a very capable supercar.
I'm not a Lamborghini fanboy, but I completely get the Aventador. It's a because-we-can car, just like the Murcielago, Diablo and Countach before it. But unlike those cars, it's thoroughly modern and with the upgrades introduced to the S, it's faster, harder and enormously entertaining.
As the last of a dying breed it delivers on everything a Lamborghini should - amazing looks, nutty price tag and an engine that excites not just driver and passenger but anyone with a heartbeat. It's by far the most charismatic car you can buy, no matter how many zeroes are on the cheque.
Audi is finally saying hooroo to this model which has made the world stop and stare like I did on that Parisian street all those years ago.
The Final Edition is a fitting tribute to this iconic sports car and I’m glad Audi didn’t go ‘OTT’ and deck it out with gimmicky features.
At the same time the Final Edition’s big rear wing, blacked out badges, wheels and interior colour coding hint that this is not just any ordinary TT and those that know will know.
Farewell Audi TT, we hope something just like you but probably electric appears to stop us in our tracks again.
Asking if there's anything interesting about a Lamborghini design is kind of like asking if the sun is warm.
While there are some geese out there in the corners of the internet who think Audi has ruined Lamborghini styling, there is absolutely nothing shy about the Aventador. It's an incredible looking machine and, if I may say so, shouldn't be had in black because you miss a lot of the madder details.
This car is all about the experience.
It might look close to the deck in the photos, but however low you think it is, it's lower. The roofline barely makes it to the bottom of a Mazda CX-5's windows - you need your wits about you in this car because people just don't see you.
It is absolutely spectacular - people stop and point, one chap sprinted an easy 200 metres to take a photo of it in the Sydney CBD. Hello, if you're reading.
Inside is pretty tight indeed. It's amazing to think that a car 4.8 metres long (a Hyundai Santa Fe is 4.7 metres) struggles to contain two people over six feet tall. My six foot two photographer's head left an impression in the headlining. It's a tiny cabin. It's not a bad one though, it even has a cupholder on the rear bulkhead behind the seats.
The centre console is covered in Audi-based switchgear and is all the better for it, even if it is starting to look a bit old (those bits are from a pre-facelift B8 A4). The alloy gearshift paddles are fixed to the column and are brilliant to look at and touch, while the digital dashboard - which changes with the driving mode - is fantastic even if the reversing camera is awful.
The Audi TT’s shape has morphed over the past 25 years from the cute, rounded bubble car that first appeared in the late 1990s to the more aggressively and sleek looking sports car with the sharp creases we see today.
Still, there are the familiar pumped-out wheel arches and, while not as prominent as it used to be, that arching roof and the way it flows down to those tail-lights and stumpy tail remains so true to the original TT.
The TT Final Edition has a more menacing and athletic look than the regular 45 TFSI its based on thanks to the S Line Competition Plus exterior package.
So you’re getting the big fixed wing, an aggressive front bumper, and the 19-inch alloy wheels in gloss black.
There’s a black package, too, which add the decals down the side, the blacked-out badges, the black exhaust tips and black wing mirrors.
My test car’s paint colour was Turbo Blue and you can see in the images of the cabin how Audi matches interior elements in the same colour. The contrast stitching on the seats also lifts the sporty feel into high-end territory.
It’s a simple cabin, though, free from busy buttons and giant screens and the incorporation of climate controls into the air vents is genius.
If you’re wondering what the TT Final Edition’s dimensions are its 4191mm long, 1832mm wide and 1376mm tall.
Yes, well. There's not a lot of space because a V12 is not just big all on its own, all the ancillaries to support it rob a lot of the remaining space. Having said that, there's room in the front for soft bags with a 180-litre front boot, space for two people inside, a cupholder and a glove box.
And the doors open up into the sky rather than out like a normal car's. Who cares if it's impractical, it's hardly something that's going to stop someone buying one.
The Audi TT isn’t going to cut it as a family car, but it’s more practical than a lot of people might think.
First this is a '2+2' sports car meaning those two rear seats are there for the odd occasion when you might need them, because the space back there is limited.
But for most of the time having a place to throw a jacket or extra luggage and not have to ask your co-plot to rest it on their lap will feel like absolute luxury.
Up front head and legroom is good, even for me at 189cm tall. Being a coupe the doors are long and although the car is low I found getting in and out easy.
There’s a pretty clever use of space when it comes down to cabin storage. You’ll find door pockets, a glove box, a covered centre console box and a hidey hole/wireless phone charger in the dash.
Back seat passengers have built-in shelves near their armrests. Surprisingly there are four cupholders - two of which fold out of the dash.
The boot isn’t huge at 305 litres but you can fold the rear seats down to open up the cargo capacity to 712 litres.
So, compared to its two-seater sports car rivals, the TT is relatively and pleasantly practical.
