2009 Audi TTS

This new TT goes up against Boxsters and lower-end Caymans. It's more accelerative than either, thanks to its punchy 265-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbo engine, a development of the direct-injection entry-level 200-horse TT unit. The 0-to-62 dash takes just 5.2 seconds, helped by the brilliant fast-changing S-tronic paddle-shift gearbox, formerly known as DSG. It's quicker than the Euro-standard six-speed conventional manual (not offered in the U.S.) and delivers better gas mileage, too.

It's an easy car to drive briskly, always a forte with the TT. The S-tronic gearbox is auto-transmission simple, the steering is light, visibility is surprisingly good for a car that places your backside just a foot or so above the road, and handling is secure in the wet or the dry thanks to the standard quattro four-wheel drive.

By some margin, the TTS is the most agile, fastest, and most entertaining TT of all, and you can thread together corners with real fluency and verve.

The TTS -- available as a coupe and a roadster -- is Audi's attempt to dial up the dynamics and win over the dedicated followers of fast cars as well as fashion. The direct-injection 2.0L engine, already familiar to TT buyers in 200-hp form, gets a bigger turbocharger, revised block and head, new intake and exhaust, and various other internal revisions. Power jumps to 265 hp. Marry that to standard quattro four-wheel drive and the VW Group's brilliant S-tronic dual-clutch semi-auto paddle-shift gearbox, and the TTS offers performance that finally elevates the Audi sportster into the Porsche league: 0-62 mph in 5.2 seconds is quicker than a Cayman.

This is also the best-handling TT of all, a car of composure and confidence. But push really hard on winding and undulating roads, and the little Audi still lacks the ultimate composure of the brilliant mid-engine rear-drive Porsches (Boxster and Cayman). Nor does the steering serenade, as it does on Porsches and the better BMWs: It rarely does on a four-wheel -drive car. Ultimately, then, it doesn't quite reach the top drawer dynamically. But it's still easily the best TT to date, and it has all those traditional TT virtues -- brilliant looks, handsome cabin, superb craftsmanship -- in spades.

It uses what amounts to half of the RS6's V10 engine, a highly turbocharged direct-injection straight-five cylinder, mounted transversely. It will make north of 330 horsepower and is lighter than the 250HP V-6. It gets teamed with the six-speed twin-clutch S-Tronic transmission.