As with any Italian supercar, the price-to-feature ratio is rather higher than your average humdrum hatchback. A 'naked' Aventador S starts at a horse-spooking $789,425 and basically has no direct competition. Ferrari's F12 is front-mid engined and any other V12 is either a decidedly different Rolls Royce-type machine or super-expensive niche manufacturer (yes, niche compared to Lamborghini) like Pagani. They're a rare very breed, Lambo knows it, and here we are a sneeze-on-the-spec sheet away from $800,000.
So you have to keep two things in mind when rating a car's value for money at this level. The first is that there isn't any real rival in a pure sense, and if there was, it would be the same price and have the same spec. That's not excusing it, by the way, it's an explanation.
Anyway.
For your eight hundy you get 20-inch front wheels and 21-inch rears, climate control, cruise control, 7.0-inch screen (backed by an older version of Audi's MMI), four-speaker stereo with Bluetooth and USB, car cover, bi-xenon headlights, carbon ceramic brakes, electric seats, windows and mirrors, leather trim, sat nav, keyless entry and start, four-wheel steering, leather trim, digital dashboard, power folding and heated mirrors, active rear wing and active suspension.
The number of out-of-the-box options is staggering and if you're keen to really get on it, you can commission your own options when it comes to trim and paint and wheels. Let's just say that as far as the interior went, our car had almost $29,000 of Alcantara, steering wheel and yellow. The telemetry system, heated seats, some extra branding and front and reversing camera (uh-huh) added up to $24,000, the cameras almost half that total.
With all the bits and bobs, the test car we had was a sobering $910,825 before on-roads.
Audi has taken the $84,000 TT Coupe 45 TFSI quattro and created this TT Final Edition with extra features for a list price of $88,749.
Here’s what you’re getting. First there’s the 'S Line Competition Plus' exterior package which beefs up the TT’s looks with the big, fixed rear wing and 19-inch Audi Sport wheels in gloss 'Anthracite Black' with red brake calipers.
There’s also the black exterior package which brings the black Audi rings badging, black chunky exhaust tips, black side trims and Audi logo decals.
Inside there’s Nappa leather S sport seats; an Alcantara and leather flat-bottomed steering wheel with paddle shifters; while the armrests, door handles and the centre console are covered by the 'Leather Package' which includes contrasting stitching.
Metallic paint is also included as part of the Final Edition’s features. Ours was 'Turbo Blue'.
Much of the rest of the Final Edition’s features are shared with the TT Coupe 45 TFSI quattro and includes a 12.4-inch 'Virtual Cockpit' digital instrument display, sat nav, CD and DVD player, eight-speaker stereo, digital radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging and proximity unlocking.
Our car had a couple of options fitted - the privacy glass which is $950 and the 20-inch gloss black alloy wheels for $1600.
Rivals to the TT include BMW’s Z4 which lists for $99,200, and its Toyota GR Supra twin for $87,380, while the Nissan Z Coupe is also part of that sporty coupe club at $75,800.
You might already know this but the TT doesn’t have a central media screen and that can appear odd in a new car world where big screens dominate the dashboard.
The Aventador S is powered by Automobili Lamborghini's 6.5-litre V12. You know it's a V12 because there's a plate on top of the engine (which you can see through the optional glass cover) that says so, and handily, tells you the cylinder firing order. That's a neat touch.
Buried deep in the middle of the car, this monster engine develops an astonishing 544kW (30kW up on the standard Aventador) and 690Nm. Its dry sump means the engine sits lower in the car. The gearbox is slung across the back between the rear wheels - the rear pushrod suspension actually sits on top of and across the gearbox - and is apparently brand new.
The transmission is known as an ISR (Independent Shift Rod) and has seven forward speeds and still just the one clutch. Power goes through all four wheels to the road, but it's clear the rears get the lion's share.
The 0-100km/h time is the same as the standard car, which kind of tells you that 2.9 seconds is about as quick as you can go on road tyres when you don't have four electric motors with torque from zero rpm.
The TT Final Edition has the same 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine as the regular 45 TFSI TT Coupe with the same 180kW and 370Nm outputs.
The TT is light, though, at only 1460kg and that grunt is enough to slingshot it from 0-100km/h in 5.1 seconds.
The transmission is an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic which sends drive to all four wheels.
Sure, the TTS has more grunt and the TTRS is nothing short of wonderful with its five cylinder powerplant, but the 2.0-litre engine in the Final Edition feels perfectly suited to what is a fun and engaging sports car.
Hilariously, the official figure is 16.9L/100km. I doubled it without trying. Simple as that. If you're buying this car thinking it will be easy on the juice, you're insane.
Cheeringly, Lambo has at least tried, the V12 going silent when you sit at the lights, the best thing being the way it bursts back into life when you lift off the brake.
If you have the time available, it takes 90 litres of premium unleaded to fill the tank.
Audi says that after a combination of open and urban roads the TT Final Edition should use 7.0L/100km.
My own testing took in a combination of the best country roads and worst city traffic and at the fuel pump I measured 10.9L/100km.
But most of my time was spent in 'Dynamic' drive mode with the fuel-saving idle stop system switched off.
The TT's 55-litre fuel tank means you should have a range of about 785km.
In Strada or Street mode, awful. Everything is slow and doughy, particularly the gearshift which goes looking for a gear like dog looking for a stick you didn't throw, but instead hid behind your back. The low-speed ride is nothing less than terrible, fidgeting over every single lump and bump and is only slightly more appealing than being dragged along behind.
The gearbox is really the worst bit about it. Automotive history is littered with cars that laboured along with a single clutch semi-auto: Alfa Romeo 156, BMW's E60 M5 and today the Citroen Cactus is stuck with just such a dud transmission.
Like that old M5, however, there's a trick to making the gearbox work for you - show absolutely no mercy.
Switch the selector up to Sport, get off the highway or major arterial road and head for the hills. Or better still, a clear race track. Then the Aventador goes from a pain in the rear to a glorious, roaring, completely unhinged and unhinging battle cruiser. This car is all about the experience, from the second you lay eyes on it to the moment you put it to bed.
This isn't an everyday supercar and it's absurd to think Lamborghini thinks it is.
First up, there's the obvious entry point with those wacky doors. While it's tricky to get in, if you're under six feet and reasonably mobile, stick your backside in, keep your head down and you're in. If you've been clever, you've specified the glass engine cover so you can see out the back but the huge wing mirrors are surprisingly effective.
Has someone thoughtlessly parked the car in a tight spot? No trouble, the four wheel steer makes the car absurdly manoeuvrable given its extravagant length and width.
As we've already established, it's not much fun at low speeds, waiting until about 70km/h before things start to make a bit more sense. This isn't an everyday supercar and it's absurd to think Lamborghini thinks it is. It just isn't.
The old Aventador was not the most capable of machines but made up for it with its overall belligerence. The new S takes that aggro and dials it up. When you move the drive mode to Sport you are basically unleashing hell. You can pretend to be super-masculine and switch to Corsa (race) mode, but it's all about getting the car straight and getting you around the track in the most efficient way possible. Sport is where it's at if you want to have fun.
The Aventador is about being seen, but not before you've been heard - from two postcodes away. It really is utterly glorious when you have a stretch of road to yourself. The V12 revs furiously to its 8400rpm redline and the wallop of the upshift is accompanied with a fantastic bark and a burst of blue flame. And these aren't the best bits.
Approach a corner, stomp on the colossal carbon ceramic brakes and the exhaust erupts in a combination of bangs and pops and growls that puts a smile on even the most hardened car-hater's face. The fact it steers into corners with just a demure roll of the wrist, aided and abetted by that funky four-wheel steering system. It's just brilliant, addictive and truth be told, it gets under your skin.
There are plenty of sports cars out there which are dynamically superb yet uncomfortable to sit in.
But the TT’s cabin is as ergonomic as it is stylish with a great, low sitting position and good pedal feel, a steering wheel that can be adjusted to be just right and still with plenty of space underneath for long legs like mine.
The shifter feels the right distance away, good visibility even out the rear window and plenty of ventilation. And we haven’t even started driving yet.
The TT Final Edition felt to me how a TT should. Fun. Not overpowered nor brutally firm and not ridiculously loud.
Instead, my drive in the Final Edition, which took me along some of my favourite country roads, was one of the most enjoyable runs I’ve had in any car.
This is a car which ‘listens’ to you and replies with exactly what you’ve asked for in the way it turns into corners and accelerates out of them, and pulls up when you need it too.
There’s so much connection to the road, you can hear the sticks and stones flying up into the guards, you can feel the coarse chip bitumen through the steering wheel.
But it’s all so easy, too. The suspension is firm but soft enough that you can drive this daily. The steering is light but still with great feedback.
Some sports cars leave you feeling exhausted, like you’ve just wrestled a bear but the TT Final Edition just leaves you feeling like you've been on a ride and all you want to do is run back around to line up and get back on it again.
The Aventador doesn't have an ANCAP safety rating but the carbon chassis also comes with four airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls.
This could be a deal breaker for you. The Final Edition, like all Audi TTs, falls short in terms of safety equipment compared to its rivals.
This third generation TT only managed four ANCAP stars out of a maximum of five when it was assessed in 2015.
This was due to the model not having AEB or lane keeping assistance or rear cross-traffic alert.
The only assistance features it has are blind spot warning and self parking (which is handy). It doesn’t even have adaptive cruise control.
There are two top tether points for child seats in the second row but please be aware that the TT was also scored low by ANCAP for child occupant crash protection.
If you do have children and are looking for something safer but still small and sporty, the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe or Mercedes-Benz A-Class are excellent choices.
Something to think about.
In an unexpected twist, you'll get a three-year/100,000km warranty and the option to increase to four years ($11,600!) or five years ($22,200!)(!). Having recovered from typing that, given the cost of something going wrong, that's probably money well-spent.
The TT Final Edition is covered by Audi’s five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.
Serving is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km and although Audi doesn't have capped price servicing there is a five-year/75,000km plan which will cost about $3000 in total for regular maintenance. Yep, that's $600 per workshop visit.